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European Union RDE (real driving emissions) legislation requires that new vehicles be subjected to emissions tests on public roads. Performing emissions testing outside a laboratory setting immediately raises the question of the impact of ambient conditions - especially temperature - on the results. In the spirit of RDE legislation, a wide range of ambient temperatures are permissible, with mathematical moderation (correction) of the results only permissible for ambient temperatures <0°C and >+30°C. Within the standard range of temperatures (0°C to +30°C), no correction for temperature is applied to emissions results and the applicable emissions limits have to be met. Given the well-known link between the thermal state of an engine and its emissions following cold start, ambient temperature can be of great importance in determining whether a vehicle meets emissions requirements during an RDE test.

There is a growing appreciation for using buses powered by alternative fuels in urban transport. Considered as such are city bus with engines fuelled with LNG and hybrid bus. This article, as shown above, provides a comparison of road exhaust emissions from three city buses: one with a CI engine fuelled with diesel fuel, and the other with a SI engine fuelled with LNG and Hybrid bus. Both vehicles (CI and LNG) conformed to Euro VI emission standard (hybrid bus EEV), and the tests were carried out in real traffic conditions. Equivocal opinions about differences in emissions from those types of buses, among others - CO2 and NOx emissions, were the underlying cause of the tests. The comparative study was carried out along the same urban routes during bus trips over the following days in similar traffic conditions. Exhaust road emission was determined based on the vehicle's curb weight and route length, and operating fuel consumption.

This paper discusses the importance of the inclusion of emissions from the cold start event during legislative on-road tests on passenger cars (RDE - real driving emissions tests conducted under real-world driving conditions, as defined by EU legislation). Results from a recently-registered gasoline-powered vehicle are presented, with the main focus on the comparison of exhaust emission results: excluding/including the cold start during the initial phase of the RDE test. Cold start is the most challenging aspect of emissions control for vehicles with spark ignition engines and the inclusion of the cold start event in RDE test procedure has wide-ranging implications both for the testing process and compliance with RDE legislation via optimisation of aftertreatment systems and the engine calibration. In addition to some theoretical arguments, the results of an RDE-compliant test performed using the aforementioned procedures are presented.