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The cost of meeting standards for conventional pollutant emissions is a perennial bone of contention in arguments over vehicle emission regulations. The public health benefits of the most stringent standards have been repeatedly and conclusively demonstrated, and the control technologies are readily available. Nevertheless, countries with the largest vehicle markets worldwide differ greatly in the rates at which they are willing to adopt the most stringent emission standards-and some of those whose populations would benefit most lag furthest behind the best achievable standards. Among the reasons often given for delaying the implementation of stricter standards is the extra cost added to the vehicle by the emission control system. As part of a two series paper, this paper addresses the cost of diesel light-duty emission control technology by regulatory level, from early stages to upcoming levels, and presents a comparison with gasoline emission control technologies.

The cost of meeting standards for conventional pollutant emissions is a perennial bone of contention in arguments over vehicle emission regulations. The public health benefits of the most stringent standards have been repeatedly and conclusively demonstrated, and the control technologies are readily available. Nevertheless, countries with the largest vehicle markets worldwide differ greatly in the rates at which they are willing to adopt the most stringent emission standards-and some of those whose populations would benefit most lag furthest behind. Among the reasons often given for delaying the implementation of stricter standards is the extra cost added to the vehicle by the emission control system. This two-part series paper assesses separately the cost of emission control technologies for gasoline and diesel light duty vehicles. In part one, the paper addresses the cost of gasoline light-duty emission control technology by regulatory level, from early stages to upcoming levels.