Regulatory overview of electric and ICE retrofitting solutions

Regulations in the European Union but also worldwide tend to become more stringent regarding the greenhouse gases and air pollutants emissions. Retrofitting could be part of this paradigm, offering a quick decrease of exhaust emissions, with a slighter effort and price than fleet renewal.

A French national decree offers the possibility to replace the internal combustion engine of an already approved and registered vehicle, by an electric machine with a traction battery and/or a fuel cell. In order to be nationally type-approved, the retrofitted vehicle has to fulfil environmental and safety requirements.

Retrofit of diesel vehicles to CNG can also be considered as a relevant option mainly for heavy-duty vehicles. This conversion is not regulated in Europe, but approval at national level is possible. In this case, the regulatory tests to be performed is left to the discretion of the National Type Approval Authority.

Another approach for heavy-duty vehicles is to replace the emission control devices, allowing the vehicle to comply with more stringent pollutant emission limits with the same internal combustion Diesel engine. The compliance of the aged new exhaust line with the targeted Euro step must be demonstrated in application of UN regulation n°132.