Emissions standard
Euro 5
Checked on 20 June 2007.EUR-Lex, Regulation (EC) No 715/2007, Annex I tables 1 and 2: Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission limits (as of 20 June 2007)
Euro 5 clean air zone status
Compliant
A petrol car at Euro 5 meets the Euro 4 pass mark every UK zone applies to petrol.
Charged
A diesel at Euro 5 is below the Euro 6 pass mark, so it pays the daily charge.
What is Euro 5?
Euro 5 is a stage of European vehicle pollutant limits. The stage that made the diesel particulate filter unavoidable, cutting particulates by four fifths and adding a particle number limit for diesel. It also set the first ever particulate limit for petrol, and only for direct injection engines. The particulate figure was revised from 5.0 to 4.5 mg/km when the measurement protocol changed in 2011.
Euro 5 limits, in g/km
| Pollutant | Petrol | Diesel | Change from Euro 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | 1 | 0.5 | 0 per cent lower on diesel |
| Hydrocarbons (HC) | 0.1 | No limit set | |
| Hydrocarbons and NOx combined | No limit set | 0.23 | 23 per cent lower on diesel |
| Nitrogen oxides (NOx) | 0.06 | 0.18 | 28 per cent lower on diesel |
| Particulate matter (PM) | 0.005 | 0.005 | 80 per cent lower on diesel |
This stage also sets a particle number limit of 6e+11 particles per kilometre, which counts the particles rather than weighing them. A filter can pass on mass and still fail on number, which is why the second limit was added.
Which cars had to meet Euro 5
Euro 5 applied to new passenger car type approvals from 1 September 2009 and to new registrations from 1 January 2011. From that January 2011 date a new car in this timetable could not be registered below Euro 5. Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 set the Euro 5 and Euro 6 limit tables together.
The gap between type approval and registration is longer here than the usual year: 1 September 2009 against 1 January 2011. A car registered in 2010 can already be Euro 5 if that type was approved on time, or still Euro 4 if it was not. 2010 is a straddle year, not a diesel pass year.
Euro 5 diesel still fails every UK car zone. The diesel pass mark is Euro 6. A diesel particulate filter, which this stage made unavoidable in practice, is not the same thing as a Euro 6 nitrogen oxide pass.
The diesel particulate filter and the first petrol particle limit
Diesel particulates fall from 0.025 g/km at Euro 4 to 0.005 g/km at Euro 5. That is the cut the Euro 5 summary describes as four fifths, and it is why a filter became the normal diesel hardware. Diesel also gains a particle number limit of 6e11 particles per kilometre, which counts particles rather than weighing them.
Petrol carbon monoxide stays at 1.0 g/km, hydrocarbons at 0.1 g/km, and nitrogen oxides fall from 0.08 g/km at Euro 4 to 0.06 g/km. Petrol gets its first particulate limit of 0.005 g/km, and only for direct injection engines. A port injected petrol engine at Euro 5 still has no published particulate figure in this table.
The particulate mass figure was revised from 5.0 to 4.5 mg/km when the measurement protocol changed in 2011. That revision is in the Euro 5 summary, from Commission Regulation (EU) No 459/2012. The g/km table on this site stores 0.005 for Euro 5. Where a milligram figure is used, it is the protocol change named in that summary, not a fresh conversion presented as a second published limit.
- Diesel: carbon monoxide 0.5 g/km, combined 0.23 g/km, nitrogen oxides 0.18 g/km, particulates 0.005 g/km, particle number 6e11 per kilometre.
- Petrol: carbon monoxide 1.0 g/km, hydrocarbons 0.1 g/km, nitrogen oxides 0.06 g/km, particulates 0.005 g/km for direct injection only.
- Diesel nitrogen oxides of 0.18 g/km are still more than double the Euro 6 diesel figure of 0.08 g/km.
DPF diesels that still pay the zone
A diesel family car first registered new from 1 January 2011 to 31 August 2015 is the typical Euro 5 car still in the used market. It will usually have a diesel particulate filter. It will not usually meet a UK clean air zone. Buyers who treat a DPF as a ULEZ pass are mixing up particles with nitrogen oxides.
Petrol cars of the same years already passed the petrol zone test at Euro 4. Euro 5 petrol is a pass as well. The live problem at this stage is diesel, and it stays live until 1 September 2015.
Euro 5 petrol passes, Euro 5 diesel pays
Petrol at Euro 5 is above Euro 4, so it drives in free on emissions grounds. Diesel at Euro 5 is below Euro 6, so it pays. That is the same split as Euro 4, with a cleaner diesel particle limit that the zone does not treat as a substitute for Euro 6.
Diesel nitrogen oxides at Euro 5 are 0.18 g/km. At Euro 6 they are 0.08 g/km. Converted from that g/km table those figures are 180 mg/km and 80 mg/km, which is the change the Euro 6 summary says the zone system is built on. Euro 5 diesel is the wrong side of it.
Example
A diesel first registered on 12 March 2014, with a DPF
- Fuel
- Diesel
- First registered
- 12 March 2014
- Hardware
- Diesel particulate filter fitted
- Euro 5 new registrations from
- 1 January 2011
- Euro 6 new registrations from
- 1 September 2015
- Diesel NOx at Euro 5
- 0.18 g/km
- 12 March 2014 is after 1 January 2011, so a new diesel could not be registered below Euro 5.
- It is before 1 September 2015, so the date does not prove Euro 6.
- A DPF speaks to the 0.005 g/km particulate limit and the 6e11 particle number limit, not to the 0.18 g/km nitrogen oxide limit.
- Euro 5 is below the diesel pass mark of Euro 6, so the car pays in every UK zone that charges diesel cars.
A March 2014 diesel with a filter is still a Euro 5 diesel unless the certificate of conformity shows Euro 6 early. It is charged. The filter is not the zone test.
How to prove Euro 5, and when to look for Euro 6 instead
V.9 that names Euro 5 on a diesel is a charge. Do not send a photograph of a DPF to an operating authority and expect a Euro 6 recode. The certificate of conformity is useful only if it actually shows Euro 6, which some types held from the 1 September 2009 type approval window for Euro 5 overlapping the 1 September 2014 type approval window for Euro 6.
A diesel registered in 2015 before 1 September is the last Euro 5 compulsory cohort. After 1 September 2015 a new diesel had to meet Euro 6. Month and day matter in 2015 in a way they do not in 2012.
- Read V.9. Petrol Euro 5 passes. Diesel Euro 5 pays.
- If V.9 is blank and the car was first registered new from 1 January 2011 to 31 August 2015, infer Euro 5 as the floor.
- If you think a 2014 or 2015 diesel was certified to Euro 6 early, only the certificate of conformity proves it.
- Send that certificate to the zone operator. A DPF invoice is not the same document.
- Keep any penalty challenge on its own deadline while the record is being corrected.
Direct injection petrol, 2010 plates and particle number
A direct injection petrol car at Euro 5 is the first petrol car in this timetable with a published particulate mass limit, 0.005 g/km. A port injected petrol car at the same stage has no petrol particulate figure in the table. Neither fact changes the petrol zone pass, because that pass was already won at Euro 4.
Particle number at Euro 5 is a diesel limit of 6e11 per kilometre. Petrol particle number waits until Euro 6, and even then it only became binding for new petrol registrations on 1 September 2018. Mixing those dates up is how a 2012 petrol direct injection car gets described as Euro 6 without paperwork.
- 2010 is a type approval year for Euro 5, not a compulsory new registration year. V.9 still decides.
- Imports from 2011 to 2014 with a blank V.9 should be inferred as Euro 5 for a new car, then corrected from the certificate if the type was Euro 6.
- A Q plate still carries no age. A kit car from this era is not Euro 5 by appearance.
Common questions
- When did Euro 5 become compulsory for new cars?
- New type approvals from 1 September 2009, and new passenger car registrations from 1 January 2011. The gap is longer than the usual year, so a 2010 car can be either Euro 4 or Euro 5.
- Does a Euro 5 diesel pass a clean air zone?
- No. Diesel needs Euro 6. Euro 5 diesel nitrogen oxides are 0.18 g/km, against 0.08 g/km at Euro 6. A DPF does not close that gap for the zone.
- Does a Euro 5 petrol car pass?
- Yes. Petrol already passed at Euro 4. Euro 5 petrol is above that mark, so it drives in free on emissions grounds.
- What is the Euro 5 diesel particulate limit?
- 0.005 g/km, plus a particle number limit of 6e11 particles per kilometre. The mass figure was revised from 5.0 to 4.5 mg/km when the measurement protocol changed in 2011, which is the change named in the Euro 5 summary.
- Does petrol have a particulate limit at Euro 5?
- Only for direct injection engines, at 0.005 g/km. Port injection petrol has no particulate limit in the Euro 5 table. Euro 7 is the stage that applies the particulate limit to every petrol engine.
- Is a 2014 diesel ULEZ compliant?
- Not from the year. Euro 6 became compulsory for new car registrations on 1 September 2015, so a 2014 diesel is Euro 5 unless that engine was certified to Euro 6 early. V.9 or the certificate of conformity settles it, and most 2014 diesels pay.
- Is particle number the same as a DPF?
- Particle number counts particles. A filter is the usual way a diesel meets both the 0.005 g/km mass limit and the 6e11 number limit. The zone still asks for the Euro 6 stage on a diesel car, not for proof that a filter is fitted.
- Do these Euro 5 dates apply to the van tax concession?
- No. Qualifying Euro 5 vans have a separate vehicle tax window in the light goods tables, from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2010. That is a tax class rule, not the passenger car registration date of 1 January 2011, and not a zone pass.
Sources
- EUR-Lex, Regulation (EC) No 715/2007, Annex I tables 1 and 2: Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission limits (as of 20 June 2007)
- EUR-Lex, Commission Regulation (EU) No 459/2012: revised particulate protocol and the Euro 5b, 6b and 6c implementation dates (as of 29 May 2012)
- EUR-Lex, Council Directive 1999/37/EC, Annex I: harmonised codes on vehicle registration documents, V.9 environmental category of EC type-approval (as of 29 April 1999)