Nepc annual Report 2014-15

Diesel vehicles emissions estimates

Diesel vehicles made up 18.56 per cent of the total New South Wales fleet as at 30 June 2015, however, they contribute disproportionately to the amount of air pollution produced by on-road mobile sources.

On-road mobile sources contribute approximately 62 per cent NO_x and 13 per cent of particle emissions of PM₁₀ from all anthropogenic sources in the Sydney⁴ region.

Based on projections from the 2008 Air Emissions Inventory for the New South Wales Greater Metropolitan Region, diesel vehicles currently contribute approximately 49 per cent of NO_x and 32 per cent of particle emissions (as PM₁₀) from all on-road mobile sources in the Sydney region.

The New South Wales total diesel vehicle kilometres travelled are increasing due to both the underlying total fleet vehicle kilometres travelled growth, and a trending increase in proportion of diesel vehicles in the fleet.

With the exception of NO_x emissions for the light vehicle fleet, the total per kilometre PM₁₀ and NO_x exhaust emissions from diesel vehicles are predicted to fall significantly from 2011 to 2021, following the introduction of more stringent vehicle emissions regulations combined with fleet turnover.

For both light and heavy duty diesels, the predicted reductions in PM₁₀ emission rates are larger than the rate of increase in vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), resulting in decreasing total PM₁₀ emissions from the diesel fleet.

For heavy duty diesel vehicles, NO_x emissions are predicted to decrease from 2011 to 2021 in spite of projected increases in vehicle kilometres travelled.

For light diesel vehicles, a very strong increase in the proportion of diesel vehicles is projected, resulting in large increases in both absolute NO_x emissions, and the percentage contribution to total vehicle fleet emissions.

Smoky vehicles program

In New South Wales, it is an offence for a vehicle to emit excessive air impurities for a continuous period of more than 10 seconds. In 2014–15 authorised officers issued 78 penalty notices (an average of 6 per month) to the registered owners of diesel vehicles emitting excessive air impurities.

Prosecutions may also occur, usually where a person issued with a penalty infringement notice elects to have the matter heard before a court, or where a smoky vehicle has previously been observed by an authorised officer on a number of occasions. In 2014–15 there were 26 prosecutions, all involving diesel vehicles.

The public may also report smoky vehicles via the Environment Protection Authority’s Environment Line, website, or the newly developed mobile phone application. An average of 126 smoky vehicle reports are received each month from the public (1,508 public reports over the year), indicating a high level of awareness in the community of the unacceptability of excessive visible emissions.

In 2014–15, the Environment Protection Authority issued 423 advisory letters to diesel vehicle owners based on public reports.

In 2014–15, the Environment Protection Authority issued 12 Defective Vehicle Notices to the owners of diesel vehicles that were observed by members of the community as excessively smoky. A Defective Vehicle Notice requires the vehicle owner to carry out any necessary repairs so that the vehicle no longer emits excessive smoke and to provide evidence to the Environment Protection Authority that those repairs were carried out. Failure to provide evidence that the vehicle is no longer emitting excessive smoke may result in the vehicle registration being suspended. Four of these were returned with evidence of subsequent repair. The Environment Protection Authority suspended 8 vehicle registrations, 5 of these were returned with evidence of repair.

Annual statistics for smoky diesel vehicles

Table 3 shows a breakdown of the percentage of diesel vehicle owners that received fines, advisory or warning letters as a proportion of all vehicles fined.

Table 3: Smoky vehicles: actions taken

	July 05–June 06	July 06–June 07	July 07–June 08	July 08–June 09	July 09–June 10	July 10–June 11	July 11–June 12	July 12–June 13	July 13–June 14	July 14–June 15
Total number of vehicles that received fines	694	664	616	373	303	301	186	114	289	78
Diesel vehicles that received fines	580	527	495	351	278	286	173	109	283	76
Percentage of all vehicles fined that were diesel vehicles	83.6%	79.3%	80%	94.1%	91.7%	95%	95%	96%	98%	97%
Total number of vehicles that received advisory and warning letters	1,405	1,123	755	530	740	750	556	552	891	812
Diesel vehicles that received advisory and warning letters	174	161	103	123	133	135	96	74	462	423
Percentage of all vehicles that received advisory and warning letters that were diesel vehicles	12.4%	14.3%	14%	23.2%	17%	18%	17%	11%	52%	52%

There has been a reduction in the number of diesel vehicles that received fines, as the Environment Protection Authority has received significantly fewer reports from Roads and Maritime Services of vehicles emitting excessive in smoke in the M5 East Tunnel at Earlwood.