Draft of the Electric Vehicle Regulatory Reference Guide concerning worldwide environmental regulations submitted to the GRPE by the EVE informal working group chair.
1. Mr. Michael Olechiw, Chair of the informal working group, welcomed participants to the meeting. Mr. Olechiw outlined the primary goal for the meeting, which was to continue discussing the recommendations included in draft 3 of the EV Reference Guide (EVE-08-03). He clarified that the intent was not to finalize the Guide during the 8th EVE meeting, but to agree on draft 3 (with some minor revisions) to be submitted as an informal document to the GRPE’s 68th session (GRPE-68-13). Contracting parties and industry would then have until February 3rd, 2014 to submit comments. The objective is to finalize the Guide during the 9th EVE meeting on February 17-18th in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
55. The secretary of the informal group on EVE introduced GRPE-68-22, reporting on recent meetings and providing information on the draft regulatory reference guide (GRPE-68-13). He focused on the recommendations that are contained in the guide, explaining that they concern the vehicle range and energy consumption testing, the method of calculation for energy consumption and CO2 emissions (including the impact of upstream losses), battery performance and durability, battery recycling. He acknowledged that the recommendation on the method estimating upstream energy use and CO2 emissions is currently the most controversial subject. Reporting on the meeting between EVE and WLTP leadership groups, he mentioned that the expert from the EC offered to suggest solution aiming to ensure that the EVE and the WLTP activities will not lead to the duplication of work. He concluded by summarizing the schedule of forthcoming meetings and requested the secretariat to reserve a room for a meeting during the June 2014 GRPE session.
56. The Chair of GRPE suggested some alternatives concerning the development of the regulatory work with an impact for electric vehicles: i) maintaining the existing structure, with two informal working groups: ii) combine the WLTP and EVE groups; or iii) restructure the reporting hierarchy of the groups, with the EVE reporting to WLTP for issues related with the WLTP UN GTR and to GRPE directly for all other issues. He considered also that future regulatory instruments may need to be developed under the current WLTP regulatory framework or as part of other UN Regulations and UN GTRs.
57. Having expressed concerns about the controversies regarding the method of stating upstream energy use and CO2 emissions, the Chair of GRPE invited Contracting Parties to seek an agreement on this topic. He recalled that, should these controversies remain unsolved at the EVE and GRPE levels, they will need to be considered by WP.29 and AC.3.
106. The representative of Canada reported on the results of the eighth and ninth meeting of the IWG on Electric Vehicles and the Environment (EVE) (Geneva, 7 January 2014 and Ann Arbor, United States of America, 17-18 February 2014). She added that the draft Electric Vehicle Regulatory Reference Guide had been presented as an informal document, at the January 2014 session of GRPE and that the draft guide had been agreed on, in principle, at the subsequent meeting of the IWG. An updated version of the draft guide had been submitted as an official document for consideration at the June 2014 session of GRPE. AC.3 was expected to consider the reference guide at its November 2014 session. She reported that during the ninth EVE meeting the group decided to pursue a request for a new mandate post-2014 which would be considered informally at the June 2014 GRPE session. She announced that the next meeting of the IWG would be held in Geneva on 2 June 2014 in conjunction with the June 2014 session of GRPE.
35. The Chair of the IWG on EVE introduced GRPE-69-26 on recent meetings. He provided information on the draft regulatory reference guide (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2014/13) and recommended its endorsement by GRPE. He reported that several minor changes had been suggested, but that the EVE leadership did not accept them. He presented GRPE-69-14-Rev.1 containing a proposal for a new mandate. GRPE endorsed the proposed Electric Vehicle Reference Guide, which would be submitted to WP.29 for consideration at its November 2014 session. Noting the concern raised by OICA about the wording “assuming that” as well as the position of the EC to be clarified at the June 2014 AC.3 session, GRPE welcomed in principle the proposal for the road map to develop a gtr by the EVE Group.
Speaking to agenda item 2, Ms. Marchington reviewed document EVE-09-12e with a focus on action items. Ms. Marchington detailed which action items were completed or ongoing, including:
Mr. Olechiw introduced the document and the purpose of the discussion, which was to review changes made to the EV Regulatory Reference Guide from the EVE-9 meeting (February 2014) to its submission as a formal document to the GRPE Secretariat (early March 2014).
Ms. Marchington reminded the EVE IWG that during the EVE-9 meeting, the approach to review draft 4 of the Guide (EVE-09-03e) was to go through each chapter line-by-line to review comments received, to check if any meeting attendees had any new comments, and to ensure concurrence with wording from the EVE IWG. Details of this review, including all comments, the originator of each comment, and action taken as a result of the comment to produce a revised Guide (draft 5) are summarized in Appendix 1 of the EVE-9 meeting report (EVE-09-12e). Ms. Marchington also reminded the group that at the end of the EVE-9 meeting, participants agreed in principle with the whole document. Draft 5 of the Guide was then circulated for comment, and revised based on comments received, producing draft 6 or the final version of the Guide (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2014/13).
A document comparing draft 4 of the Guide to draft 6 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRPE/2014/13) was reviewed with EVE-10 participants, and key changes to text were highlighted. Several minor changes to the Guide were suggested during this discussion, but the EVE leadership decided not to make any further changes to the Guide. The comments and the rationale for not adjusting Guide are listed below:
Finally, Mr. Olechiw also reminded the EVE IWG that during the 69th GRPE session later in the week there would be the final discussion of the Guide and anticipated approval; the Guide will then go to AC.3 for approval, which is anticipated at the November 2014 WP.29 session.
ACTION 1: Pending GRPE approval, the EVE Secretariat will facilitate the submission of the Guide as a formal document for the November 2014 WP.29 session.