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Non-Exhaust Particle Emissions – Gaps and Research Needs
Summary
Researchers review the regulatory and measurement gaps in non-exhaust vehicle emissions — tire and brake wear particles — noting that electric vehicles' greater weight increases these emissions by 7–17% compared to combustion vehicles, and that Europe's Euro 7 framework is just beginning to establish brake emission limits while tire abrasion standards remain unmeasured and unregulated.
Non-Exhaust Emissions (NEE) have emerged as a dominant source of vehicular Particulate Matter (PM) pollution over the past decade, with research demonstrating that they can represent over 90% of road transport PM10 and 80% of road transport PM2.5, as exhaust controls have proven effective1. The technological transition toward vehicle electrification presents a complex emissions trade-off rather than a simple solution to this matter as their typically 21% higher weight2,3 leads to an approximate increase in tire wear PM10 of 7-9.8% and in brake wear PM10 of 11.5-17.1% (urban to motorway)2. Euro 7 will introduce the first worldwide brake emission limits, establishing PM10 thresholds of 3 mg/km for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) from M1/N1 categories (excluding N1, Class III), effective from 2026-2027. For Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDV) (M2, M3, N2, N3), brake emission limits are not yet defined but are scheduled for implementation from 2030 onwards. Tire abrasion limits are established with phased implementation: C1 tires from July 2028, C2 tires from April 2030, and C3 tires from April 20324. In addition, since there is no standardized procedure for measuring airborne emissions from tires yet, PM emission factors of tire and road wear particles are not yet in the scope of European regulations.