Truck emission class and vehicle category: how to check

Why Euro emission classes were introduced

The main aim of the Euro standard rules is to make new cars and commercial vehicles more environmentally friendly by limiting their exhaust emissions. The first exhaust emission rules date back to the 1970s – but the first standard applying across the EU, known as Euro 1, was not introduced until 1992. Since then a series of Euro emission standards has followed, up to the current Euro 6, which was introduced in September 2014.

EURO 7

Euro 7 has been adopted: Regulation (EU) 2024/1257 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 8 May 2024. It does not take effect all at once, but in stages according to vehicle class. For cars and light commercial vehicles (M1, N1) it applies from 29 November 2026 to new type approvals and from 29 November 2027 to all new registrations. For heavy commercial vehicles (M2, M3, N2, N3), the dates are 29 May 2028 for new type approvals and 29 May 2029 for all new registrations. Vehicles that are already registered keep their Euro standard, which is why Euro 6 will remain the decisive class on the used market for a long time to come.

Future changes to the Euro classes

Even if new rules are enforced and new vehicles meet the required criteria, the problem of pollution remains. Used vehicles from industrialised countries are frequently exported to developing countries, above all to Africa, but to a lesser extent also to Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Most of these countries have only weak or very weak rules on the import of used vehicles. The vehicles are therefore often 16–20 years old on average and meet Euro 3 standards at best.

Which Euro standard and which vehicle age a target market accepts differs from country to country and keeps changing: some states still let older vehicles in with Euro 3, others require a higher standard, and others again work with age limits or punitive duties instead of emission standards. We keep the individual country rules, each with a date and a source, in one place: the continuously updated guide Exporting used trucks: age limits and import rules. It states, for example, that Serbia requires at least Euro 3 for vehicle class N, and that Saudi Arabia only clears trucks over 3.5 tonnes up to an age of five years, counted from 1 January of the year of manufacture. Check the rules of the country you are exporting to or driving into before every shipment.

E-trucks

To promote environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions, new vehicle types have to be considered alongside the Euro standards. An electric truck is a truck whose drive technology is either (a) purely battery-powered, (b) a hydrogen-based fuel cell or (c) hybrid (battery plus combustion engine).

The main advantages of electric trucks are that they produce no diesel or petrol exhaust emissions and are very quiet, so there is no noise pollution. That makes them ideal for transport in busy urban areas. Because electricity and maintenance costs are often lower than, or comparable to, those of vehicles with combustion engines, they are an attractive “green” option. Electricity can also be generated in many different ways, so operators are not dependent on a single energy source.

Despite these advantages, electric trucks currently do not fully meet the requirements of international long-haul transport and depend on charging infrastructure. They are gaining importance above all in the Asia-Pacific region, and business opportunities are expected in Africa in future. Europe, however, currently holds the largest market share. The leading markets are France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, supported by government incentives.

Manufacturers such as Daimler and Volvo are driving electrification forward. Daimler Truck plans to be fully electric by 2040, with the first step being the eActros, initially available in selected European markets. With a gross weight of up to 40 t and in two- or three-axle versions, the eActros is fitted with three or four battery packs (105 kWh each), a total of 315–420 kWh, and a range of up to 400 km. Volvo plans that by 2030 half of all the trucks it builds will be electric, powered either by batteries or by fuel cells.

LNG

Another environmentally friendly option is liquefied natural gas (LNG), which lends itself as a short-term solution for trucks. LNG has a higher energy density than diesel, which makes it attractive for road transport. Compared with CNG (compressed natural gas), which is common in cars and buses, LNG meets long-haul requirements better because more energy can be stored per unit of volume.

LNG is produced by cooling natural gas or biogas and has to be stored in special tanks, which makes this option expensive. With support from the EU and national governments, the LNG filling station network in Europe has expanded considerably; earlier expansion forecasts have since been overtaken, and current station numbers are published by the network operators. In Germany, exemption from the truck toll was an important incentive for natural gas trucks – it expired on 31 December 2023. The roll-out of LNG trucks is also being pushed forward in India and China.

Checking a truck's emission class from its registration document

If you are not sure which emission class your vehicle has, you will find it in part I of the vehicle registration certificate (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I): the emission key number is given in field 14.1, and field 14 describes it in plain words. The wording “key number for 1” (Schlüsselnummer zu 1) comes from the old vehicle registration document (Fahrzeugschein), which was issued until October 2005.

Toll Collect assigns the key numbers of toll-liable trucks to the emission classes (extract, as at 12/2023):

Toll Collect publishes the full list in its “Schadstoffklassen” (emission classes) overview; numbers missing there can be checked against the key number directory of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt). For foreign vehicles, the code in field 14.1 may differ from the German system.

Vehicle classes N1, N2 and N3

Besides the emission class, the registration certificate also states the vehicle class. Vehicles whose design and equipment make them intended for carrying goods form EU class N. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt) subdivides them by maximum permissible mass: N1 up to 3.5 tonnes, N2 over 3.5 and up to 12 tonnes, and N3 over 12 tonnes. Among other things, the class determines the Euro 7 timetable: N1 follows the deadlines for light commercial vehicles, N2 and N3 those for heavy commercial vehicles.

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