Proposed EU year 2000 gasoline volatility specifications

Report no. 97/53: A CONCAWE study identified the proposed flat maximum RVP limit across Europe to be of greatest concern within the gasoline volatility specification in the year 2000EU Draft Fuels Directive. The 60 kPa RVP defined for a six month summer period would lead to problems with regard to driveability and exhaust emissions during intermediate seasons and safety requirements in the more extreme Nordic countries. A flat RVP would result in unbalanced evaporative HC emissions across Europe.

The report concludes that a constant RVP limit for Europe is not practical due to the widely varying summer temperatures. It provides examples for adjusted RVP limits which will provide low but balanced evaporative HC profiles across Europe. Geographically and seasonally adjusted volatility specifications are recommended - an approach which has been applied historically to ensure safe operation and good driveability.