Heavily polluting vehicles, referred to as "yellow label" vehicles, will be off the roads from October, Shanghai Transport Commission announced yesterday.
By March end, Shanghai had 62,000 such vehicles, most of them logistic trucks. They are banned from entering the suburban Shanghai Ring Expressway (G1501) from this month.
Vehicles that fall under China II emission standard and are registered with the transport authority before 2005, will be banned from the Outer Ring Road (S20) from next year. Currently, the ban applies to vehicles that are under China I emission standard.
According to Cai Zhigang, director of Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau's Pollution Control Division, cars that fall under the China I, II and III emission standards are also considered as heavily polluting cars, though they cause less harm to the environment than the "yellow label" vehicles.
"The emission from a China II standard car equals to five China IV standard cars, while that of a China I standard car equals to 20 China IV standard vehicles," Cai said.
According to statistics released by the environment authority, 29.2 percent of Shanghai's main air pollutant — PM2.5 particles — come from car, boat and plane emissions.
Shanghai has around 2.6 million cars, among which 800,000, or one-third, are of or below China III standard. However, they make for about two-thirds of emission of carbon monoxide and nitrogen, Cai said.
Currently, there are 18,000 China I standard vehicles and 225,000 China II standard vehicles in Shanghai, most of which are private cars. The ban from Outer Ring Road will first involve about 110,000 China II standard cars registered before 2005. It will be expanded to include the rest later.
Violating drivers will have 3 points deducted from their license and fined 200 yuan (US$32.24).
