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Pressrelease | 2022-10-11
A woman pulls her moped out of a parking space in Florence, Italy.

LENS – a new EU project on noise and air pollution

How can we reduce noise and air pollution in our cities? The EU project LENS aims to assist enforcement authorities, cities, and regulators to decrease noise and air pollution from vehicles like mopeds and motorcycles. The project will carry out measurements in several European cities. IVL will develop test techniques and methods for measuring emissions under real driving conditions, including small particles that are particularly harmful to health.

As living conditions in Europe have improved over the past decades, it is increasingly affordable for every household to buy cars, mopeds, and utility vehicles. The growth in the number of vehicles on the road has brought discomfort for residents of densely populated areas or near main roads, related to traffic congestion, noise and air pollution.

– Surprisingly few studies have previously been done on air pollution and noise from two-wheeled motor vehicles. We need to find out how big the problem is, and also make improvements, both to vehicles that are already in use today and with the performance of future vehicles, says Åke Sjödin, emissions expert and project manager at the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

One of the main reasons for reducing noise and air pollution is to improve the quality of life of urban areas’ inhabitants. LENS seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and noise levels from L-vehicles to meet the 2030 Agenda goals and enhance the liveability of urban neighbourhoods.

Advanced on-road measurement

During the project, advanced on-road measurement methods and techniques will be used. Together with the University of Leuven and the University of Technology in Graz, IVL will develop methods and techniques to measure and control noise and exhaust emissions under real driving conditions. When it comes to exhaust emissions, there is a particular focus on small particles that are particularly harmful to health.

Paris, Rome and Flanders have been preliminarily selected as field survey locations. Additional real-world emission data for LVs from remote sensing measurements have been and are expected to be collected in upcoming city measurements in the cities of Milan, Krakow and Prague in 2021 and 2022.

– This new information will help improve emission factors and assessment methods and tools used in air and noise pollution assessments. The research results will provide information on different policy options for regulators, cities and authorities, says Åke Sjödin.

For more information, please contact:
Åke Sjödin, ake.sjodin@ivl.se, + 46 (0)10-788 67 98

LENS (L-Vehicles Emissions and Noise mitigation Solutions) is a 36-months project funded by the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme with approximately 5 million EUR. It aims to assist law enforcement, cities, and regulatory authorities to reduce the contribution of L-category vehicles (mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadri-mobiles) to noise and air pollution.

LENS brings together a multidisciplinary group of 15 partners from ten different EU Member States, including five R&D providers, four academic institutes, four light vehicles original equipment manufacturers, one systems supplier, and one partner responsible for communication (POLIS), especially with concerned cities. The Consortium consists of EMISIA External link, opens in new window. (the project Coordinator), IDIADA,  External link, opens in new window.TU GRAZ External link, opens in new window., IVL, RWTH AACHEN External link, opens in new window., KU Leuven External link, opens in new window., CZU Prague External link, opens in new window., TNO External link, opens in new window., IFPEN External link, opens in new window., KTM External link, opens in new window., BMW GROUP, PIAGGIO External link, opens in new window., DUCATI External link, opens in new window., HORIBA External link, opens in new window., POLIS External link, opens in new window..


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