O Air Pollution Control Program for Motor Vehicles (proconve), created in 1986 by the National Council for the Environment (Conama), impacts fleet management. Therefore, it is essential that managers remain vigilant.
This is because the program aims to take care of air quality control in urban centers.
It therefore ensures that all new vehicles operate within permitted emission limits through a series of regulated standards that include exhaust testing.
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So, let's understand better about this topic and how it impacts directly on your management?
Keep reading!
What is Proconve?
What are the phases of Proconve?
What is Proconve's role in fleet management?
Why adopt sustainable measures in your fleet management?
What is Proconve?
Basically, Proconve is a bill that was instituted in 1986 by the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA).
Currently, he is the greatest tool responsible for dealing with environmental issues in the logistics market.
Proconve acts with the intention of controlling and reducing the emission of pollutants generated by cars considered light, as well as those in its fleet, and also the heaviest ones.
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Thus, it stipulates what can be done to reduce these emissions and encourage people's concern about pollution rates.
In order to understand better, you need to know the various stages of Proconve. Continue to learn more:
What are the phases of Proconve?
Check below which are the 7 phases determined by Proconve:
P1
Beginning: 1987
Objective: control the emission of smoke produced by trucks and urban buses.
Main changes: the initial phase of the program, called P1, was responsible for reducing emissions of particulate matter from heavy vehicles by 20% and NOx (nitrogen oxide) by 12%.
Soon, this happened because the vehicles had small technological modifications, among them, the recalibration of the fuel injection systems.
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P2
Beginning: 1994
Objective: limit the noise produced by accelerating vehicles and better determine how the inspection process for diesel vehicles would work.
Main changes: improvement in the injection system and implementation of the intake air cooling system.
Therefore, changes were made to the combustion chambers.
P3
Beginning: 1996
Objective: limit the emission of polluting gases and sulfur.
Main changes: vehicle manufacturers have changed components in the car's structure to succeed in this step.
Furthermore, it was here that the trucks gained high-pressure injection pumps, turbochargers and intercooler that complied with the new legislation.
P4
Beginning: 2000
Objective: meet the rules stipulated by CONAMA in at least 80% of the vehicles.
Main changes: at this stage, engines and injection systems began to rely on a set of multi-valve. From here, these multivalves needed to build a maximum level of 4,00 g/kW.h of CO and 7,00 g/kW.h of NOx.
Furthermore, the limit for particulate matter was set at 0,15 g/kW.h and the permitted sulfur content for diesel oil remained between 3 and 000 ppm.
P5
Beginning: 2004
Objective: implement several innovations in partnership with automakers and refineries.
Main changes: this stage brought significant changes – starting with the optimization of fuels, engines that now have high-pressure injectors, turbo and intercooler. At this stage, the sulfur content dropped and was established between 500 and 2 ppm.
In addition, the CO and NOx limits also underwent changes and were determined at 2,10 g/kW.h and 5,00 g/kW.h, respectively. Particulate Matter also had a significant drop and was established at 0,13 g/kW.h.
P6
Beginning: 2009
This was a phase different from the others so far, where reformulations were necessary, since Brazil was unable to reach the limits established by the program to reduce polluting gases, determined in the previous phase.
Thus, studies indicate that the main reason for this was the lack of adequate diesel.
P7 (Current phase)
Beginning: 2012
Objective: reduce 60% of nitrogen oxide emissions.
Main changes: The main change determined from 2012 until then is the expansion of Arla 32, a chemical compound injected into the exhaust of cars that have the SCR system, capable of reducing NOx by up to 98%.
In this way, it will be possible to reduce the incidence of acid rain and toxic fumes.
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As you can see, Proconve brought many benefits to the environment and the planet. Between them:
- 98% reduction in the emission of pollutants caused by vehicles, despite the increase in the number of fleets in Brazil;
- Better air quality in large cities, which directly affects the quality of life of the population;
- More technology in the domestic automotive market;
- Improvement of the quality of automotive fuels.
Finally, now that you have a better understanding of the Proconve schedule, continue reading to better understand how it impacts your fleet management:
What is Proconve's role in fleet management?
First, one of Proconve's indirect objectives is to bring many commercial benefits to its fleet.
Thus, one of these advantages is the great reduction in costs in the short and long term, since these vehicle updates help to have less fuel expenses, oil and even maintenance.
Furthermore, as the purpose of the Program is to promote the improvement of the technical characteristics of liquid fuels in order to reduce polluting emissions into the atmosphere, the tendency is for domestic vehicles to have higher quality products available.
Therefore, it is important that you also know that, when it comes to Proconve, everyone will be held accountable and must comply with the rules.
Although the last person involved in the process is the fleet manager, he has as much responsibility as the automakers in adapting their vehicles and the petrochemical companies, in the search for less polluting fuels.
Your role with regard to Proconve is renew its fleet with vehicles that follow the Program's regulations.
Why adopt sustainable measures in your fleet management?
However, in addition to all these financial issues, Proconve is also important to make your fleet more sustainable, which brings benefits not only to your company, but to society in the short, medium and long term.
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For you to have an idea, it is predicted that, in 30 years, Proconve should reduce:
- Accumulated vehicle emissions of up to 130 tons of inhalable particles released from exhaust pipes;
- 110 thousand tons of black carbon;
- 12 million tons of nitrogen oxide;
- 2,7 million tons of carbon monoxide;
- 24 thousand tons of hydrocarbons.
Thus, the advantage that these numbers bring to the environment is enormous. Indirectly, this plus in sustainability impacts your company because A more sustainable planet directly reflects on your and your team's quality of life.
This is also important because when it comes to fleet management, it's vital to think about the impact your decisions will have on the future of not just your company, but the world around you.
So our final tip is, if you haven't already done so, you should take stock of your fleet's environmental impact. Then, it is indispensable to think about sustainable solutions when it comes to vehicles.
After all, the sector is growing and, with it, the associated carbon emissions also tend to grow.
However, if fleet managers take steps now to adopt more sustainable alternatives, in addition to saving money, your management will also be ahead of the curve in the sustainability movement.
Finally, do you want to know more about fuel management, how to save on your fleet and, consequently, have more sustainable attitudes?
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