Beijing, the morning of November 5. Eleven experts from universities, regional vehicle-emission management centers, industry associations and equipment makers went through the draft of “Limits and measurement methods for exhaust pollutants from non-road mobile machinery and engines (China Stage V)” question by question, with officials from the ecology and environment ministry’s air quality and standards departments in the room. The verdict was unanimous: the draft cleared technical review, the last gate before publication.
The standard started with a June 18 consultation notice (Huanban Biaozheng Han [2026] No. 17) that closed on July 18. The drafting notes propose full implementation around 2028, and models whose development is finished early may undergo Stage V type approval as soon as the standard is published. Compare the pace: Stage IV was issued in 2014 and took effect in December 2022, more than eight years in between. Stage V leaves about two.
The ruler changed too. Stage IV caps CO, HC, NOx and PM. Stage V keeps those four and adds particle number (PN) and ammonia, and folds greenhouse gases and crankcase emissions into the same table: NOx for the 56-560 kW band drops from roughly 2.0 to 0.40 g/kWh, about 80 percent tighter (around 88 percent for 56-130 kW); PM tightens 30-55 percent across bands; PN tightens about 80 percent, which effectively makes DPFs standard equipment; SCR-equipped machines must add an ammonia slip catalyst, capped at 10 ppm; CO2 gets its first limit, with CH4 and N2O recorded alongside.
Four gates become six
The change lands on the machine itself. Under Stage IV, some mid- and small-power models passed with in-engine measures alone; Stage V closes that route, so SCR, DOC, DPF and ASC all go on board and aftertreatment cost per unit rises – the same path Europe took with EU Stage V. The supply chain has two years to retool.
The new standard binds production, import and sales, not existing machines. Road access, however, is decided locally: Dezhou bans China Stage I-and-below machines citywide from December 1, 2026 and Stage II-and-below from July 1, 2027, and other cities keep raising low-emission-zone bars as national standards climb. Registration status cannot be changed, but measured smoke can – for in-use Stage II and III machines, retrofit exhaust purification is the most direct way to stay in service. AIFILTECH’s non-road black smoke purifiers and dry genset black smoke purifiers cover construction machinery and fixed-duty generator sets respectively.
