The European Parliament carried out amendments to the existing Commission Regulation 640/2009/EC, pertaining to ecodesign requirements for electric motors, thus widening its scope and limiting the exemptions currently in force.
The new Commission Regulation 4/2014/EC, published on 6th January 2014 in the Official Journal of the European Union, differs from the previous one only at Article 1 – Subject matter and scope - and it sets out new and more restrictive exclusions of those motors covered by such Regulation. Therefore, the present Regulation does not apply to motors specifically designed to operate:
• at altitudes exceeding 4,000 metres above sea-level (such limit was previously fixed at 1,000 metres above sea-level);
• where ambient air temperatures exceed 60°C (such limit was previously fixed at 40°C);
• in maximum operating temperature above 400°C;
• where ambient air temperatures are less than –30°C (such limit was previously fixed at -15°C) for any motor or less than 0°C for a motor with water cooling;
• where the water coolant temperature at the inlet to a product is less than 0°C (such limit was previously fixed at 5°C) or exceeding 32°C (such limit was previously fixed at 25°C).
The new Regulation shall enter into force on 27th January 2014, in other words, on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and shall apply as from 27th July 2014, in other words, six months after the date of entry into force.
Therefore, after such date, it is forbidden for the manufacturers of three-phase asynchronous motors to place into the European Economic Area IE1 efficiency class motors covered by the scope of the amendments of such new Regulation.
Luca Trevisiol, Group Marketing & Sales Director: ”This is a step toward greater control, that shall further limit the possibility to place low efficiency motors on to the market. We are still far behind other world countries in the market surveillance, many of which require third parties certifications. Nevertheless this is a small step in the right direction”.
