Will the promotion of agricultural machinery to "National IV" be postponed?

At present, less than 5 months before the official implementation of the China IV emission regulations on non-national roads, relevant departments in the industry are busy preparing for the switch of "China IV". During this period, some people also raised doubts about whether China IV will be extended. Judging from the news, there is no official definitive extension.

On December 2020, 12, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment officially approved the issuance of the Technical Requirements for Pollutant Emission Control of Non-road Diesel Mobile Machinery (Release Draft). The technical requirements state that from December 28, 2022, all non-road mobile machinery produced, imported and sold and their diesel engines installed in 12kW and below shall meet the requirements of this standard.

Since then, as an important part of non-road mobile machinery, the long-standing issue of agricultural machinery has officially settled.

In fact, many cities in China have implemented non-road China IV emission regulations in advance. For example, Beijing issued a notice on April 2021, 4, stating that Beijing began to implement the "China IV" non-road machinery emission standard on December 1, 2021, a full year earlier than the time required by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment also issued a notice on December 12, 2, proposing that Shenzhen implement the China IV non-road machinery emission standard from May 1, 2021.

At present, the early switch of "National IV" in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen has not brought great shock and impact to the agricultural machinery industry. The reason for this may be that compared with other provinces, Beijing and Shenzhen account for a very small proportion of agriculture, so these two cities implemented the "China IV" emission regulations in advance, and did not bring forward the pain period brought by the "China IV" upgrade to enterprises.

Experts pointed out that the upgrade of "National III" to "National IV" is not a simple problem of upgrading the engine, so it is not only a matter for engine companies, but also a greater challenge for the whole machine company.

What is the difference between "China IV" and "China III"?

"National III" mainly relies on increasing the engine injection pressure, improving the combustion adequacy of fuel, thereby reducing emission levels, "National IV" needs to introduce engine off-board purification technology, that is, National IV stage must apply a post-treatment technology, that is, the use of exhaust aftertreatment technology to control emissions.

Choosing a "China IV" engine that meets the requirements is only the beginning of the upgrade. Only by replacing the "China IV" engine, the emission is not guaranteed, and it needs to be reasonably matched with the rear processor.

According to the technical requirements, engines larger than 37 kW must be equipped with DPF (particle trap), and some products also need to be equipped with urea tanks (SCR technology route). DPF and urea tanks are large, which may lead to changes in the structure of the whole machine. Especially for combine harvesters, the safety problem is more prominent because the DPF operating temperature is up to 600 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, the "National IV" upgrade of many products is a new product development.

Who is responsible for the unqualified emissions of "China IV" products during use?

According to Du Fengjing, director of the Office of the Leading Working Group for Environmental Protection Investigation of Non-road Mobile Machinery in Jiangsu Province, on the interpretation of the "National IV" related issues, if the ecological and environmental department fails the on-site inspection, the equipment owner (that is, the user) will be punished first, but if it can be proved that it is a quality problem of the equipment itself, the ecological and environmental department will trace the responsibility of the production enterprise.

At the same time, if the customer finds that there is a problem with the production quality, it is necessary to give feedback to the enterprise as soon as possible, and if it is a large batch, it is necessary to feedback to the State Administration for Market Supervision for an orderly recall.

At present, how does the National IV enter the national subsidy catalog?

In order for "National IV" agricultural machinery to enter the national subsidy catalog, enterprises first need to do two things. First, the enterprise needs to obtain the unique code of the host model issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the second is the "National Fourth" appraisal and promotion certificate of the host.

On June 2022, 6, the Agricultural Mechanization Station issued a notice on the change of the "China IV" agricultural machinery identification information and other matters, which clearly stated that the confirmation and change of the certification product identification information shall be carried out in the form of "independent change by the enterprise".

At present, enterprises can only change three products: agricultural diesel engines, wheeled and crawler tractors, and walk-behind tractors that meet the requirements of changes in relevant structural and characteristic parameters, and the information change policies of other models have not yet been introduced.

After December 12, what will happen to the company's "National Three" inventory?

"China IV" emission regulations require that after December 2022, 12, enterprises are no longer allowed to produce and sell "China III" machines, so what about the backlog of "China III" inventory?

Enterprises may take the following two measures: first, export "China III" machines to countries whose emission requirements are lower than China's "China IV" emission requirements; Second, it can be sold through reasonable operation, as a second mobile phone or leasing.

In addition, it should be noted that the sales of second-hand phones are not affected by emission regulations, but there are also standards for "smoke limits for machinery in use", and the industry needs more attention.

Can "China III" products purchased before December 12 receive subsidies?

At present, China's agricultural machinery subsidies adopt the method of purchasing machines first and then settlement, which leads to the fact that some users purchase machines before December 2022, 12 need to be subsidized after the switching period, and whether or not subsidies are often an important consideration for users to purchase machines.

There is currently no clear policy on this issue.

Beijing issued a notice before the official switch of "China IV", saying that diesel agricultural machinery purchased after December 2021, 12 (inclusive) (subject to the invoice date) should meet the national stage IV emission standards, otherwise they cannot enjoy agricultural machinery purchase subsidies. The Agricultural Mechanization Station also stated in the notice issued on June 1, 2022 that from December 6, 4, the "National III" products that were originally qualified shall not be used for related activities such as applying for purchase subsidies, government procurement and technology promotion.

A few days ago, Beijing also announced the first batch of agricultural machinery purchase products in 2022 file information, the reporter found by inquiring the file information of some of the equipment found that the identification information of these tools is still the identification information of "National III". In response to this doubt, the staff of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs told reporters that the filing was to meet the needs of users who did not have time to apply for subsidies after purchasing before December 2021, 12.

Will there be additional subsidies for the "National IV" machine?

After switching to "National IV", whether there is a certain subsidy tilt is a problem that agricultural machinery enterprises and agricultural machinery users are very concerned about. Especially for agricultural machinery users, upgrading "National IV" has led to an increase in the purchase cost, and it is very hoped that the increased purchase cost will be made up through subsidies.

However, combined with the upgrade of "National II" to "National III" in 2016, no additional subsidies were given to the "National III" machine at that time.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs mentioned in its reply to Deputy Zhao Zhanshui's proposal to give additional subsidies to agricultural machinery products with non-road national four emission standards, and to fully implement subsidies for the scrapping and renewal of agricultural machinery, and increase the elimination of old agricultural machinery with high energy consumption, heavy pollution and low safety performance. The "2021-2023 Agricultural Machinery Purchase Subsidy Policy Implementation Guidance" also clearly states that provinces can increase the promotion and application of intelligent, duplex and high-end products, select some products to increase the amount of subsidies, and eligible non-road China IV emission standard agricultural machinery products can be included in the scope according to the procedure.

It can be seen that the reply did not mention the additional subsidies given to "China IV" agricultural machinery. So far, the reporter has not received any news about the additional subsidies for the "National Fourth" agricultural opportunities.

Will the cost of users purchasing "China IV" products rise significantly?

After upgrading "National IV", the user's purchase cost will rise to a certain extent, but how much will rise in this will also score power.

As we all know, "China IV" recommends DOC+DPF+SCR and EGR+DOC+DPF two technical routes, and machines in different power sections will adopt different emission control technologies, so the cost of increasing the cost of "China IV" machines in different power sections is also different.

It is concluded that the increase in the cost of the "China IV" aircraft is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, the cost of supporting new technologies has increased. The "China IV" engine is equipped with aftertreatment system and corresponding supporting components, and this part of the cost is estimated. The purchase cost of the "China IV" machine in the small and medium-horsepower section increased by about 8000~15000 yuan, and the purchase cost of the "National IV" machine in the high-horsepower section increased by about 18000~30000 yuan. Of course, there may also be factors such as rising raw materials and technological improvements.

Second, the cost of use has increased. The "China IV" machine needs to add urea solution regularly, and urea will be consumed at a fuel ratio of 1:10.

Third, the cost of oil has increased. "National IV" has higher requirements for diesel quality, and if inferior diesel is used, it is easy to cause blockage of the treatment device. For example, the "National IV" machine uses unqualified diesel with high sulfur content, which can easily lead to aftertreatment poisoning, DPF blockage, and even burning.

四是副配套成本增加。尿素箱必须带加热系统，不然很容易造成尿素结晶。导航按照国家统一要求安装。

五是维修成本增加。据相关农机销售人员发布消息称，以上任何一项出问题，“单次”维修保养费用高达3000~5000元。