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Ohio emissions test (E-Check): the official wording
Everything in quotation marks here is from 4 sources and was matched to them on November 11, 2026. The quotes are the sources’ words; ours only label them.
A notice on the official page. Read this first:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2026
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today that he has directed Ohio EPA to begin the process to end the E-Check vehicle emissions testing program in Northeast Ohio.
U.S. EPA approval is required before the program can be eliminated.
Ohio must continue operating E-Check until the federal government approves the request to end the program.
About these quotes.
Ohio EPA’s own E-Check pages answered “not found” to our reader, so the quotes here come from the Ohio Administrative Code, from a US EPA notice in the Federal Register, and from a news release of the Governor’s office delivered through GovDelivery (the Governor’s own site also answered “not found”). We could not read an Ohio agency page that links to the program’s public website, so we do not quote that site.
On this page: where · how often · fee · new and older vehicles · diesel, electric, hybrid · check a vehicle · sources
What does the text call it?
Under Ohio's E-Check program, Ohio EPA is required to ensure emissions testing is performed in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties.
The page we point to: Ohio Administrative Code 3745-26-12, Requirements for motor vehicle owners in the enhanced automobile inspection and maintenance program. The agency’s own page, which our reader could not open: Ohio EPA, E-Check.
Which counties does the text name?
The quoted text names 7 counties:
- Cuyahoga County
- Geauga County
- Lake County
- Lorain County
- Medina County
- Portage County
- Summit County
Under Ohio's E-Check program, Ohio EPA is required to ensure emissions testing is performed in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties.
The program is currently active in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties.
How often is the test?
An owner or lessee whose vehicle is an odd number model year is required to present a valid inspection certificate upon vehicle registration in odd numbered calendar years.
An owner or lessee whose vehicle is an even number model year is required to present a valid inspection certificate upon vehicle registration in even numbered calendar years.
Ohio formally launched the E-Check Program in 1996, requiring certain vehicles to undergo emissions testing every two years.
What does the test cost?
For an owner or lessee, the contractor shall provide for one free passing emission inspection or a total of three emissions inspections for a motor vehicle in any three-hundred-sixty-five day period.
What does the text say about new and older vehicles?
New motor vehicles (non-hybrids) are exempt from the inspection requirements for six years in the enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program.
Listed under:
Effective January 1, 1996, the following motor vehicles are permanently exempt from the emissions inspection required in the designated program area:
Vehicles that are older than twenty-five years, as determined by vehicle model year.
What about diesel, electric and hybrid vehicles?
Every current line we hold for Ohio that uses the word diesel, electric or hybrid. Some are about one place or one kind of test; each speaks for itself.
New motor vehicles (non-hybrids) are exempt from the inspection requirements for six years in the enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program.
New hybrid motor vehicles are exempt from the inspection requirements for seven years in the enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program.
Effective June 30, 2025, the following motor vehicles are permanently exempt from the emissions inspection required in the designated program area: (a) Battery electric motor vehicles (b) Plug-in hybrid electric motor vehicles.
What about heavier vehicles?
Listed under:
Effective January 1, 1996, the following motor vehicles are permanently exempt from the emissions inspection required in the designated program area:
Motor vehicles with gross vehicle weight ratings of more than ten thousand pounds.
What else does the text say?
"Designated program area" includes any county currently or formerly classified as moderate, serious, severe or extreme nonattainment for carbon monoxide or ozone in accordance with the Clean Air Act and that is subject to an enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program.
Listed under:
Effective January 1, 1996, the following motor vehicles are permanently exempt from the emissions inspection required in the designated program area:
Vehicles operating on an alternative fuel such as primarily one hundred per cent propane, butane, alcohol or natural gas.
A passing vehicle inspection certificate issued to an owner or lessee is valid for three hundred sixty-five days from the date of the inspection and can be transferred to a subsequent owner or lessee of that vehicle.
An owner or lessee may have a vehicle inspected in any county in Ohio where the approved test is being offered.
Check a vehicle against these quotes
Enter a model year, a fuel and a weight rating, and choose the county. The checker repeats the quotes above and, where a figure can be compared, says where your entry falls against it. It does not decide anything about your vehicle.
Which pages could we not read?
We ask for each page with a plain request that names this site, and we don’t work around a refusal. These pages matter for Ohio and did not open for us:
- Ohio EPA, E-Check (answered “not found” to our reader on November 11, 2026)
- Ohio EPA, E-Check testing information (answered “not found” to our reader on November 11, 2026)
- Office of the Governor of Ohio, news and media (answered “not found” to our reader on November 11, 2026)
Where do these quotes come from?
- Ohio Administrative Code 3745-26-12, Requirements for motor vehicle owners in the enhanced automobile inspection and maintenance program (codes.ohio.gov; statute or administrative code; read November 11, 2026)
- Ohio Administrative Code 3745-26-01, Definitions (codes.ohio.gov; statute or administrative code; read November 11, 2026)
- US EPA, Federal Register proposed rule on Ohio E-Check attestation provisions (govinfo.gov; federal page; read November 11, 2026)
- Office of the Governor of Ohio, news release (delivered through GovDelivery) (content.govdelivery.com; governor’s office news release; read November 11, 2026)
Spotted a quote that has changed at its source? Tell us. See also the comparison table for the other states.