diff --git a/ebos/eclnewtonmethod.hh b/ebos/eclnewtonmethod.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c45a3dfa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ebos/eclnewtonmethod.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+// -*- mode: C++; tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 4 -*-
+// vi: set et ts=4 sw=4 sts=4:
+/*
+  This file is part of the Open Porous Media project (OPM).
+
+  OPM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  OPM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with OPM.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+  Consult the COPYING file in the top-level source directory of this
+  module for the precise wording of the license and the list of
+  copyright holders.
+*/
+/*!
+ * \file
+ *
+ * \copydoc Ewoms::EclNewtonMethod
+ */
+#ifndef EWOMS_ECL_NEWTON_METHOD_HH
+#define EWOMS_ECL_NEWTON_METHOD_HH
+
+#include <ewoms/models/blackoil/blackoilnewtonmethod.hh>
+#include <ewoms/common/signum.hh>
+
+#include <opm/material/common/Unused.hpp>
+
+BEGIN_PROPERTIES
+
+NEW_PROP_TAG(NewtonSumTolerance);
+
+END_PROPERTIES
+
+namespace Ewoms {
+
+/*!
+ * \brief A newton solver which is ebos specific.
+ */
+template <class TypeTag>
+class EclNewtonMethod : public BlackOilNewtonMethod<TypeTag>
+{
+    typedef BlackOilNewtonMethod<TypeTag> ParentType;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, DiscNewtonMethod) DiscNewtonMethod;
+
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, Simulator) Simulator;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, FluidSystem) FluidSystem;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, SolutionVector) SolutionVector;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, GlobalEqVector) GlobalEqVector;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, PrimaryVariables) PrimaryVariables;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, EqVector) EqVector;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, Indices) Indices;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, Scalar) Scalar;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, Linearizer) Linearizer;
+    typedef typename GET_PROP_TYPE(TypeTag, ElementContext) ElementContext;
+
+    static const unsigned numEq = GET_PROP_VALUE(TypeTag, NumEq);
+
+    static constexpr int contiSolventEqIdx = Indices::contiSolventEqIdx;
+    static constexpr int contiPolymerEqIdx = Indices::contiPolymerEqIdx;
+    static constexpr int contiEnergyEqIdx = Indices::contiEnergyEqIdx;
+
+    friend NewtonMethod<TypeTag>;
+    friend DiscNewtonMethod;
+    friend ParentType;
+
+public:
+    EclNewtonMethod(Simulator& simulator) : ParentType(simulator)
+    {
+        errorPvFraction_ = 1.0;
+        sumTolerance_ = EWOMS_GET_PARAM(TypeTag, Scalar, NewtonSumTolerance);
+        relaxedTolerance_ = 1e9;
+    }
+
+    /*!
+     * \brief Register all run-time parameters for the Newton method.
+     */
+    static void registerParameters()
+    {
+        ParentType::registerParameters();
+
+        EWOMS_REGISTER_PARAM(TypeTag, Scalar, NewtonSumTolerance,
+                             "The maximum error tolerated by the Newton"
+                             "method for considering a solution to be "
+                             "converged");
+    }
+
+    /*!
+     * \brief Returns true if the error of the solution is below the
+     *        tolerance.
+     */
+    bool converged() const
+    {
+        if (errorPvFraction_ < 0.01)
+            return (this->error_ < relaxedTolerance_ && errorSum_ < sumTolerance_) ;
+        else if (this->numIterations() > 8)
+            return (this->error_ < relaxedTolerance_ && errorSum_ < sumTolerance_) ;
+
+        return this->error_ <= this->tolerance() && errorSum_ <= sumTolerance_;
+    }
+
+    void preSolve_(const SolutionVector& currentSolution  OPM_UNUSED,
+                   const GlobalEqVector& currentResidual)
+    {
+        const auto& constraintsMap = this->model().linearizer().constraintsMap();
+        this->lastError_ = this->error_;
+        Scalar newtonMaxError = EWOMS_GET_PARAM(TypeTag, Scalar, NewtonMaxError);
+
+        // calculate the error as the maximum weighted tolerance of
+        // the solution's residual
+        this->error_ = 0.0;
+        Dune::FieldVector<Scalar, numEq> componentSumError;
+        std::fill(componentSumError.begin(), componentSumError.end(), 0.0);
+        Scalar sumPv = 0.0;
+        errorPvFraction_ = 0.0;
+        const Scalar dt = this->simulator_.timeStepSize();
+        for (unsigned dofIdx = 0; dofIdx < currentResidual.size(); ++dofIdx) {
+            // do not consider auxiliary DOFs for the error
+            if (dofIdx >= this->model().numGridDof()
+                || this->model().dofTotalVolume(dofIdx) <= 0.0)
+                continue;
+
+            if (!this->model().isLocalDof(dofIdx))
+                continue;
+
+            // also do not consider DOFs which are constraint
+            if (this->enableConstraints_()) {
+                if (constraintsMap.count(dofIdx) > 0)
+                    continue;
+            }
+
+            const auto& r = currentResidual[dofIdx];
+            const double pvValue =
+                this->simulator_.problem().porosity(dofIdx)
+                * this->model().dofTotalVolume(dofIdx);
+            sumPv += pvValue;
+            bool cnvViolated = false;
+
+            for (unsigned eqIdx = 0; eqIdx < r.size(); ++eqIdx) {
+                Scalar tmpError = r[eqIdx] * dt * this->model().eqWeight(dofIdx, eqIdx) / pvValue;
+                Scalar tmpError2 = r[eqIdx] * this->model().eqWeight(dofIdx, eqIdx);
+
+                this->error_ = Opm::max(std::abs(tmpError), this->error_);
+
+                if (std::abs(tmpError) > this->tolerance_)
+                    cnvViolated = true;
+
+                componentSumError[eqIdx] += std::abs(tmpError2);
+            }
+            if (cnvViolated)
+                errorPvFraction_ += pvValue;
+        }
+
+        // take the other processes into account
+        this->error_ = this->comm_.max(this->error_);
+        componentSumError = this->comm_.sum(componentSumError);
+        sumPv = this->comm_.sum(sumPv);
+        errorPvFraction_ = this->comm_.sum(errorPvFraction_);
+
+        componentSumError /= sumPv;
+        componentSumError *= dt;
+
+        errorPvFraction_ /= sumPv;
+
+        errorSum_ = 0;
+        for (unsigned eqIdx = 0; eqIdx < numEq; ++eqIdx)
+            errorSum_ = std::max(std::abs(componentSumError[eqIdx]), errorSum_);
+
+        // make sure that the error never grows beyond the maximum
+        // allowed one
+        if (this->error_ > newtonMaxError)
+            throw Opm::NumericalIssue("Newton: Error "+std::to_string(double(this->error_))
+                                        +" is larger than maximum allowed error of "
+                                        +std::to_string(double(newtonMaxError)));
+
+        // make sure that the error never grows beyond the maximum
+        // allowed one
+        if (errorSum_ > newtonMaxError)
+            throw Opm::NumericalIssue("Newton: Sum of the error "+std::to_string(double(errorSum_))
+                                        +" is larger than maximum allowed error of "
+                                        +std::to_string(double(newtonMaxError)));
+    }
+
+private:
+    Scalar errorPvFraction_;
+    Scalar errorSum_;
+
+    Scalar relaxedTolerance_;
+
+    Scalar sumTolerance_;
+};
+} // namespace Ewoms
+
+#endif
diff --git a/ebos/eclproblem.hh b/ebos/eclproblem.hh
index b86a8ec3d..c9b8a33d4 100644
--- a/ebos/eclproblem.hh
+++ b/ebos/eclproblem.hh
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 #include "ecldummygradientcalculator.hh"
 #include "eclfluxmodule.hh"
 #include "eclbaseaquifermodel.hh"
+#include "eclnewtonmethod.hh"
 #include "ecltracermodel.hh"
 #include "vtkecltracermodule.hh"
 
@@ -235,14 +236,10 @@ SET_SCALAR_PROP(EclBaseProblem, EndTime, 1e100);
 // not millions of trillions of years, that is...)
 SET_SCALAR_PROP(EclBaseProblem, InitialTimeStepSize, 1e100);
 
-// increase the default raw tolerance for the newton solver to 10^-4 because this is what
-// everone else seems to be doing...
-SET_SCALAR_PROP(EclBaseProblem, NewtonRawTolerance, 1e-4);
-
-// reduce the maximum allowed Newton error to 0.1 kg/(m^3 s). The rationale is that if
-// the error is above that limit, the time step is unlikely to succeed anyway and we can
-// thus abort the futile attempt early.
-SET_SCALAR_PROP(EclBaseProblem, NewtonMaxError, 0.1);
+// increase the default raw tolerance for the newton solver because this is what everone
+// else seems to be doing...
+SET_SCALAR_PROP(EclBaseProblem, NewtonRawTolerance, 1e-2);
+SET_SCALAR_PROP(EclBaseProblem, NewtonSumTolerance, 1e-3);
 
 // set the maximum number of Newton iterations to 14 because the likelyhood that a time
 // step succeeds at more than 14 Newton iteration is rather small
@@ -281,6 +278,10 @@ SET_TYPE_PROP(EclBaseProblem, FluxModule, Ewoms::EclTransFluxModule<TypeTag>);
 // Use the dummy gradient calculator in order not to do unnecessary work.
 SET_TYPE_PROP(EclBaseProblem, GradientCalculator, Ewoms::EclDummyGradientCalculator<TypeTag>);
 
+// Use a custom Newton-Raphson method class for ebos in order to attain more
+// sophisticated update and error computation mechanisms
+SET_TYPE_PROP(EclBaseProblem, NewtonMethod, Ewoms::EclNewtonMethod<TypeTag>);
+
 // The frequency of writing restart (*.ers) files. This is the number of time steps
 // between writing restart files
 SET_INT_PROP(EclBaseProblem, RestartWritingInterval, 0xffffff); // disable