Car fuel economy and CO2 claims are (one-third) hot air!

Wow, we do get to read some fascinating reports for this blog (!).  The excitingly entitled report "Supporting Analysis regarding Test Procedure Flexibilities and Technology Deployment for Review of the Light Duty Vehicle CO2 Regulations (Service request #6 for Framework Contract on Vehicle Emissions) was published by the European Commission in December 2012.  

The research by the Dutch consultancy TNO looked at ‘manipulations/flexibilities’ in the "type" approval testing for vehicles in the European Union. 

The report states that up to two thirds of officially recorded emissions "can be credited to improved technologies". However, at least one third of the vehicle emissions (9g/km) are "likely to be the result of car makers manipulating the test procedures" and that the "estimate of the potential impact of test procedure flexibilities and their level of utilisation in the 2002-10 period appears to explain the remaining gap."

For many years, there have been concerns about the recorded discrepancies between the officially certified emissions of cars and what they actually emit when out on the road. Previously, these concerns focused on the appropriateness of "test cycles". But the growing gap between real-world driving and manufacturers test result claims led to the recent research on how test results can be manipulated by car manufactureres using "flexibilities" in their testing procedures.  

The TNO report supports an earlier German study (1) showed emissions savings recorded in Germany were only half the amount suggested by official figures.  This research, by the International Council on Clean Transportation compared official test results with a database of real-world fuel consumption in Germany using data from the website www.spritmonitor.de. 

ICCT compared over 28,000 records of real-world emissions with the official CO2 figures for the same vehicles. The report concluded that between 2001-2010, CO2 emissions in Germany fell 15% according to official figures, but that drivers reported only a 7% improvement. As a result, the fall in CO2 emissions from the average vehicle between 2006 and 2010 was officially 12% (173 g/km down to 152g) but in reality only reduced by 6% (190g down to 179g).

With Britain and Manchester failing to meet European Union air pollution targets - and likely to be on the receiving end of some large fines - we need car manufacturers to come clean about the real levels of CO2 and other pollution emissions from the vehicles that are manufactured and driven within the UK and the European Union.

Why not ask your MEP to look into the issue? You can find out who your MEP is and how to contact them via those lovely people at the Write to Them website.


(1) Discrepancies between type-approval and real-world fuel consumption and CO2 values in 2001-2011 European passenger cars. ICCT