Briefing

How can fuel consumption meters ensure car CO2 limits are met on the road

September 29, 2020

The stringency of EU car CO2 emission standards has been severely undermined by the growing gap between type approval and real world CO2 emission values. Almost half the emissions savings achieved on paper by new vehicles in the EU since 2001 have only been managed in the lab.

In an attempt to solve this, the Commission will begin the compulsory collection of real world CO2 emissions, fuel and energy consumption recorded from on-board fuel consumption meters (OBFCM) starting in 2021 so the Commission can monitor the gap and assess how it develops. However, the effectiveness of this depends on how the technical measures – or implementing regulations – are designed in the months to come. In this paper, T&E shares its view on how to ensure data collected from vehicles is sufficiently representative, comparable, accurate and accessible, to ensure the EU can move towards a regulatory framework which prioritises real world, not just laboratory based compliance with emissions targets.

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