Today two new car emissions tests come into force. They are: the new RDE (Real-Driving Emissions) test for diesel NOx emissions and particulate numbers from gasoline cars; and the new WLTP (World Light Duty Test Protocol) for CO2 emissions.
Advertised and on-road fuel consumption figures continue to drift apart: over the last 10 years, the gap has tripled to more than 40%. Demanding fuel figures you can trust, Germany’s Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and Transport & Environment (T&E) have launched their pan-European campaign with the online tool get-real.org. The website highlights the carmakers’ tricks to manipulate fuel consumption tests as well as costs and the environmental impact of cars guzzling ever more fuel.
A typical driver spends €549 a year more on fuel than official figures claim and the use of these “alternative facts” must end says the pan-European campaign Get Real – Demand fuel figures you can trust that is being launched today. Setup by Germany’s Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and Brussels-based European Federation for Transport & Environment (T&E), the online tool get-real.org highlights the costs and environmental impact of cars guzzling fuel. The campaign encourages consumers and politicians to demand realistic fuel consumption figures from carmakers.
CO2 targets for 2021 for new cars will be based on an improved test, the WLTP (Worldwide harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure), after a decision today by the European Council and the European Commission. Sustainable transport group Transport & Environment (T&E) welcomes the decision as the conversion methodology will limit how much carmakers can manipulate tests to meet 2021 CO2 limits for new cars.
Carmakers will have to provide more realistic fuel economy figures for their new cars as of 2018 thanks to the introduction of a new CO2 laboratory test (WLTP – Worldwide harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure). Sustainable transport group Transport & Environment (T&E) welcomes the decision reached last night between member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Three quarters of a ‘Dirty 30’ list of cars with suspicious emissions behaviour compiled by Transport & Environment (T&E) were approved for sale in Europe by the ‘home’ national authorities. These type approval authorities refuse to take any action to bring carmakers to account, instead blaming Brussels for ‘vague’ legal definitions.
The very first tests of cars’ ‘real-world’ CO2 emissions have revealed gaps between official and actual emissions of 36-56% – very similar to those of other on-road fuel efficiency databases. Three models were tested by PSA Peugeot Citroën, under a protocol devised with T&E, on public roads near Paris with passengers, luggage loads, use of air conditioning and other real-life driving conditions.
Europe’s largest association of car drivers, the German ADAC, has said a 75g per km CO2 emissions limit for new cars from 2025 would be consistent with current trends. The ADAC also said so-called ‘supercredits’ for makers of low-emission vehicles do nothing to reduce overall climate changing emissions.
In a year when the auto-industry was rocked by the #dieselgate scandal we also learned Volkswagen distorted tests for fuel economy and CO2 emissions as well. It was not surprising; contrary to industry claims of progress on efficiency there had been no real-world progress for a third successive year.
T&E’s German member Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) commissioned emissions testing on a Opel Zafira 1.6 CDTi (Euro 6b, 6,000 km) with a testing house at the Swiss Berner Fachhochschule.
