For the first time in years, the discrepancy between passenger vehicle type approval test results and in-use fuel consumption and CO2 emissions has not increased, indicating stabilization at around 39 percent
The average gap between official fuel consumption figures and actual fuel use for new cars in the EU has fallen slightly, to a level of 39 per cent, according to the latest update by the International Council on Clean Transport (ICCT) of its ongoing research into vehicle fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
“It is the first time since we started our monitoring in 2012 that we have observed a slight decrease in the gap between official and real-world values, to a level of 39 percent,” says Uwe Tietje, a researcher at ICCT Europe and lead author. the study. “Until now, the gap has been increasing from year to year.”
This latest update of ICCT’s annual real-world monitoring is based on a statistical analysis of data for more than 1.3 million vehicles from eight European countries. The analysis is based on data from 15 different sources: user websites spritmonitor.de (Germany), HonestJohn.co.uk (UK), Fiches-Auto.fr (France), and fleet management and fuel card companies Travelcard (Netherlands). LeasePlan (Germany), Allstar Fuel Card (UK), Clean Car Contracts (Belgium and Netherlands), automotive and consumer magazines AUTO BILD (Germany), Motorsport (Germany and Sweden), Vehicle Testing Organization Emissions Analytics (UK), Cars.com km77.com (Spain), TCS Auto Club (Switzerland), and “Mobilitätspanel” Survey (Germany).
Despite the recent slowdown, the discrepancy between official measurements of vehicle efficiency and the actual performance of new cars in daily driving has more than quadrupled since 2001 – a discrepancy that translates to €400 per year in additional fuel costs for the average vehicle. As a result, less than half of the paper reductions in CO2 emissions since 2001 have been achieved in practice.
Manufacturers measure vehicle fuel consumption in a controlled laboratory environment. Since September 2018, a new testing procedure, the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP), must be followed for all new vehicles. ICCT researchers speculate that increased public interest in real-world vehicle performance in the wake of the Dieselgate incident may have led to a noticeable slight reduction in the gap between sales brochure numbers and the real world. “But it may also be down to the fact that all manufacturers have met their CO2 targets for 2015, and now have only limited regulatory pressure to reduce CO2 emissions values from new vehicles, until the next set of targets come into effect in 2020.” “. Dr. Peter Mock, Managing Director, ICCT Europe.
At the end of December 2018, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Member States reached a political agreement on mandatory CO2 standards for new vehicles for 2025 and 2030. As part of the agreement, it was set that the level of CO2 emissions of new cars must fall by 37.5 percent between 2021 and 2030. “EU regulators have learned from previous mistakes,” comments Dr. Peter Mock, referring to the regulation’s requirements. The new law requires manufacturers to disclose real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emissions data. It is collected using the vehicle’s on-board fuel consumption meters, for all new cars from 2021 onwards. “It is now important that real-world data collected from manufacturers are transparent to consumers as well as researchers,” warns Dr. Mok. “Furthermore, the European Commission should quickly develop a methodology to penalize manufacturers that provide unrealistically low fuel consumption data to their customers, in an attempt to not only stabilize, but actually reduce the real-world gap in the coming years.”
From the lab to the road: 2018 update of official and “global” fuel consumption and CO2 values for passenger cars in Europe
Download as PDF: https://www.theicct.org/publications/laboratory-road-2018-update
All Data Sources 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 8% 10% 11% 12% 11% 14% 16% 18% 20% 23% 27% 28% 33% 36 % 39% 40% 39%
communication:
Dr. Peter Mock
Director General ICCT Europe
New Promenade 6, 10178 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 (30) 847129-102
Email: peter@theicct.org
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is an independent, non-profit organization established to provide first-class, unbiased research and technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators. The ICCT Board of Participants includes high-level government officials, academic researchers, and independent experts in transportation and environmental policy, who come together at regular intervals to collaborate as individuals in setting a global clean transportation agenda. Founded in 2005, ICCT has offices in Berlin and Brussels, as well as in the United States and China. It is mainly funded by private foundations, such as Stiftung Mercator in Europe.
