2024-01-24 20:30:06
Passenger cars in the EU emit much more CO2 than manufacturers claim. After dieselgate, emissions tests have improved, but actual emissions on the road remain much higher. As a result, cars do not meet the legal requirements of the EU.
Since 2021, new passenger cars in the EU may emit an average of a maximum of 115 grams of CO2 per kilometer. On paper, car manufacturers have achieved that goal, but in practice cars still emit about 20 percent more than permitted, the European Court of Auditors concludes in a new report.
This time it does not have to do with tampering during laboratory tests on new cars, but with the fact that motorists in the real world exhibit different driving behavior than is simulated in the lab.
The EU auditors rely on information that the European Commission has been collecting since 2021. From that year on, all new cars will have their total fuel consumption recorded, making it possible to check how efficient they really are during maintenance.
Hybrids emit much more
After it emerged that Volkswagen was selling ‘cheap diesels’, the European Union has already switched to improved laboratory testing for passenger cars. These have ensured that the gap between performance in the lab and on the road has been halved, says the Court of Audit.
But cars still emit more in real life than in a test situation. Remarkably, this now applies more to petrol cars (23.7 percent) than diesels (18.1 percent). Hybrid cars, which can also be charged with a plug, take the cake: in practice they emit no less than 3.5 times as much as manufacturers promise.
This is because the owners of such cars use the battery much less than was assumed when the efficiency figures were compiled. In practice, hybrids run ‘normally’ on petrol much more often than expected. This especially applies to company cars: if the boss pays for the fuel, there is hardly any reason for employees to charge the battery.
By the end of 2026, the European Commission must determine how the ‘real’ emissions figures can be used to improve laboratory testing and improve CO2 standards in the future.
Sales of e-cars must be faster
Between 2009 and 2019, the actual emissions of the European vehicle fleet hardly decreased, the Court of Audit notes. At the time, manufacturers were mainly concerned with improving their scores in the laboratory, while in reality efficiency was not improving. Cars also became heavier and more powerful, requiring more fuel.
Since 2020, the actual emissions of the European vehicle fleet have started to decline. This is due to the rise of the electric car, which now accounts for more than 10 percent of European new car sales.
Yet the Court of Audit points out that these sales are not happening nearly fast enough to achieve the European CO2 targets. To achieve this, the purchase of an electric car must become cheaper. European countries must also invest more in charging infrastructure.
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RDW does not check sufficiently
In the investigation, the European Court of Auditors also reprimands the Dutch RDW, because the regulator did not sufficiently check the emissions tests of car manufacturers in 2020 and 2021. The RDW appears not to have been present at such a test once in those two years, even though the agency is supposed to carry out regular supervision. The German counterpart did a lot better, with more than eighty checks.
According to the Court of Audit, “no alarm bells are ringing” about the reliability of the data. But to maintain confidence in the emissions tests, regulators must perform their duties properly.
A spokesperson for the RDW attributes the lack of physical checks in 2020 and 2021 to the corona pandemic. According to him, checks were carried out remotely. “As soon as traveling was possible again, we physically visited the manufacturers we work with again.”
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