Your car guzzles much more fuel and money than you think.
Fuel consumption results obtained in the laboratory and on the road, in real-world driving conditions, were compared by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
Here is what they found:
And this gap is growing bigger and bigger:
Before the emission tests in the laboratory, carmakers optimise their cars in a way that is not representative of real-driving conditions. By doing so, they manage to reduce, on paper, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
For example, they:
Here is an overview of the ways the official data can be manipulated:
This fraud has huge consequences for the consumer, the economy and the environment.
To stay competitive, the European car industry must invest in innovations, not in trickery.
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Consumers must be able to buy cleaner and cheaper vehicles, with fuel consumption figures they can trust.
Carmakers have been able to achieve, on paper, good fuel economy results. But this is only due to optimisations, flawed tests, the absence of spot checks on cars already sold, and the difficulties for consumers in taking action against unrealistic fuel consumption figures.
To tackle global warming, save consumers money, keep European carmakers competitive and reduce the EU's dependency on imported oil, we must close the gap between official and real fuel consumption figures.
T&E and DUH are launching their campaign “Get Real – demand fuel figures you can trust”
Regulation on type-approval of motor vehicles with respect to emissions from light passenger and commercial vehicles
This device automatically shuts down the engine when the car is stopped and idling at a red traffic light for instance. When the driver selects a gear to the car, the device quickly starts the engine. However, this device does not work if the engine is cold or when too many stops are done in a small amount of time, in traffic jams for example.
A gas that contributes to global warming by absorbing infrared radiation. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common greenhouse gas.
Softwares that detect when a car is being tested in a laboratory and changes engine behaviour. The software relies on a range of parameters to identify test situations (e.g. ambient temperature, steering wheel angle). If a test situation is detected, the car will emit less CO2 and pollutants.
This figure is based on a 2009 commitment made by the EU to limit the average global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Series of checks made by a public authority to verify that a manufactured item (for example a car) meets compulsory standards.
This new test cycle has been created by a technical body of the United Nations (UNECE). It will be used to approve vehicles from September 2017 on. The WLTP test cycle, which ought to replace the outdated New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), is expected to provide more representative test results.
Mobile device installed in or on a vehicle to measure pollutant (nitrogen oxides or NOx, particles, etc.) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Resistance from the air and the road. It is impacted by the aerodynamic, the weight and the tyres of the car. The lab test bench has the same resistance to simulate real-world driving conditions.
Die europäische Automobilindustrie vernachlässigt echte Innovationen für effiziente Fahrzeuge, solange der Nachweis von niedrigen CO2-Emissionen auf dem Papier ausreicht. Die Branche müsste diese Technologien jedoch kontinuierlich weiterentwickeln, um den Anschluss im globalen Wettbewerb nicht zu verlieren. Japan und Südkorea sind inzwischen führend bei zukunftsweisenden Patenten und haben die EU in einigen Bereichen überholt.
Autobesitzer können sich nicht auf die offiziellen Verbrauchsangaben und die Energiekennzeichnung für Pkw verlassen. Sie werden mit mehr Spritkosten konfrontiert, als sie beim Kauf zunächst vermutet haben. Nach Angaben des ICCT sind die Kosten für einen durchschnittlichen Fahrzeugkäufer inzwischen etwa €450 höher als die Herstellerangaben es vermuten lassen.
Immer mehr Unternehmen versuchen, die CO2-Emissionen ihrer Flotten zu senken. Die europäischen CO2-Grenzwerte für Pkw dienen ihnen als Maßstab. Aber die Anstrengungen dieser Unternehmen werden durch die wachsende Lücke zwischen den offiziellen Verbrauchsangaben und den realen Werten auf der Straße untergraben. Es entstehen zusätzliche Spritkosten, die vorher nicht einkalkuliert waren. Darüber hinaus hat die Mehrheit der EU-Mitgliedstaaten in den vergangenen zehn Jahren Kraftfahrzeug-Steuern mit Bezug auf CO2-Emissionen oder Kraftstoffverbrauch eingeführt. Ein Fahrzeug mit höherem Schadstoffausstoß sollte mit einer höheren Steuer belegt werden bzw. schadstoffarme Fahrzeuge steuerlich entlastet werden. Aufgrund der verfälschten Verbrauchsangaben sind die Ausfälle bei den Steuereinnahmen immens.
Durch den höheren Verbrauch der Fahrzeuge gelangen deutlich mehr CO2-Emissionen in die Atmosphäre als offiziell angenommen. Die Maßnahmen der EU zur Bekämpfung des Klimawandels werden abgeschwächt; der ökologische Steuerungseffekt durch die Festlegung der europäischen CO2-Grenzwerte für PKW-Flotten wird auf dramatische Weise aufgeweicht.
The European car industry cannot compete solely on price. It must constantly innovate to maintain its competitive advantage. Smart regulation is an important driver of innovation – particularly in areas like decarbonizing vehicles. Fuel efficiency regulations are needed since car-buying is sometimes an economically irrational process in which buyers heavily discount the value of future fuel savings and accept a huge cost premium for driving a new car. But these regulations have no effect, if fuel consumption and CO2 emission tests are distorted.
In recent years, the European car industry put a lot of effort to optimize fuel consumption in the type approval but neglected real innovations. A striking and concerning development is in the number and type of patents for advanced technologies being generated in the EU. The global innovation leadership of the EU in 2000 has been steadily eroded by Japan and Korea (see annesx B3.1). The figure presents patents issued by region for advanced (hybrid, electric and fuel cell) technologies and basic (ICE and design) patents using data from the OECD. Japan and Korea have a significant leadership in advanced patents while the EU has a small lead in ICE and design related patents. More realistic fuel consumption data is a crucial way to push the European industry to more substantial eco-innovations for passenger cars: If European car manufacturer will be obliged to really achieve the legal requirements, they would implement available technology to reduce the fuel consumption and therefore be more competitive in the medium and long term.
Transport is a critical sector when talking about energy security in the EU. 94% of transport relies on oil products, of which 90% is imported. This dependency has worsened during the last decades. In 2014, 29% of all imported crude oil came from Russia, related import costs summed up to €78 billion. All oil imports add up to an annual cost of €271 billion. In 2012, 76% of energy content of all petroleum products were used by the transport sector. That adds up to a cost of €564 million every day worth of imports for the transport sector only. Closing the gap and stricter standards on road vehicles would considerably improve the EU’s energy independence.
Currently, transport is the second largest expenditure for European households. An average EU household spends €1,900 per person and year on transport. That is 13% of his total consumption, only excelled by costs for housing. In the EU, people spend more money on transport than on food. When looking at the specific expenditure within the transport sector, the operation of personal transport equipment is by far the largest expenditure. In almost all cases, operating the vehicle is more than double the actual purchase of the vehicle. The Italian consumer organization Altroconsumo tested the real fuel consumption of two cars (Fiat Panda and Volkswagen Golf). The cars consumed up to 50 per cent more fuel than officially claimed – leading to additional fuel costs of 250-500€ per year (far more than saved by reduced car tax due to distorted CO2 emission data). By closing the gap, this money could be spent on other goods and services boosting national economies and employment. In addition, further development in low carbon, fuel-efficient vehicles would increase the consumer benefit even more: A target of 70g/km for cars in 2025 would save a new car buyer €350 every year and payback the costs of technology within 3 years. The savings outlined are calculated on a typical mileage of private drivers. But company cars often have a mileage four times as high. As consequence, the benefit for fleet operators by realistic fuel consumption data – and real world efficiency – quadruples as well.
Member States face major challenges that will affect not only current but also future generations: The economic crisis that has led to a substantial increase in public debts and the climate change. Both problems are linked to the growing gap. Distorted fuel consumption and CO2 emission values lead to a significant reduction in tax revenue. In Germany, for instance, the estimated yearly motor vehicle tax loss has increased to roughly 1.4 billion Euro per year due to the wrong fuel consumption data of manufacturers. This reduces the Member States’ ability to invest money in sustainable transport (expansion of public transportation, construction of cycle paths and incentives for low-emission cars).
International experts (like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) expect an increase in average global temperature, a rise of the sea level and more extreme weather events such as droughts, storms and floods. Already a global temperature change of 1 degree Celsius – which is far below the average forecasts – is expected to cause economic damages of about 2 trillion Dollars in 2050. In Germany alone, natural catastrophes would be responsible for costs of 137 billion Euros until 2050. The final report of the JRC PESETA II project (4/2014) comes to the following conclusions: “If the 2080s climate would happen today and without public adaptation, the EU household welfare losses would amount to around €190 billion, almost 2% of EU GDP. The geographical distribution of the climate damages is very asymmetric with a clear bias towards the southern European regions. More than half of the overall EU damages are estimated to be due to additional premature mortality (€120 billion). Moving to a 2°C world would reduce climate damages by €60 billion, to €120 billion (1.2% of GDP).”
It is therefore extremely important to realize all climate change mitigation measures possible in order to achieve the objectives of the European Union and limit climate change to 2 degree Celsius. Estimates by T&E show that with stricter standards accomplished in reality, CO2 emissions of cars and vans in Europe could be reduced by about 73,6 Mio. t. based on a realistic price per ton of CO2 of 30€ (not distorted by the current ETS), this would lead to reduced environmental costs of at least 2,2 billion Euro every year.
