EU complains of manipulation in WLTP measurement: carmakers to trick in new emissions tests

07/25/2018

EU complains of manipulation in WLTP measurement carmakers to trick in new emissions tests

Volkswagen

“Blown-Up” WLTP Values: Are Car Manufacturers Artificially Boosting Exhaust Gas Readings to Easierly Achieve Future Reduction Plans for the Future?

Did the carmaker learn anything from the diesel scandal? According to various reports, the manufacturers apparently manipulate the latest emission measurements. They would artificially boost the value of CO2 so that they would save less from 2021 onwards. But the EU is already announcing that this “trickery” will be stopped.

The EU Commission has concrete evidence of new emissions manipulation by car manufacturers. According to reports of “Financial Times” and of “Handelsblatt” It is about compliance with the limit values for climate-damaging CO2 from 2020 onwards.

Some manufacturers have configured their test vehicles so that the measurements could be inflated according to the new WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure), both newspapers cite from an internal Commission paper. In all likelihood, the manufacturers tried to undermine the planned EU energy-saving targets for fleet emissions by 2025 and 2030.

The new WLTP measurement method is more geared to real driving behavior than previous measurement methods. As a result of the diesel scandal, manufacturers have had to test new models using the new method since 2017.

EU researchers found “evidence” in 114 records

The pollutant emissions determined in this process are the basis for the calculation of the fleet value of a car manufacturer from 2021. This value in turn is a measure of further planned emission reductions, which should reach the car manufacturers in the following years. Brussels suggested last November that automakers would cut emissions by 15 percent between 2020 and 2025 and 30 percent by 2030. Parliament and the Council of the European Union still have to agree.

In an unpublished five-page briefing published by the Financial Times, the Joint Research Center claims that the Commission found evidence from 114 records indicating that “some carmakers configured their test vehicles to inflate the measured WLTP value “would. On average, the emissions declared by the manufacturers were 4.5 percent higher than the actual result. The overly high values should be used to manipulate the starting point for future mandatory savings in favor of the manufacturers, according to researchers.

EU Climate Commissioner: “We do not like tricks”

“We do not like tricks,” said Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate, the Financial Times in an interview. “We saw things we did not like.” Everything will be done so that the initial values are not distorted. In a letter to the Member States sent to the FT, the Commission proposes:

It is made clear that the basis for future goals is real metrics, not the values declared by automakers. “This would eliminate the effect of an exaggerated explanation,” they say.
New emission measurements for 2020 “need to be systematically collected” to increase transparency and verifiability.
Brussels will monitor and support proper enforcement. If necessary, the Commission could also consider amending the WLTP regulation.

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