Despite all the debates on the exhaust gas scandal: cars consume significantly more fuel on the road than the manufacturers specify. A study shows that the calculated CO2 reduction is thus far missed.
An average new car consumed an average of 39 percent more fuel in 2017 than officially stated. That goes out a study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), which compared data from nearly 1.3 million cars from eight European countries.
This is the divergence between desire and reality compared to 2016 only dropped by one percentage point – despite all the discussions and consequences of the exhaust gas scandal. The data for 2018, the experts can evaluate only in the middle of this year. This is mainly about the cheating of manufacturers with nitrogen oxides, but also the CO2 emissions and thus the fuel consumption.
The ICCT has been evaluating fuel consumption data for new cars since 2012. The ICCT also examined older data. According to new vehicles in 2001 had consumed only eight percent more than officially stated. The additional costs for fuel in 2017 for motorists averaged around 400 euros.
Penalties for unrealistic claims required
The deviations also counteract efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. According to the ICCT, this means that just under half of the CO2 reductions achieved on paper have actually been achieved since 2001. The CEO of the ICCT in Europe, Peter Mock, therefore called for penalties for manufacturers who want to gain an advantage with unrealistically low consumption figures. “Only in this way can we succeed in finally significantly reducing the deviation between official and real values in the coming years.”
Data from 15 different sources were used for the study. Among them are websites like Spritmonitor.de, leasing companies like LeasePlan and Travelcard, car magazines like the “Autobild”. Also evaluated was a large-scale survey by the Federal Government on the mobility behavior of the population, the mobility panel.
The declared fuel consumption of passenger cars is determined under standardized conditions in test laboratories. Since September 2018, however, applies to all new cars, the new test method WLTP, which should ensure more realistic values. It has been in force for new vehicle types since September 2017. The method takes into account different situations and speeds in traffic, but also different types of equipment and weight classes.
The Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) also referred to this: The findings of the ICCT reports on the subject are always the same. The old laboratory test no longer adequately reflects the current reality of models and road traffic. In addition, emission levels of vehicles in the laboratory and on the road differed in principle, because in the laboratory conditions such as weather, traffic conditions or terrain could not be included. The individual driving style has a significant impact on fuel consumption. The new measuring method makes consumption and CO2 values more realistic and thus provides customers with more security.
“Legislature has learned from past mistakes”
The ICCT researchers suspect that the decline in values between official and real consumption has led to increased public interest in exhaust emissions as a result of the diesel scandal. They had revealed by their investigations, the exhaust gas affair at VW. It was about the emission of harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx), which is also often much higher than indicated in the papers.
Fuel consumption is directly related to the emission of climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2). Climate protection targets are to be significantly tightened in the EU. According to a preliminary decision by EU member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament, the car industry should reduce the CO2 emissions of new cars by an average of 37.5 percent by 2030. Starting point are the specifications for 2021, ie 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer on average in the respective fleet. The rules should help to achieve climate protection goals. The car industry had criticized the new requirements as too sharp.
“Legislators have learned from past mistakes,” said ICCT Europe CEO Peter Mock. He pointed out that manufacturers should be obliged from 2021 to record the real consumption and the real CO2 emissions by means of consumption meters. The European Commission should develop a method to punish manufacturers who wanted to gain an advantage by unrealistically low information, Mock demanded. “Only in this way can we succeed in finally significantly reducing the deviation between official and real values in the coming years.”
ene, Spiegel Online / dpa