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      05-30-2013, 04:44 AM   #1293
GoingTooFast
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Drives: fat cars are still boats
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: compensating a fat car with horsepower is like giving an alcoholic cocaine to sober him up.

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This is something I've been finding out... so, it's nothing of surprise just a cultural characteristic of different countries people... some deceive more than the others :


Car fuel efficiency falls further below EU makers' claims -study


Quote:
* EU seeking to tighten testing, implement new CO2 goal

* German carmakers show greatest divergence

* Some EU member states play for time, flexibility

BRUSSELS, May 28 (Reuters) - The gap has widened between the fuel-efficiency that carmakers declare for their models and the reality for drivers, with luxury German vehicles showing the biggest divergence, a study has found.

The research by the non-profit International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found "real-world" carbon emissions for new cars based on fuel consumption are about 25 percent higher on average than carmakers say, compared with 10 percent a decade ago.

The findings will add to pressure for the reform of EU vehicle testing procedures to ensure that advertised fuel-efficiency values better reflect normal use. That in turn could make it harder for manufacturers to meet a new EU carbon dioxide (CO2) vehicle emissions target proposed for 2020.

BMW reported emissions figures for its vehicles on average 30 percent lower than those found in actual use, said the report, published on Tuesday. BMW was not immediately available to comment on the findings reported by the ICCT, which aims to improve efficiency in transportation to benefit public health and mitigate climate change.

Volkswagen AG's luxury unit Audi had the second widest disparity, with reported emissions some 28 percent below actual use, while Mercedes showed a gap of 26 percent.

Figures for emissions from Toyota vehicles were found to be about 15 percent less than in real use and Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen's published data was about 16 percent lower than for vehicles on the road.

"This means that the actual fuel consumption experienced by the average driver is typically 25 percent higher than what is printed on the sales sticker," Peter Mock, managing director of ICCT Europe, said. That difference in fuel use costs drivers on average an extra 300 euros ($390) per year, said the report, which was based on data from nearly half a million private and company vehicles across Europe.

Previous research has shown how carmakers have perfected the art of lowering fuel use and thus emissions in laboratory tests, through measures such as using tyres with extra traction or unrealistically smooth driving surfaces. Driving habits vary, meaning there will always be a discrepancy and exploiting loopholes is not illegal. But the car industry agrees on the need for change. VDA, which represents the German industry, has said it is "working actively" on reform of the testing regime. The United Nations is leading a worldwide effort to update test procedures that date from the 1980s.

In parallel, the European Union is working on how to tighten EU law on vehicle testing and also to enforce a 2020 emissions goal of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometre (g/km) across the European Union. Legislators in the European Parliament have said a tougher testing procedure should be introduced by 2017, but some EU member governments have been seeking a delay until 2020. The 95 g/km target for new cars from 2020 has been broadly agreed. However, Germany has led calls for exceptions that campaigners say would seriously weaken enforcement of the goal.




Reality gap widens on car fuel efficiency claims in EU - study


Quote:
But BMW questioned whether the research was representative.

“The number of vehicles per car maker that have been analysed varies considerably and is based on only a very small and subsequently less representative section of our customer base,” the car maker said in a statement.

The ICCT, which aims to improve efficiency in transportation to benefit public health and mitigate climate change, said its report was based on data from nearly half a million private and company vehicles across Europe.



From Laboratory to Road


Quote:
Summary

Comparison of official and "real-world" fuel consumption and CO2 emission values for passenger cars in Europe and the United States, which shows that the average discrepancy between them rose from less than 10% in 2001 to 25% in 2011.


DOWNLOAD (PDF, 2.62MB)


Fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission values for new cars in Europe are determined via the so-called type-approval process, which involves testing vehicles under laboratory conditions using the new european driving cycle (NEDC). The type-approval values are the basis for consumer information, CO2 regulation, and CO2-based vehicle taxation, and therefore ought to provide a reliable and stable indication of fuel consumption and emission levels observed under "real-world" conditions on the road.

This analysis, aggregating several large sets of on-road driving data from various European countries, shows that that expected correspondence between type-approval and real-world values is not as strong as it should be, and is getting progressively weaker. While the average discrepancy between type-approval and on-road CO2 emissions was below 10 percent in 2001, by 2011 it had increased to around 25 percent.

The observed increase of the gap is most likely due to a combination of factors:
  • increasing application of technologies that show a higher benefit in type-approval tests than under real-world driving conditions (for example, start-stop technology)
  • increasing use of ‘flexibilities’ (permitted variances) in the type-approval procedure (for example, during coast-down testing)
  • external factors changing over time (for example, increased use of air conditioning)


The increase in the gap was especially pronounced after 2007–2008, when a number of European Union Member States switched to a CO2-based vehicle taxation system and a mandatory EU CO2 regulation for new cars was introduced.

The public policy implications are significant. The growing gap between reported efficiencies and actual driving experience halves the expected benefits of Europe’s passenger vehicle CO2 regulations. It creates a risk that consumers will lose faith in type-approval fuel consumption values, which in turn may undermine government efforts to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles through labeling and tax policy. For tax authorities, the gap between type-approval and real-world CO2 values translates into a gap between actual and potential revenues from vehicle taxes. And increasing discrepancies between type-approval and on-road CO2 emissions can result in a competitive disadvantage for some vehicle manufacturers, as it tilts the playing field.

Last edited by GoingTooFast; 05-30-2013 at 11:40 AM..
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