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Do current emissions figures underestimate fuel economy from an emissions and a taxation point of view?
You wrote that the issue of certified fuel economy figures is about to explode in the face of the EC. It seems to me that this is more likely to explode in the face of the motorist. If, as regularly experienced, EC fuel consumption figures are much lower than reality and CO2 figures are related to these, then the EC CO2 emission figures must also be lower than reality. This not only underestimates the real emissions from a greenhouse gas point of view, but also from a taxation point of view. Once it is realised that taxation would be much higher based on real life CO2 emissions, then I am sure we can look forward to governments getting even deeper into the pocket of the motorist.
Asked on 21 May 2011 by IR, Dorking,
Answered by
Honest John
Except that the EC has decreed that the average CO2 tailpipe emissions per manufacturer must be no more than 95g/km by 2020 as measured by its existing testing regime, or get heavily fined. If the testing was realistic, it would be impossible for manufacturers to achieve the targets. That’s why the EC has a problem. And why www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg is the only sensible assessment of the fuel economy that drivers are really likely to achieve.
Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.
Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.
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