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The motor industry published its analysis of CO2 emissions for new cars this week, but we've got to say its carbon-cutting efforts fail to impress.
The headline figure from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) report is that the average new car produced 13 per cent less carbon emissions per kilometre than ten years ago. But even though that's heading in the right direction, progress is slow. Average CO2 emissions for new cars are 164g/km, compared to 190g/km in 1997, with just ten per cent of new car sales falling in the sub-130g/km bracket (check out our top 10 cheap green cars that fall into it).
The car industry says that it's making good progress in cutting CO2 emissions of new cars, but it is still falling short of the EU's target of 140g/km by 2008/2009. This target is voluntary, but the EU is looking at tightening it up with fines for manufacturers who continue to produce and sell polluting models. By 2012, the target for the average new car will be reduced to 130g/km.
Overall, the picture is pretty bleak, with total CO2 emissions from Britain's cars falling by less than five per cent since 1997, mainly because there are 4.7 million more cars crowding onto our already full roads than there were ten years ago.
Despite the increasing popularity of 4x4s, its good to see that only 20 per cent of new cars sold fall into the government's top two CO2 emissions brackets, compared to 45 per cent in 1997.
But the key reason for the reduction in CO2 emissions of new cars appears to be little more than the increase in popularity of diesel engines. They now make up 40 per cent of all new cars bought, compared to just 16 per cent in 1997, which is actually still small compared to some other EU countries -- 74 per cent of new cars in France have diesel engines, and the EU average of new diesels is 48 per cent. Because diesel cars are 10-20 per cent more fuel efficient than petrol cars, they produce corresponding less CO2 emissions.
Even so, diesel is by no means an ideal solution because it's got other problems, like producing a higher volume of particulate matter. Research from NASA and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2002 showed that the increased soot from diesel emissions more than offset the gains in carbon emissions. Diesel engines are also larger than petrol engines which means there are fewer diesel super minis available. On the positive side, recent diesel engines have been made much cleaner to meet strict EU emissions laws.
The SMMT report also includes a breakdown of sales of alternative-fuel vehicles, which make up less than one per cent of total new car sales -- a total of 16,640. Hybrids are the dominant form of alternative-fuel vehicles, with the Prius leading the sector with 8,755 car sales. Only 397 electric cars were sold, and the LPG market looks to be dead in the water with just three cars sold in 2007.
28 March 2008 08:23pm
In Germany and Austria in the early 80s nearly every service station had LPG pumps and most German car manufacturers made LPG cars.
Where are they now?. Even in Britain in the last 2 years it seems to be dying a slow death.
Is it because of the greedy prices given for conversion, or the fact that the Government has done very little to encourage mid size and large car owners to convert?.
What is the reason for neglecting this alternative option?.
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