Meeting emission targets means motorists and car manufacturers will have to use smaller vehicles and fewer gas guzzlers, writes Liam Reid
The proposals announced last Wednesday by the European Commission to place strict new limits on car emissions should be a significant aid in enabling Ireland and other European countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Car manufacturers in Europe may be complaining that the limits will cause difficulties and drive up car prices, but the fact remains that the proposals are workable. The complaints of car manufacturers should be seen against their traditional record, where they have consistently lobbied in Europe and the US against measures that would impact negatively on the production of fuel inefficient petrol cars. In the last decade manufacturers do deserve credit for having become much more active in seeking out and developing greener motoring solutions.
However, their efforts have not produced the emission improvements promised to the European Union under a voluntary agreement. As a result, and in light of a looming energy crisis and the global warming problem, the commission believes the time for voluntary targets is over.
The need for such a limit is abundantly clear in Ireland, where transport emissions have increased by over 150 per cent since 1990, a colossal jump by any standard.
It has been driven in part by an increasing trend by Irish motorists towards buying larger, less fuel-efficient cars.
In its simplest terms, the commission is proposing an 18 per cent cut in the average amount of greenhouse gas emissions, almost all in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) that are produced by new vehicles sold in the EU.
Emissions are measured in terms of the average amount of carbon dioxide per kilometre. At present, the average for the European private car fleet is 162 grammes per kilometre. The proposal is to reduce this to 130g over the next five years.
The key point to the plan is that the 130g target is an average. It will not mean that every car sold in Europe has to adhere to the limit. Therefore the production of high performance cars, much maligned SUVs and large executive cars will not suddenly cease. However, manufacturers will have to ensure that a large proportion of models produced are much more fuel efficient, which is not as difficult as it sounds.
What the target means, in effect, is that there will need to be a significant increase in the availability of low emission vehicles such as hybrids, biofuel and high fuel efficiency models.
There are already a small number of such models available in Ireland and Europe, which would easily make the 130g limit.
Japanese manufacturers have been leading the way in hybrid technology, which is where a car is part-powered by petrol, part-powered by electric motors. The emissions savings are impressive.
The Toyota Prius, the only medium-sized hybrid on the market at present, has an emissions rating of 104g.
Hybrid technology is one which has been championed by Japanese manufacturers and further hybrid vehicles from marques such as Honda are expected to be launched soon in Europe. The technology can also be used to reduce the emissions of gas guzzlers.
Lexus last year launched two new vehicles, an SUV hybrid and an executive car hybrid. The emissions are still high at nearly 20 per cent above the current EU average emissions target of 160g, but their emissions are between 15 and 30 per cent lower than similar non-hybrid vehicles.
A second technology for manufacturers to meet the new standards is through an increase in highly fuel efficient diesel models. A new generation of diesel vehicles can and are being produced with emissions below the 130g limit. A number of manufacturers are also developing diesel hybrids, which in theory could have emission levels below 100g.
Biofuel vehicles are also seen as having an important role to play in achieving the cuts in emissions. Two such models have come on to the Irish market in the last 12 months, from manufacturers Ford and Saab. Both are described as flexi-fuel vehicles and can run on both bioethanol and petrol.
Flexi-fuel vehicles have become extremely popular in Scandinavia where biofuels are a key element in their strategies to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Other technologies, from electric-only vehicles to hydrogen fuel cells, are also being developed by car firms but have yet to show the commercial promise of the other technologies. The new technology cars will cost more, but these price rises should be offset somewhat by the introduction of a VRT system with lower tax rates for lower emission vehicles. In addition, the cars will also be cheaper to run.
A simpler way to meet the emission target is for manufacturers to produce more smaller vehicles and fewer gas guzzlers. This perhaps poses the greatest challenge, not only to the car industry, but for motorists themselves.