Brussels, 01/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Transport & Environment, T&E, which campaigns for more sustainable transport, is in contact with the European Commission on a testing protocol for fuel consumption under real driving conditions which it has developed and the first results of which were published by PSA Peugeot-Citroen on Tuesday 1 March.
Greg Archer, T&E policy director, Clean Vehicles, confirmed to EUROPE that the European Commission could potentially be interested by the protocol developed by his organisation - less than three months after it was announced (see EUROPE 11438). With publication of the first results, T&E hopes to attract the attention of the Commission, which is looking to revise the legislation on CO2 emissions (Regulations 443/2009 and 210/2011) which currently set the average CO2 emissions to be achieved by the new car fleet at 95g/km by 2021. A comprehensive communication on decarbonising the transport sector is expected before the summer, the Commission says, leading to a raft of legislative proposals, including on CO2 emissions from cars and vans.
The testing was carried out close to Paris on a 25.5 km section of urban road, 39.7 km of non-urban road and 31.1 km of motorway, under real driving conditions with passengers and luggage on board, inclines and air conditioning systems in use. The protocol is based on the model developed for real driving emissions (RDE) tests which are concerned only with polluting gases (NOx) and not CO2. Emissions are measured by a portable emissions measurement system (PEMS). The Bureau Veritas, which is financed by PSA, has certified that the French car manufacturer correctly applied the protocol, PSA says.
For T&E, “We don't touch anything - that's not what it's about”, said Archer. T&E initially financed development of the protocol from its own purse and is now providing the follow-up.
PSA is due to give a presentation on the testing in Paris on 23 March. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)