The European Union will change its formula for calculating CO2 emissions from plug-in hybrid vehicles. Why ? Because the formula used until now greatly underestimated the emissions.
This miscalculation has allowed plug-in hybrids to benefit from subsidies and tax breaks. A situation that should soon come to an end thanks to a change in European regulations.
A new calculation system
Current regulations greatly overestimate the use of the electric motor in plug-in hybrid vehicles. The percentage of electric driving in the estimates that determine their CO2 emissions is too high compared to the reality of driving conditions. This leads hybrid vehicles to enjoy much better pollution statistics than they really should be, and manufacturers are taking advantage of this.
Tests carried out by the Transport and Environment (T&E) group show that vehicles such as the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Volvo XC60 or the BMW X5 emit between three and twelve times more CO2 than the values announced by the manufacturers. The difference is major when the vehicles run on an empty battery, in automatic recharging.
A vehicle qualifies for the EU’s ‘low emissions’ designation when its emissions are less than 50 grams of CO2 per kilometre. On average, a plug-in hybrid should be driven 70% of the time on an electric motor. However, a hybrid company vehicle, for example, is driven by an electric motor for 11 to 15% of the kilometers on average.
Estimates beside the plate
As a result, plug-in hybrid vehicles use around three to five times more gasoline than their official ratings claim. Manufacturers take advantage of certain bonuses when in reality they only sell cars equipped with small batteries of poor quality, which cannot charge quickly and which are doomed to be driven in petrol mode.
Changes in European regulations will be phased in in 2025 and then in 2027. Manufacturers will no longer be able to benefit from bonuses for the sale of plug-in hybrid vehicles and may incur fines if they market these cars as low-emission vehicles. These changes will not apply to standard hybrid vehicles (which do not charge on plug).
Source : Clean Technica
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