Real-world emissions tests will be introduced next year, although diesel cars will at first be allowed to pollute more than double the current legal level due to their limited ability to reduce real-world emissions in the short term.
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As the Government bids to better protect the environment, vehicle manufacturers are now required to meet Euro 6 standards – meaning a legal NOx limit of 80mg/km.
Cars meeting Euro 5 standards – which could be sold up to September previous year – all had “substantially higher” emissions in real-world conditions than the 180 mg/km limit they had to be under when they passed official tests, according to the study.
Transport minister Robert Goodwill said carmakers had “not done anything illegal” as they only had to meet laboratory standards at present but that real-world driving emissions tests would be introduced from 2017.
The £1 million investigation found no evidence that “defeat device” software, which was fitted to VWs to cheat emissions tests, had been found in other models. But its latest manifold-in-head EA288 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines have tested as emitting on average the lowest in Europe NOx, either with or without SCR AdBlue systems. Daimler – owner of Mercedes-Benz – has also announced that it is to launch a full-scale internal investigation into its practices regarding “emissions test optimisation”.
“Air quality is very important and the reason we have done this is to improve public health”.
But a spokesman for motor industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the difference between results from laboratory tests and those performed in the real world are “well known”.
The six-month programme involved 56 vehicle types tested in Germany and 37 models tested in the United Kingdom by the Vehicle Certification Agency, on behalf of the Department for Transport. The study tested models from some of the most well-known auto brands, including Range Rover, Nissan, Vauxhall and BMW.
The description of the United Kingdom as a “leader” in an global push for real-world emissions tests has been questioned by industry groups. The results for different models aren’t directly comparable because the exact road conditions varied from test to test, according to the report.
Vehicles were sourced from auto hire fleets and had completed no more than 30,000 miles during testing.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “The UK has been leading in Europe in pushing for real-world emissions tests which will address this problem”.
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A report published on the United Kingdom government’s website states that the existing laboratory emissions tests have been found to be inadequate and hence the country has made a decision to put in place a new real-world emission testing programme. During the current NEDC test cycle these work at an optimum but in the real world, when ambient temperature is low or the engine is hot, illegally high levels of NOx are produced.
