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A car is refueled: According to a study, new cars often swallow more fuel than previously stated by the manufacturer.
© Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa
According to an international study, new cars in Europe often consume more fuel than previously stated by the manufacturers.
This has negative consequences for consumers.
Berlin – According to a study, new cars need noticeably more fuel in real operation than stated by the manufacturers themselves.
The difference increased despite the introduction of the new WLTP vehicle testing procedure between 2018 and 2022, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) said on Wednesday in its study of CO₂ emissions data from the European Environment Agency and real fuel consumption data from more than 160,000 vehicles.
Consumers would then have to pay more for fuel than expected
In 2018, the cars consumed eight percent more fuel than stated by the manufacturer - in 2022 it was already 14 percent more.
The analysis shows that the difference between the official information and the real CO₂ emissions is growing again, said ICCT scientist Jan Dornoff.
“If no countermeasures are taken here, the official CO₂ emission values will increasingly lose their significance for the actual emissions.” This means that consumers will have to pay more for fuel than expected.
New test cycle was introduced in 2017
The WLTP test cycle was introduced in 2017 and replaced the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) that had been in effect until then.
The aim was to obtain more realistic consumption values: The cycle should reflect driving behavior that is closer to reality in road traffic than the NEDC cycle.
Immediately after the introduction of WLTP, the difference between laboratory and real consumption values shrank from 33 percent to eight percent, the study said.
“We have been observing the growing difference between stated and actual fuel consumption since the early 2010s,” said Peter Moch, Managing Director of ICCT Europe.
In addition to the incorrect information provided by manufacturers, an increased CO₂ price could place increased financial burden on customers.
And it's not just refueling that's becoming more expensive;
Heating could soon become even more expensive.
(Reuters, lf)