EU Auto Makers Driving Toward 2020 CO2 Emissions Goal

PARIS – Europe successfully is reducing its vehicle carbon-dioxide emissions, according to a report by the European Environmental Agency, achieving an average 140.3 g/km in 2010 after a score of 145.7 g/km in 2009.

This achievement appears to indicate the auto industry will be able to meet its goal of 130 g/km in 2015, the agency says. Such success now is driving auto makers toward the 2020 goal of 95 g/km.

EU diesel cars averaged best in emissions study, but advantage was just 3.3 g/km over gasoline.

The improvements are coming from advanced technologies such as low-rolling resistance tires, turbocharged gasoline engines and stop/start systems.

Average vehicle mass in the European Union’s 27 countries rose in 2010, the agency says, after a year of heavy incentives in Germany and other countries in 2009 that favored the sale of small cars.

Diesel powertrains, which have improved their share of the market each year this century, except in 2009 during the global financial recession, are important to Europe’s score. Last year, diesels powered 51.3% of the 13.2 million cars covered by the EEA’s report.

The agency says the average emissions of diesel-powered cars was 139.3 g/km (the equivalent of 45 mpg), an improvement of 6 g (0.21 oz.) a year.

The gasoline average was 142.6 g/km (39 mpg), an improvement of 5 g (0.18 oz.), while alternative fuels such as E85 and liquefied petroleum gas saw an average of 125.7 g/km.

Although the diesel average is best, the agency notes that in 2010 the advantage was just 3.3 g/km over gasoline, “a significant decrease since the last decade when this gap was 17 g/km.”

In general, diesel has a higher penetration on heavier, larger cars.

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Average vehicle emissions in the countries of Western Europe are 7.9 g/km lower than those in the 12 countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Government programs favoring fuel-efficient cars, such as tax reductions or bonuses, are more common in the richer western countries.

The data collected on alternative-fuel vehicles shows, among other things, the rebirth of the electric-vehicle industry.

Denmark, which has strong incentives for low emissions and a contract with Better Place to install an EV park using Renault’s Fluence ZE electric cars, is the European leader at 126.6 g/km, followed by Portugal and France, two other countries supporting EV introductions that are starting in earnest this year.

Lithuania, Denmark, Greece, Latvia and Sweden all improved their average CO2 scores more than 8% last year, and only Slovakia slipped back, rising just 1.6% to an average 149 g/km.

The CO2 reductions appear to have continued through the first quarter of this year, according to the CCFA, the French association of auto makers, which found 16 Western European countries averaged 136.2 g/km through the first three months, an improvement of 3.4% over prior-year.

The same 16 countries averaged 140.0 g/km for full-year 2010, according to the European Agency’s report, but the CCFA considers more details about the cars sold and has more accurate results, spokesman Francois Roudier says.

Germany, the largest market in Europe, averaged 151.2 g/km in 2010 (agency figures), and 146.6 g/km in the first quarter (CCFA). Luxemburg was the weakest country on the CCFA list, at 147.9 g/km for the first quarter. Although it is a tiny market (50,000 cars last year), it is a rich country.