European Commission could neuter CO2 limits
The European Commission that's working on new CO2 emissions limits looks like it might be about to tear the guts out of the new rules. While proposals up to this point had largely focused on a limit of 130g/km average for any individual manufacturer's fleet, the new proposal would let makers of bigger, thirstier vehicles off the hook. They are now looking at a proposal that would have a sliding scale limit tied to vehicle mass.
Heavier vehicles would to emit more while smaller vehicles would put out less. While companies like Peugeot and Fiat that build predominantly smaller more efficient vehicles would get no benefit from this, companies like Porsche, whose current average is about 280g/km, would be largely off the hook. German carmakers like BMW, Porsche and Mercedes would have little incentive to reduce the weight of their vehicles if these proposals are implemented.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 5:49AM (8/11/2007)
I'd take this report with a grain of salt. The EU Commission reached an agreement with the German government last year that fleet average emissions from newly registered LDVs would be 130gCO2/km, with an additional 10gCO2/km equivalent provided by tire pressure monitors and the like.
There was, however, NEVER any agreement on the basis for computing said averages. In particular, the notion that this would apply to each manufacturer separately was never agreed upon, so any talk of backtracking on it is simply wide of the mark.
It should surprise no-one that an industry will resist all attempts to impose additional regulation that interferes with established business and profit models. However, given that the industry will flunk the opportunity to avoid such regulation via a voluntary commitment for MY2008, the general public in the EU - to the extent it already has an opinion at all - tends to support the Commission on this.
Technological advances such as Citroen's stop-and-start systems, BMW's EfficientDynamics, VW's dual charger TFS, Mercedes' DiesOtto project, BorgWarner's DSG, GIF's cone ring transmission, ZeroShift's alternative to syncromesh and many other examples demonstrate that there is indeed still a lot of scope for improvement in drivetrain efficiency and, that European companies stand to profit from it.
The wailing is mostly about the additional risk car makers would face because customer acceptance of these new technologies is unproven, especially given declining demographics in the EU15 and the already high price of cars. The EU member states could sweeten the pot by providing some tax relief for early adopters and/or those who choose to scrap their old clunkers.
In addition, whichever way you slice it, German and Swedish manufacturers will have a harder time meeting the new requirements than their French and Italian competitors. This is because German and Swedish cars tend to be larger and feature higher-horsepower engines, so there is some old-fashioned industrial policy wrangling between producer nations going on.
In the end, the proposals will likely be watered down some and then delayed some more. However, they will still amount to a tangible tightening relative to the status quo.
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TDIMeister 6:39AM (8/12/2007)
The EU should just extend a C02 cap-and-trade system that is already in place, and set the bar at, say, 130g/km and let the automotive industry buy credits from the broader carbon trading market. Companies like PSA, Fiat and Renault that are on-course or already below the 130 g/km fleet limit can sell credits to the benefit of their bottom-line, and the likes of companies like Porsche and Mercedes-Benz would pay for those credits either directly or by rightly passing the cost to the buyers of such vehicles.
Of course, these very companies will scream bloody murder, but it might spur consolidation for these top-of-food-chain companies to buy into manufacturers of more carbon-reduced vehicles, or to establish start-ups or JVs like Daimler did with Smart. It will also gradually push vehicle development toward meeting the CO2 limits as automakers see the nonsense of buying credits to line their competitors' pockets.
After all is said and done, the automotive industry is but one (and not even a majority) contributor to overall man-made CO2 emissions. CO2 intensity targets should also be applied on electrical utilities on a kg/kWh basis, enforced on the same market-based cap-and-trade system.
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