Wide range of cars emit more pollution in realistic driving tests, data shows | Environment | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/30/wide-range-of-cars-emit-more-pollution-in-real-driving-conditions-tests (30/09/15)
New diesel cars from Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Citroen, Fiat, Volvo and other manufacturers have been found to emit substantially higher levels of pollution when tested in more realistic driving conditions, according to new data seen by the Guardian.
Research compiled by Adac, Europe’s largest motoring organisation, shows that some of the diesel cars it examined released over 10 times more #NOx than revealed by existing EU tests, using an alternative standard due to be introduced later this decade.
Adac put the diesel cars through the EU’s existing lab-based regulatory test (NEDC) and then compared the results with a second, UN-developed test (WLTC) which, while still lab-based, is longer and is believed to better represent real driving conditions. The WLTC is currently due to be introduced by the EU in 2017.
NOx emissions for new diesel cars
_ADAC put Euro 6 diesel vehicles through two tests – the NEDC test that regulators use and the WLTC test that better reflects real driving.
The factor shown is how many times greater the WLTC test emissions were than the NEDC test. Vehicles with the biggest factor would be expected to emit significantly more NOx on the road than regulatory tests suggest.
Peter Mock, one of the team at the International Council on Clean Transportation who exposed the VW diesel scandal, said the Adac test centre was “_absolutely trustworthy”.
But Mock said the high profile now being given to the issue of misleading emissions data left him with mixed feelings. “I feel happy, but I also feel sad because there was enough data and people knew for a long time. The emissions in cities have not gone down like we expected and they could have been reduced a long time ago.”
