The idea of reducing the rolling resistance of tires to improve efficiency is certainly not a new one. Tire manufacturers have been making improvements in this area for years. Most electric and hybrid vehicles use extremely low rolling resistance tires in order to cut rolling drag to a bare minimum. A new proposal from the European Commission would make these types of tires mandatory beginning in 2012. The proposal would set the maximum drag for new tires limited to 12kg/tonne in 2012, and then 10.5kg/tonne in 2014. The only problem with this is that reducing rolling resistance generally also reduces traction. If implemented, the new limits could effectively ban the wide tires used by high performance cars. Without these high grip tires, such cars would be essentially undrivable. The commission hopes the change will reduce CO₂ emissions by up to five percent.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Just the other day, we heard the European Union was thinking of lowering its CO₂ standards for automakers. It appears that the rumors were true, as the European Parliament has indeed voted to amend the proposed standards. The details are pretty difficult to follow, as this particular issue has been going on for an excruciatingly long time, so bear with us here. The gist is that the Commission will grant automakers a longer period of time to meet the now-not-as-clean target of 130g/km of carbon emissions along with reducing the amount that automakers would be fined for missing that target. To go along with this, credits would be earned for models which produce fewer than 70g/km. That makes some sense, as it may get automakers to push for that low figure. The problem is that up to five other vehicles could be offset by that one low emitter. That's pretty bad math. Expect these issues to be voted on in the near future.

[Source: Channel 4]

The negotiations regarding proposed European Union CO₂ emissions regulations are ongoing, it seems. Even after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy agreed to push the starting date from the year 2012 to the year 2015, Fiat's CEO, Sergio Marchionne is still unhappy.

The latest issue that Fiat has with the proposals is related to the sliding-scale that automakers would be subjected to. Companies which make larger vehicles would not be required to meet the same regulations as those which produce smaller, more efficient vehicles. Marchionne says that Fiat will hit the proposed 130 gram per kilometer mark that has been thrown about, but would be unable to chop another eight grams from its cars, as the latest proposals would require. If those standards went into effect, Fiat would be charged penalties despite offering the lowest carbon emissions of all automakers in the European Union, which does seem a bit backwards. Still, the company is already hitting that standard, so some reduction may not be too much to ask. As always, we expect these protracted negotiations to continue on well into the future.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

My, how the tables have turned. First, it was Germany that was in opposition to stringent emissions standards in the European Union which would have regulated the amount of carbon dioxide a vehicle can emit, beginning in 2012. German automakers tend to make large, luxurious vehicles with big, powerful engines. France, though, did not want to see changes made to the regulations, as its automakers already were close to meeting the proposals and thought it would be unfair to make concessions just for German brands. So, the two countries had a little meeting and came to some sort of agreement which would not go into effect until 2015.

Now, it's Italy that is in opposition to the French and German deal, as Italian automakers also offer rather efficient vehicles. Italian environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo calls the new proposal unacceptable and feels that it would put the Italian companies at a disadvantage to its competition. We wonder what the final regulations may look like once every country has had its say in what should be done.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

It has been said numerous times that German automakers are upset with European proposals which would limit CO₂ output to around 120 grams per kilometer. Perhaps we shouldn't be lumping Volkswagen or its subsidiaries into that category. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of VW, has admitted that the VW brands, including luxury carmaker Audi, can achieve those low carbon standards. In fact, Winterkorn believes that the standards are achievable today, not by 2015 as proposals would require. Technologies which would allow the low carbon output are already being used. Direct injection and turbocharging are quickly becoming a staple of automakers like Volkswagen and Audi since those technologies allow the production of more power and the reduction of fuel consumption.

Another interesting tidbit from Winterkorn is that he believes that plug-in electric vehicles will become the fuel-saving technology of choice in the coming years. As you may be aware, Germany gets the vast majority of its power from coal, which is an extremely dirty process. For this reason, the VeeDub leader suggests that the country take a look at nuclear for its power needs.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd.]

The German arguments to European Commission rules aimed at lowering average vehicle CO₂ emissions has been well covered. Because many of the major German brands make large, powerful vehicles, the German administration felt that they were being dealt with unfairly. France, for its part, has automakers which quite nearly complied with the proposed standards just as they were and did not want to see German automakers get any special treatment. Can't we all just get along? Maybe, since Automotive News is reporting that representatives from the two feuding nations have gotten together and are hashing out their differences. We don't have any details on just what changes are being suggested to the proposal, but an anonymous source claims that there are few sticking points left on the table. According to reports, France would like to see a deal made before June 9, when there is a meeting between Frech President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel scheduled in Bavaria. Stay tuned.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

A few years back, the European Commission began drafting tough new standards to regulate the amount of CO₂ that vehicles sold in member states could emit -- and its been backing off ever since. While French and Italian company's had no problems at all with the proposed regulations of 120 g/km of carbon emissions, the German brands began protesting. Since then, the Commission has moved the proposals down quite a bit in order to appease the masses. One proposal would have the allowable CO₂ emissions based on the size of the vehicle, which would help the Germans, with their large, heavy and powerful vehicles, skirt around the toughest standards.

Naturally, Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne isn't at all happy about these changes, saying, "This type of nonsense is clearly the result of political pressures that have been hard at work to protect particular participants in the European automotive market. Fiat as a group will not tolerate them and will do everything in its power to protect its economic interests in a manner consistent with the Commission's objective in substantially reducing CO₂ emissions." Because of the sliding curve of the latest proposal, makers of small and lightweight vehicles would be held to a higher standard than makers of large vehicles, which somehow seems rather backwards, wouldn't you say?

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

Toyota Motor Europe President Tadashi Arashima says that the company has plans for eighteen completely new or heavily revised models which will emit less than 140 grams of CO₂ per kilometer by the end of next year. Those sound like very ambitious plans but Toyota, which currently averages 149g/km for its line of vehicles in Europe, could be capable of such heroics. If they indeed make this happen, it would mean that half of all Toyotas sold in Europe would meet that low carbon emission target, up from roughly thirty percent last year. Under newly-proposed European Commission rules, Toyota would need to average roughly 127g/km of CO₂ emissions by 2012, so an aggressive mid-range target such as this one might be a necessity.

No indication of how Toyota plans to implement these new standards was given. Interestingly, Arashima suggests that some cost increases would need to be passed on to the consumer, but the Japanese company would take a wait-and-see approach before making any adjustments of its own. Consumer acceptance towards other brands could set a precedent for Toyota to follow.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

The allure of hydrogen cars is in their lack of emissions, and this was enough to cause the European Union's executive arm to recently suggest a 470 million euro (665 million dollars) investment into the technology.

EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said, "I'm absolutely not sure that the hydrogen powered car is the car of the future. It is a technology that is really promising and it is important that we give that technology the possibility to be developed."

Although manufacturers such as BMW, General Motors, Honda and Mazda all have hydrogen vehicles that are already on the roads, Verheugen recognizes that the cars are not likely to make a large dent in the overall emissions from cars anytime soon. He said, "Whether it will work I do not know. But what I know is that in the next 10 years we will not have hydrogen powered cars on our streets -- not in a quantity that will count in any way for (bringing down) the emissions."

In addition to the hefty sum allotted for research, the EU would also like to set up standard rules for the manufacturers so that it was easier for them to bring hydrogen vehicles to market. Some day, maybe.

[Source: Physorg]

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]