The drama of implementing carbon dioxide emissions limits for European cars continues this week with the latest directional change. This time around, with the French holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, a new proposal has emerged that would see the limits phased in over a three-year period beginning in 2012. Originally, the plan was to have each manufacturer's fleet average no more than 130 g/km of C0₂ emissions by 2012. Under the latest proposal, only 60 percent of an automaker's fleet would have to meet that requirement. Only by 2015 would everything built have to come down to that level. Beyond that, further emissions reductions to 95-110 g/km are proposed by the end of the decade. So far there isn't any indication that any of this will become law. Both the European Parliament and member states have to pass the rules for them to take effect.

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

Support for crop-based biofuels is falling in many parts of the world, including Europe. When the European Commission proposed that 10 percent of road transport fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020 it didn't specify what types of renewable energy should be used. The European Parliament's industry committee has now endorsed the 10 percent requirement. However, in a nod to environmentalists, the committee has decided that at least 40 percent of that should be provided by hydrogen or electricity from renewable sources or next-generation biofuels. Environmentalists still aren't entirely pleased but the move to limit use of crop-based fuels is seen as a positive development. The committee's decision will be used as the basis for negotiations among member states of the EU before passage of final regulations, likely some time in 2009.

[Source: New Scientist Tech]

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]

It looks like European automakers are winning their battle against the proposed European Union limits on automotive CO₂ emissions. While the European Commission had proposed a limit of 120 g/km for the vehicle fleet by 2012, manufacturers where claiming the limit was too aggressive. The members of parliament apparently agreed, with the Industry and Energy Committee voting 35-21 to slow things down. Instead of having the entire fleet meet the requirement, only 60 percent of vehicles will have to pass the new threshold in 2012. Over the next several years, through 2015, the rest of the vehicles will meet the standard as well. Extremely low emission vehicles with less than 50 g/km of CO₂ will also be given extra credit counting as 1.5 vehicles in the sales weighted averaging. All electric vehicles will count as three cars until 2015. In a further move sure to make environmentalists apoplectic, the fines for exceeding the limits were slashed from the EC's proposed €95 per gram of CO₂ over the limit to €40 per gram.

[Source: Euractiv.com]

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.]

Greenpeace

Everybody's favorite pre-historic family was arrested today in Brussels, Belgium. A group of protesters from Greenpeace dressed in Flintstones-style garb were taken into custody today as they approached the European Parliament building. The EU parliament is about to start debating the legislation that would impose carbon dioxide emissions limits on automakers. The European Commission had recommended rules with hefty fines for non-compliance and fleet average emissions limited to 130g/km by 2012. Under pressure from ACEA, the European automakers association, the parliament has moved to reduce the fines and stretch out the time-line for implementation. German automakers in particular are most opposed to the new rules and German legislators have vowed to protect their domestic industry. The Greenpeace protesters were opposed to the amount of influence the industry has had on the new regulations.

[Source: Reuters]

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]

It seems so often the case that proposed regulations start out quite high and are then bartered down when the affected parties complain loud enough. This could again be the case with European Union legislation targeting automobile emissions. When the laws were first being considered, the bar was set at 120 grams of C0₂ per kilometer for an entire automaker's fleet of vehicles. First, we heard news that German car companies may be able to negotiate a break on these requirements, and now we hear that the entire industry could get a few more years via a graduated scale to bring their offerings in line with the law. After all is said and done, we wonder what the legislation will look like, if it ever goes through at all.

[Source: Automotive News]

Photo by kadavy. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Europeans don't monkey around when it comes to cigarette warning labels. Large print, simple messages, and impossible to avoid. Apparently, vehicle advertisements need to be a little more clear about the dangers the vehicle poses to the pocketbook and the environment.

Car ads that references a specific make and model, according to EU directive 1999/94/EC, which passed in December 1999, need to reveal fuel use and CO₂ emissions in way that is easy to read and prominent and "be easy to understand even on superficial contact." While some car advertisements in the EU and UK have come under fire for being misleading (see examples by Toyota and Lexus and Hummer), a researcher at a Belgian university found that almost every single car ad (99 percent) in the EU is illegal.

Examples of what car ads should look like and ways to voice your concern are available at this site, which was set up by ten environmental and greener car groups, including Greenpeace and the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s (4x4 is the British way of saying SUV).

[Source: The Economist, h/t to Jeroen V.]

Just the other day, we wrote a post highlighting a quote from Nabil Kassem, professor at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology, who commented, "Driving a hydrogen-powered car in 2030 will be a common thing" As always, there are many commentators on AutoblogGreen who have much to say on the merits (or lack thereof) of hydrogen. So, for those interested in the idea of a "hydrogen economy" or "hydrogen society" (for good or for bad), it seems that the European Union is estimating that there will be 16 million hydrogen-powered vehicles on European roadways by 2030. Any such scenario must also include plans on creating an infrastructure to handle these cars, and the EU is figuring on this as well. Their goals (sub. req'd to read this WSJ article) include cutting oil usage by 40 percent through the use of hydrogen and they are putting their money where their mouths are by approving a $1.4 billion investment into research for using hydrogen as an alternative fuel.

[Source: Auto Observer]

It looks like the German automakers may be getting at least some of what they were looking for in the new European CO2 regulations. Car-makers like Porsche, Mercedes, and Audi have been pushing for scaled-back limits on CO2 emissions based on vehicle size, a change that would allow them to continue making big, powerful cars.

The European government is split in two parts. The European Commission is the regulatory arm while the European Union is the legislative body. The Commission is pushing for a 120 g//km fleet average limit by 2012, something that French and Italian companies are content with since they make a lot of smaller, diesel-powered cars. To appease the Germans, the EU wants to make the limit 125 g/km with a 2015 deadline. Apparently the politicians who comprise the EU parliament have decided that at least the German automakers need more time to meet the new requirements. Once the EC and EU do reach agreement on new regulations, it could be another two years before they are implemented.

[Source: Motor Authority]

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]