Modern diesels should play key role, says ACEA

Modern diesel cars, supported by fleet renewal policies and combined with alternative powertrains, should have a key role to play in helping European cities move towards compliance with air quality targets and should not be demonised. So says European carmakers' trade body, ACEA.

So says the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), after new research which shows that many new diesel cars are already achieving the most stringent RDE-2 emissions standards which don’t come into effect until January 2020.

ACEA now says that differentiation should be clearly made between the fleet of old diesel cars on European roads and the new models that are now rolling off production lines across Europe.

Some 270 new types of diesel cars type-approved against the latest Euro 6d-TEMP standard were introduced on the European market over the past year. The research shows that all of these diesel cars performed well below the NOx threshold of the real driving emissions (RDE) test, and were some of the cleanest diesel models ever produced.

At the same time, other tests have shown that the latest generation of Euro 6-compliant diesel cars produce up to 95% less NOx than Euro 5 cars.

The current RDE test applies to all new car types produced since September 2017 and measures key pollutants, such as NOx and particles, emitted by cars while driven on public roads over a wide range of conditions.

RDE therefore ensures that pollutant emission levels measured during the laboratory test (WLTP) are confirmed on the road, and that the legal thresholds are not exceeded during day-to-day driving.

Each of the 270 RDE-compliant diesel vehicle types tested represents a whole ‘family’ of similar cars of differing variants, so a multitude of low-emitting diesel cars are now available on the market.

The German automobile club, ADAC, estimates that there are now more than 1,200 different RDE-compliant cars available on the market today.

Erik Jonnaert, ACEA secretary general (pictured), said: “These new findings prove that modern diesel cars, supported by fleet renewal policies and combined with alternative powertrains, will play a strong role in helping cities move towards compliance with air quality targets.

“In parallel, diesel vehicles will continue to remain important for reducing CO2 emissions in the short and medium term, even though all manufacturers are expanding their offer of electrically-chargeable cars.

“Auto makers have made major investments to quickly deliver these massive reductions in NOx emissions. It is important that we stop demonising diesel technology as a whole. Instead, we need to differentiate between the old diesel fleet and the latest generation of vehicles.”

ADAC recently performed independent on-road testing of RDE-compliant diesel vehicles and found that modern diesels emit 85% less NOx on average than Euro 5 cars, concluding that the latest diesels are “very clean”.

Additional testing demonstrated that the best-performing RDE-compliant Euro 6 diesels emit as much as 95-99% less NOx than Euro 5 vehicles.

“The latest diesels should still have a strong role to play in European fleet policies, in conjunction with the latest alternative power trains and possible gasoline models, if appropriate,” said Dr Jörg Löffler, CEO of Fleet Logistics.

“Getting the right fleet mix of vehicles will become increasingly important going forward, and we urge most major corporates to discuss the situation in detail with their fleet management provider to arrive at the optimum solution,” he said.

If you require any further information or advice on the operation of vans on your fleet, please email info@fleetlogistics.com.