The impact of new fuel economy tests

Real-world emissions testing

The process by which official CO2 and fuel consumption figures are measured is changing. The outdated NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) will be phased out from September 2017 in favour of the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).

Green Car Guide commissioned a feature to assess the implications of the coming changes.

I spoke to a range of experts including Nick Molden, founder and chief executive of Emissions Analytics, a company that assesses emissions using equipment that can be attached to cars during real-world use. I also interviewed Phil Stones, chief powertrains engineer at vehicle testing specialist Millbrook, and Greg Archer, director of clean vehicles at lobby group Transport & Environment.

Key quote
“It will be an improvement on NEDC because it could hardly be worse, but it’s not going to be that much better and it’s not going to solve the underlying problem”
Nick Molden, founder and chief executive, Emissions Analytics