Industry says European proposals for greener vans are unrealistic

The EC wants to set van makers a fleet average target for their CO2 emissions of 175 grams per kilometre (g/km), to be phased in between 2014 and 2016. By 2020, it wants to see this further reduced to 135 g/km by 2020.

Emissions limits will be set according to the weight of the vehicle, using a ‘limit value curve’. The curve will be set in such a way that a fleet average of 175 grams of CO2 per kilometre is achieved.

Manufacturers will have to pay penalties if average emission levels exceed the limit value curve.

Vans account for around 12 per cent of the EU's total carbon emissions and the EC sees these proposals as an important part of its overall carbon reduction strategy.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "This legislation is another important step for the EU in combating climate change and reaffirms the EU's commitment and leadership ahead of the Copenhagen conference.

“As well as ensuring the vans sector makes a fair contribution to efforts to tackle climate change, it will also generate important fuel savings for consumers and stimulate innovation in industry which will enable them to take full advantage of the transition to a low carbon economy.”

But the SMMT believes that, with seven-year product development cycles in the van and light commercial vehicle market, the timetable set by the Commission is too tight to allow the delivery of affordable products to the market.

“Vans are an integral part of the European economy and at a time of economic downturn and belt-tightening, businesses do not have the capacity to invest in new products,” said Paul Everitt SMMT chief executive. 

“Industry needs sufficient lead times and reasonable targets to provide affordable products. These must be fit for purpose as business tools. In the current economic climate, the EU regulation must maintain the sector’s diversity while encouraging innovation and the move to low carbon models.”

According to the SMMT, demand for vans across the EU fell by 35 per cent this year. In the UK, demand is down by 41 per cent in the first nine months of 2009 and is forecast to end the year 37 per cent down on 2008.

The organisation that represents the automotive industry in Europe – the ACEA – said today that the commercial vehicle sector depends entirely on the economy to recover in order to see sales pick up again and generate the revenues necessary to invest.

“Our economies are on life support[...],” said the secretary general of ACEA Ivan Hodac. ”Policy-makers must deliver on the balancing act between environmental and economic priorities.”

He added: “The European manufacturers will further deliver significant CO2-efficiency improvements to market despite the austere economic and financial conditions.

“To continue doing so, the industry needs a policy framework that enables it to perform best in the transition to a low carbon economy. That is both an environmental and an economic interest for the EU.”

In putting forward its proposals, the EC says it aims to safeguard Europe's competitiveness by stimulating the development of cutting edge automotive technologies.

Its proposals include a mechanism to credit vehicles which are fitted with innovations which reduce emissions but are not covered by the standard CO2 emission test procedure, as well as additional incentives for vehicles with extremely low emissions (below 50g/km) up to 2018.

But ACEA’s Hodac is not impressed. He said: “There is a focus on technologies regardless of the market situation or customer needs. There is not much consideration of the different uses of the vehicles concerned. That is a missed opportunity.”

The proposal will now be communicated to the Council and to the European Parliament as part of the co-decision legislative procedure.

The SMMT and ACEA have indicated that they intend to work with the European Council and Parliament to develop the proposals into what they see as a workable piece of legislation that delivers for the environment as well as for the economy.