ROME – Plug-in hybrid cars (those rechargeable even with the plug) risk transforming themselves from a precious bridge to ferry the transition to electric mobility without trauma for those who still do not feel ready to completely abandon fossil fuels on the counter of polluting emissions.
In fact, it seems that hybrids on tap in real use release a quantity of CO2 up to four times higher than that normally detected by tests. And that is why the European Union – according to Reuters sources – is thinking of strengthening the current method of detecting the carbon dioxide emissions of these cars. The new standards could prove very worrying for those car manufacturers who have focused on the sale of plug-in hybrids in Europe, as they may find themselves forced to accelerate the sale of fully electric vehicles in order to meet EU emissions targets and avoid sizable fines.
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According to Reuters sources, the revised test should be applied more or less from 2025 and, to more realistically verify how much in real driving the plug-in hybrids still rely on their internal combustion engine over the electric battery, they will be incorporated. data from fuel consumption meters, which according to European law must be integrated into new cars starting from 2021. “The utility factor will change”, Petr Dolejsi, Acea’s director of sustainable transport, told Reuters, referring to the average estimate of how far a hybrid travels in pure electric mode. “We’re starting to collect data from vehicles … it’s an ongoing process.”
A modification to the emissions test of plug-in hybrid vehicles that better reflect real-world driving conditions was loudly demanded by environmental groups and regulators, who stressed that these vehicles were not as green as once thought. and therefore should not be treated in the same way as battery electric vehicles when designing a policy to encourage electrification. In short, it seems that even the new WLTP homologation test, implemented last year and designed on the basis of actual data from real driving, is still far from representing reality. Particularly for plug-in hybrid cars, which rely on the combustion engine about twice as much as test results show. This is demonstrated by studies conducted by groups of environmental experts such as the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT), which used actual emissions data from more than 100,000 plug-in hybrids from sources such as company car databases or monitoring websites. of consumer fuel. As a result, plug-in hybrids are charged less often and have a shorter all-electric range than the test assumes.
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The deviation from the real world is even greater for company cars, probably because drivers have less incentive to load the vehicle – a cheaper option than refueling – if they don’t pay the price. All this fuss comes at a golden time in Europe for plug-in hybrid vehicle sales. But if the current benefits in terms of fines and taxes were to disappear, car manufacturers could be forced to make a quick change of strategy. And this would penalize a market that is already in great pain.