Manufacturers try to attract customers in different ways, and even with incorrect data. According to ICCT research, cars with internal combustion engines registered in Germany in 2022 used 14 percent more gasoline or diesel per kilometer than manufacturers claimed, and produced 14 percent more CO2. How accurate are the fuel consumption figures?

The WLTP test was introduced to show more honest and reliable information about fuel consumption and C02 emissions. However, over the years, its effectiveness began to lose again, as was the case with the previous NEDC. For this reason, we again have a widening gap between the official consumption data published by car manufacturers and the consumption in real driving conditions. The analysis is based on consumption data recorded by drivers during daily driving through the spritmonitor.de portal, and included data from more than 160,000 vehicles.

“The European Union’s demands on manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions are not applied in the real world. This undermines the EU’s efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, meaning consumers have to pay more for fuel than expected,” said Jan Dornoff, senior expert at ICCT organization.

When it comes to manufacturers, the biggest difference between true consumption and published consumption is recorded in Opel, Hyundai, Ford and Seat cars. Mercedes-Benz, VW, BMW and Audi also had incorrect data, but with a smaller difference. It showed that the old NEDC test was not effective because it showed the opposite data. Audi consumed significantly more than the factory data, while Opel and Hyundai were closer to the official data.

A few years ago, the EU introduced a regulation that every new vehicle must have a measuring device that automatically informs the authorities about the actual consumption. They are not taken into account in this analysis, but according to data published by the EU a year ago, the difference between the true and official data of manufacturers is 22 percent.

Source: ICCT