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European commercial vehicle manufacturers jointly develop evaluation tool to help further reduce CO2 emissions

Date

21 Sep 2010

Sections

Transport

Hanover, 21 September 2010 – The European commercial vehicle
manufacturers are developing an evaluation tool to calculate real-life
CO2 emissions from trucks and buses ahead of purchase. Market forces
play an instrumental role in reducing CO2 emissions from road transport
and an accurate CO2-calculator would further support the customer in
finding the most fuel-efficient vehicle for each specific transport
mission. The initiative marks an important step in realising the
commercial vehicle industry’s ‘Vision 2020’, announced in Hanover in
2008, pledging to further reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020*.

“Our industry fully supports the common objective to reduce CO2
emissions, and by sharing our expertise with the market as well as with
policy makers, we will arrive at ambitious results”, said Leif Johansson,
Chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Board of ACEA and President & CEO of
Volvo Group, making a particular reference to the European Commission’s
recently voiced intention to adopt policy measures to reduce CO2
emissions from commercial vehicles.

“It is important that legislators support our efforts with a police
approach that matches the reality of commercial goods and passenger
transport. Measures should, furthermore, be globally harmonised. Our
industry operates globally, and climate change is also a global
challenge.” Johansson addressed reporters during the ACEA press
conference at the international commercial vehicle show IAA in Hanover.
He was accompanied by Harrie Schippers (DAF), Andreas Renschler (Daimler
Trucks), Paolo Monferino (IVECO), Georg Pachta-Reyhofen (MAN) and Leif
Östling (Scania). It was the second time that the ACEA commercial vehicle
manufacturers’ executives have given a joint press conference.

The European commercial vehicles are leading worldwide with advanced
technologies that produce fuel-efficient as well as low-emission and safe
trucks and buses. The CO2 evaluation tool will help their customers to
choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle specification, involving issues
such as engine-gearbox combination, aerodynamic features and tyre
specification. The tool will also serve to provide stakeholders-at-large
with essential insight in the complexity and variety of road transport.

*compared to 2005

Background
CO2 emissions from commercial vehicle vary hugely depending on the
vehicle’s ultimate size and shape and on the work it does, i.e. the load
carried, the travelling distance and speed, the number of start-stops,
and many more factors. Unlike for cars, the carbon dioxide emissions of
trucks and buses cannot be simplified into an average tailpipe output
defined in grammes of CO2 per kilometre.

The calculation methodology promoted by ACEA uses computer simulation
based on real-life tests with trucks and buses in a number of categories,
ranging from city buses and garbage trucks, to delivery vehicles and
long-haul transport. Emissions are calculated in grammes of CO2 per
tonne-kilometre, cubic metre-kilometre of goods or passenger-kilometre to
properly reflect the purpose and usage of the vehicle concerned.

The commercial vehicle industry has already cut the fuel consumption ofits products by more than a third since the 1970s. Pollutant emissions

such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter have already been reduced
by as much as 85% and 95% respectively since the late 1980s.

About ACEA - Commercial Vehicles

ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, is the
Brussels’ based trade association of the 16 major car, van, truck and bus
producers in Europe. The ACEA commercial vehicle members are DAF Trucks,
Daimler Trucks, IVECO, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, Scania, Volkswagen Commercial
Vehicles and Volvo Group.
The commercial vehicle industry is an important part of the European
automobile industry and currently employs about 1.5 million people
directly and indirectly in Europe.

For further information, please contact Sigrid de Vries, Director
Communications, ACEA +32 485 88 66 47 or sv@acea.be
Please also visit www.acea.be

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