London and Paris to launch 'cleaner vehicle checker' website

The Mayors of London and Paris are teaming up to launch a website to encourage citizens to buy vehicles with better real world emissions.

The Cleaner Vehicle Checker will show Londoners how much toxic NOx new cars emit, helping them to choose and buy less polluting vehicles.

The system will use data from Emissions Analytics to offer independent evaluation of the emissions of most new cars and vans on our roads and on the showroom forecourt. 

The bodies hope that it will encourage manufacturers to produce vehicles that conform to the EU’s full ‘real-world driving emissions’ standards much sooner than when legally required by 2021, and that it will provide a free ‘health check’ service to London fleet operators to understand how their current fleet performs and where significant improvements could be made.

The Greater London Authority Group and local authorities will also use the tool to select appropriate vehicles for their fleets.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "My scheme will put an end to the smoke and mirrors that have been employed in official emissions tests.

"It will provide Londoners with an honest, accurate and independent evaluation of the emissions of most new cars and vans on our roads and on the showroom forecourt.

"By having ‘on the road’ testing I believe we will help Londoners make an informed choice and incentivise manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles sooner.

"This scheme is also a fantastic example of how big cities around the world can pool their expertise and their influence to encourage big industry to clean up its act. The toxicity of the air in London and many other big cities is an outrage, and schemes of the type we are introducing in London and Paris have the potential to make a massive difference to the quality of the air we all breathe."

Paul Wilson, chief executive officer of the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) welcomed the real world emissions tool. He said: “WPIC is very encouraged by the leadership being shown by London and Paris on the issue of air quality in cities.

"Independent road-testing provides an excellent starting point as consumers and policy makers consider the wide range of emissions performance from different cars and make appropriate choices. This approach is groundbreaking as it will provide consumers with independent model-by-model emissions data and it also sends a strong signal to car makers.

“As Platinum has long played a critical role in emissions control solutions, we understand the technical capabilities of the automotive industry well. We are keen to contribute to a dialogue rooted in fact and focussed on proactive action.

"Our analysis and test results from Emissions Analytics  show that best-in-class technologies which already achieve Euro 6c NOx limits on-the-road were installed on some models sold in 2016. We now need to tip the scales so that this is the case for the many, not the few. We would urge the car makers to recognise the vital, proactive role they can play in a viable solution to the air quality issue.”

The new Cleaner Vehicle Checker will be available online from the autumn - although real world fuel economy figures from Emissions Analytics data are already available on the Fleet News website.