European Automakers Gearing for New Clean-Air Rules

BRUSSELS – ACEA, the European automakers group, calls on the European Union to take broad action to make cleaner fuels more available across Europe, now that final details of the EU’s fuel-quality directive have been revealed.

The EU’s legislative body, the European Commission, proposes a complex formula for measuring the amount of emissions involved in making and using liquid fuels, which is tied to commitments by member states to reduce carbon emissions linked to transport.

It allows oil refiners to log an average level of emissions from their fuels, with some (for instance, those made from oil-sands sources) being categorized as dirtier than others. This backs the EC’s goal of cutting the lifecycle greenhouse-gas intensity from road transport fuel sold in Europe 6% by 2020.

The EU’s overall target is a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 40% by 2030 based on 1990 levels.

The EU action wins qualified praise from an ACEA spokesperson who says this and the EU’s 2013 clean-fuels strategy boosting alternative fuel sources will yield benefits only if there is closer cooperation among EU utility providers, infrastructure companies, the energy sector, standardization bodies and the automotive industry.

ACEA also wants the EU to do more to ensure green fuels are of a high standard. “Alternative fuels must meet the quality requirements demanded by the vehicle manufacturers so that our customers have access to high-quality fuels compatible with future engines technology, and this is omitted from the strategy’s scope,” the spokesperson says.

David Bailey, a professor of international business strategy and economics at U.K.-based Coventry University and an auto specialist, says the EU moves would promote innovation in Europe’s automotive sector.

“European member states agreed to meet tough emissions standards, and that is driving a considerable rate of innovation in Europe to get vehicle emissions – and emissions from across all industries – down,” he says.

Bailey notes the proposal was drafted within the rules of the World Trade Organization, so if European automakers respond, they could get an edge in EU markets.

It was “quite a clever move, as it applies not only to EU manufacturers but to American or Chinese auto companies looking to sell in the EU,” he tells WardsAuto. “It’s relevant to producers who want to sell their vehicles inside the EU.”

However, Bailey says, EU legislators must be mindful of tightening regulations on emissions at a pace that accommodates the auto sector. “You are starting to see the premium market, especially in Germany, beginning to push back and contest the speed of environmental regulations.

“Auto manufacturers can argue that the pace of legislation should allow them a reasonable amount of time to innovate. At the same time, EU manufacturers look around the world and see that these standards do not apply in other markets.”

Peter Cooke, professor emeritus of automotive management at the U.K.-based University of Buckingham, believes the revisions do enable automakers to produce cars that use fossil fuels less intensively, and at a pace that satisfies all parties.

“I suspect that in reality, there are people (with) the original equipment manufacturers and officials representing Brussels already looking two or three EU directives down the line,” Cooke says. “It's one of the engineering conundrums – if we know what's coming, we can plan for it.

“The technical people in the European Commission have a good idea of the time scales and will not push those too fast. But at the same time, the OEMs want longer than they are going to get.”

Industry analysts emphasize “the automotive industry has made significant progress reducing all vehicle emissions in recent years,” says a spokesman for the U.K.-based Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. “Compared to 2000, NOx (nitrogen oxides) from diesel engines has been reduced 64% and particulates by 90%. CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions from new cars have reduced more than 25% over the past decade.”

Bailey adds the tightening of emissions standards are forcing automakers to cooperate as demands for innovation take them outside their areas of expertise.

“Automakers are having to look outside their own company and the industry for the technology,” he says. “They can't all do all of it. Some are focusing on making internal-combustion engines more efficient; others are looking at hybrids; others at electric; and then they are cooperating.” For instance, BMW and Peugeot are cooperating on cleaner ICEs. Meanwhile, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has focused its expertise on electric propulsion but also is working with Daimler on cleaner fuel engines.