A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), an environmental NGO, highlights “a significant and rapidly widening gap between real-world CO2 emissions and those measured in type-approval tests” for plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) registered between 2021 and 2023.
In concrete terms, average real-world CO2 emissions were 3.5 times higher than the approved figures in 2021 – and 4.6 times higher in 2023. The main reason for this gap is that these vehicles are “charged less often and driven less frequently in electric mode than initial calculations assume“, according to the ICCT.
The NGO was behind the revelations on dieselgate, the scandal that has since 2015 engulfed giants of the sector accused of concealing the true level of pollution from nitrogen oxides (NOx). In addition, Peter Mock, director of ICCT Europe, explains, “it may seem counter-intuitive, but the extension of electric range in new models has not translated into greater use of electric mode in practice“.
However, the revision of the calculation method next year should “probably reduce the appeal of plug-in hybrids as a tool for manufacturers to meet European CO2 emissions targets for new cars“, Peter Mock warns. “It should also lead to a further decline in their market share“.