{"id":1883,"date":"2017-04-28T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T23:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/?p=1883"},"modified":"2024-07-08T21:03:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T11:03:13","slug":"1883","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/news\/1883\/","title":{"rendered":"No, cutting your car\u2019s carbon emissions won\u2019t cost you more"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Australian government has started looking into carbon dioxide emissions standards<\/a> for light vehicles, as part of new measures to meet the nation\u2019s 2030 climate targets.\n\nHowever, some are already questioning the use of standards, with media reports<\/a> pointing to higher costs for new car buyers and the possibility of the government bungling the introduction of standards.\n\nMinisters Josh Frydenberg (energy and environment) and Paul Fletcher (urban infrastructure) have acknowledged these concerns<\/a>, stating that \u201cthe reform agenda raises issues which need to be carefully considered including for their impact on motorists, the automotive sector and others\u201d.\n\nIn 2015, new Australian vehicles produced an average of 184 grams of CO\u2082<\/a> for each kilometre. Introducing a standard is the cheapest way to cut carbon emissions in Australia\u2019s economy.\n\nAt ClimateWorks Australia, we\u2019ve long been calling<\/a> for best-practice standards for new light vehicles. This has been supported by Global Fuel Economy Initiative, Future Climate Australia<\/a>, and other environmental groups. Indeed, the latest report<\/a> from the Climate Change Authority also recommended a mandatory CO\u2082 emission standard.\n\nOur research<\/a> shows that the introduction of emission standards for light vehicles has considerable benefits for motorists and Australia more broadly.\n\nSo let\u2019s look at five key concerns and why light vehicle CO\u2082 emission standards should be introduced in Australia.\n\nEmission standards will cuts costs for drivers<\/strong>\n\nBased on a conservative estimate, we estimate that more efficient vehicles would add A$2,500 to the upfront costs for motorists (the Climate Change Authority estimates A$1,500<\/a>). However, our research<\/a> shows that the average driver could recoup these within three years through fuel savings, or even sooner for fleet drivers travelling greater distances. These payback periods are well within the average ownership periods for new cars.\n\nWith best-practice vehicle emission standards in place, by 2025 the average vehicle owner driving 14,000km a year would achieve annual fuel savings of up to A$850, while a fleet driver averaging 20,000km each year would save up to A$1,200.\n\nEmission standards are the cheapest way to cut carbon<\/strong>\n\nClimateWorks\u2019 Low Carbon Growth Plan for Australia<\/a> and a range of other studies<\/a> shows that reducing emissions from cars and light commercial vehicles through better fuel use is the cheapest way to reduce emissions across our economy.\n\nOur analysis shows best-practice standards for new light vehicles, equivalent to 130g of CO\u2082 per km in 2020 and 95g CO\u2082 per km in 2025, would reduce CO\u2082 emissions by about 100 million tonnes from 2020 to 2030. This is bigger than the 76 million tonnes of CO\u2082 previously identified by the federal government<\/a>.\n\nCurrently Australia is one of the few remaining developed countries without light vehicle CO\u2082 emission standards in place, with standards covering over 80% of the global automotive market. Any delay in implementing CO\u2082 emission standards will lock-in less efficient vehicles, resulting in higher costs to consumers, and higher emissions.\n\nWe don\u2019t have to wait for better testing<\/strong>\n\nThe Volkswagen emissions scandal<\/a> has increased scepticism about introducing standards here. The scandal highlighted the issue that laboratory testing of emissions does not reflect on-road driving conditions resulting in an overestimate of actual emissions reductions.\n\nIn fact, a recent report<\/a> found completely legal inconsistencies between testing and on-road use in car models across Europe.\n\nSome argue that Australia should do nothing until a better testing system has been developed to address these issues. However, even taking into account the fact that on-road emissions may possibly be higher than what current standards testing show, Australia would still improve the efficiency of its vehicle fleet by 50% with standards in place.\n\nFuel quality standards won\u2019t get in the way<\/strong>\n\nSome groups argue that Australia\u2019s lack of low-sulfur fuel could be a roadblock in meeting future new vehicle CO\u2082 standards and that we need to have more stringent fuel quality standards in place before we look to introduce CO\u2082 standards.\n\nVehicles do run more efficiently with low-sulfur fuel, meaning they produce less CO\u2082. However, the sulfur content of our current fuel quality standards does not present an obstacle for vehicle efficiency technologies for compliance with CO\u2082 standards. The International Council on Clean Transportation<\/a> has stated that Australia\u2019s fuel quality now doesn\u2019t present any impediment to reduce vehicle emissions at rates comparable to the other regions of the world.\n\nAs improving fuel efficiency now is shown to be cost-effective and technically feasible, we shouldn\u2019t delay the implementation of CO\u2082 emission standards. Our research<\/a> shows that any delay in improving vehicle emissions standards will lead to a level of emissions lock-in \u2013 where a larger proportion of vehicles on our roads will be less efficient than they would be with standards in place \u2013 reducing the potential by which vehicle emission standards can contribute to Australia\u2019s emission reduction targets.\n\nAustralians will have more choice<\/strong>\n\nThe introduction of best-practice emission standards does not mean that drivers will have less choice. Under emissions standards, manufacturers are required to meet an average emissions standard across the entire fleet. This allows manufacturers to provide a range of models so long as the average emissions of the fleet as a whole does not exceed the agreed standard.\n\nRather than limit consumer choice, standards should increase the availability of more efficient vehicles into the Australian market and continue current trends of increasing the number of green vehicles.\n\nThe federal government has the opportunity to introduce best practice emission standards for light vehicles. If designed well, in collaboration with industry and consumers, it presents a significant opportunity to reduce emissions from the transport sector while providing benefits for vehicle owners and the broader economy.\n\nOriginally published by Scott Ferraro<\/a> in The Conversation<\/a>, September 22 2016\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Let\u2019s look at five key concerns and why light vehicle CO\u2082 emission standards should be introduced in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1883"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13266,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions\/13266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}