The climate ratings of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) will become a lot more realistic after the EU agreed to reassess their CO2 emissions based on how much they actually emit on the road.
Green group Transport & Environment, which has campaigned for years to highlight the true impact of so-called ‘fake’ electric vehicles, said the new system would end the emissions scandal that is misleading consumers and allowing carmakers to significantly weaken their CO2 targets.
Currently, regulators assume PHEVs are driven far more in electric mode than is actually the case, leading to unrealistically low emissions ratings.
From 2025, the EU will significantly reduce the so-called utility factors, which is the share of electric driving that regulators use for calculating CO2 emissions of PHEVs.
From 2027, the utility factors of plug-in hybrids will be fully aligned with how they are driven in the real world.
The UK Government has just withdrawn the allowance for buying a PHEV.
