See the bullet points in the executive summary of the study linked from this article. They are all illuminating, but I’ve extracted three just for ease of reading:
Average CO2 emissions per kilometre (gCO2/km) from new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are no longer falling at the UK and London levels; and they are rising in urban areas where large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are most popular, such as Kensington & Chelsea.
The annual reduction in the average CO2 emissions of new cars sold in the UK is now exclusively attributable to the rapidly growing market share of electric vehicles (EVs), and EV sales are expected to be the main source of future CO2 reductions from now on.
The recent trend towards larger, heavier, more powerful cars such as SUVs means that on average, a car that was bought new in 2013 is likely to have lower CO2 emissions than a new ICE car bought in 2023.
(Edit to add: I’ve tried my damnedest to format those bullet points, but I cannot get them to separate nicely, please just ignore those asterisks.)
However those points were talking about CO2 emission levels, where I was responding to a comment about MPG.
My comment was comparing apples to apples same vehicles from the same make/model from back in the day versus now.
Federal laws have changed over the years requiring better MPG for vehicles, and that’s where my comment was coming from, that auto manufacturers had to improve the MPG.
Yes, I agree. I suspect the person you were replying to made a comment born of general frustration with car trends. Apples to apples, sure motors are more efficient. But the fact is my car from 2009 uses 4-15 l/100 km and my mother in-law’s fucking VW Tiguan from last year uses 9-11 l/100 km. It’s absurd, this single woman driving a genuinely huge SUV. Her kids are grown up and gone her husband is gone. She cannot use that much vehicle.
Sometimes she complains about how difficult it is to park. My partner will humor her a bit, but I cannot refrain from pointing out that she could have bought (leased actually, but that’s another problem) a hatchback.
Aaaallll that to say, yes, you’re right, technically. And if we look at the current fleet, I think you’re right. But there is a worrying trend of worsening fuel consumption among a segment of the market that is growing, fast, so the previous commenter is also right from anotger perspective.
See the bullet points in the executive summary of the study linked from this article. They are all illuminating, but I’ve extracted three just for ease of reading:
Average CO2 emissions per kilometre (gCO2/km) from new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are no longer falling at the UK and London levels; and they are rising in urban areas where large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are most popular, such as Kensington & Chelsea.
The annual reduction in the average CO2 emissions of new cars sold in the UK is now exclusively attributable to the rapidly growing market share of electric vehicles (EVs), and EV sales are expected to be the main source of future CO2 reductions from now on.
The recent trend towards larger, heavier, more powerful cars such as SUVs means that on average, a car that was bought new in 2013 is likely to have lower CO2 emissions than a new ICE car bought in 2023.
(Edit to add: I’ve tried my damnedest to format those bullet points, but I cannot get them to separate nicely, please just ignore those asterisks.)
Fine points, thank you for sharing.
However those points were talking about CO2 emission levels, where I was responding to a comment about MPG.
My comment was comparing apples to apples same vehicles from the same make/model from back in the day versus now.
Federal laws have changed over the years requiring better MPG for vehicles, and that’s where my comment was coming from, that auto manufacturers had to improve the MPG.
Yes, I agree. I suspect the person you were replying to made a comment born of general frustration with car trends. Apples to apples, sure motors are more efficient. But the fact is my car from 2009 uses 4-15 l/100 km and my mother in-law’s fucking VW Tiguan from last year uses 9-11 l/100 km. It’s absurd, this single woman driving a genuinely huge SUV. Her kids are grown up and gone her husband is gone. She cannot use that much vehicle.
Sometimes she complains about how difficult it is to park. My partner will humor her a bit, but I cannot refrain from pointing out that she could have bought (leased actually, but that’s another problem) a hatchback.
Aaaallll that to say, yes, you’re right, technically. And if we look at the current fleet, I think you’re right. But there is a worrying trend of worsening fuel consumption among a segment of the market that is growing, fast, so the previous commenter is also right from anotger perspective.