Fuel Economy & Emissions

The government is demanding that fuel economy and CO₂ emission figures for all new vans must be provided by the industry no later than 1 January 2008. Knowing fuel consumption (and CO₂ emission figures if you are environmentally conscious) will aid buying decisions.

However, once the authorities know how much CO₂ a van produces, they can tax it accordingly. So its likely that another bucket-load of money will be scooped out of the pockets of van owners and into the Treasury's coffers. What is more, there is considerable doubt about how much use the figures will be and whether they will reflect a vehicle's real-world performance. People buy vans because they want to carry loads and a laden vehicle consumes more fuel than an empty one. However, the data will apparently only show what a vehicle can achieve when it has no cargo on board. Nor will it take into account the fact that vans are used in very different ways. A courier who spends most of his time on high speed motorway dashes will have a different story to tell about fuel consumption than somebody who is on stop-start city centre delivery work.

While it seems likely that the new rules will apply solely to vans introduced after January 2008 and will not require vehicles already on sale to be tested retrospectively, light commercial manufacturers such as Ford and Vauxhall complain that they have been told next to nothing about the proposed testing regime. Move up the weight scale and things are getting even more painful.

Of course the vehicle specification is only one part of the story. Considerable improvements in fuel economy and emissions can be achieved by simple driver training. In fact one of the primary aims of the introduction of compulsory professional competence training over the next few years is to improve fuel economy and lower emissions.

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