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The success of this initiative is deeply related to the number of users will becoming a Citizen Scientists and help us in the fight against climate change.
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The European Commission is working towards forms of mobility that are sustainable, energy-efficient and respectful for the environment. The White Paper for Transport [COM(2011)144] sets a 60% greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2050. The Communication on A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility provides more details on how this reduction can be achieved.
The EU has a strategy in place to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and vans, including emissions targets for new vehicles [Regulation EU 333/2014 and EU 253/2014]. For heavy duty vehicles the strategy focuses on short-term action to certify, report, and monitor their emissions - an essential first step towards curbing them. Through the Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles public authorities are required to take account of life time energy use and CO2 emissions when procuring vehicles.
EU co-funded research (for example through Horizon 2020) contributes significantly to developing fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, contributes to these policy goals through pre-normative research and laboratory testing of cars, motorcycles, and heavy duty vehicles, development of vehicle simulation models for cars/vans (CO2MPAS) and heavy duty vehicles (VECTO). All these activities contribute directly to EU policy development and implementation, for example the adoption of the new WLTP (Worldwide harmonised Light duty Test Procedure) in the EU type approval procedure. The JRC assesses applications for eco-innovations, CO2 reduction technologies that are not covered by the standard test cycle, as defined in Regulation EC 443/2009. The JRC also analyses future scenarios for transport CO2 reduction pathways through its fleet impact model DIONE or its powertrain technology transition market agent model PTT-MAM.
Alternative fuels are urgently needed to break the over-dependence of European transport on oil. The European Union aims at the long-term substitution of oil as energy source in all modes of transport. Directive 2014/94/EU on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure requires EU Member States to develop national policy frameworks for the market development of alternative fuels and their infrastructure, foresees the use of common technical specifications for recharging and refuelling stations, and paves the way for setting up appropriate consumer information on alternative fuels, including a clear and sound price comparison methodology.
Horizon 2020 and other EU funding schemes (for example the European Regional Development Fund) support consortia to develop or demonstrate alternative fuels solutions. The EU is promoting the development of infrastructure for alternative, environmentally friendly fuels, including charging stations, also through the "Connecting Europe Facility", the financial instrument of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, contributes to these policy goals through pre-normative research, testing cars and charging equipment in its Interoperability Centre for Electric Vehicles and Smart Grids. Through the interoperability centre the JRC supports the development and harmonisation of electric vehicle standards and test procedures, a prerequisite for a predictable framework that gives innovators confidence to bring their e-mobility products to market. Through its electro-mobility modelling activities the JRC analyses challenges and opportunities of a wider deployment of electro-mobility in Europe. The JRC also looks at well-to-wheel emissions and sustainability aspects of different fuel options.
Protection of the environment and improvement of air quality is an important objective of the European Union. In the automotive industry, EU legislation and standards aim to reduce the emission of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons. Binding emission limits are already introduced for cars and light commercial vehicles (Euro 6, Regulation EC 692/2008) and heavy-duty vehicles (Euro VI, Regulation EU 582/2011). Updated environmental requirements for agricultural and forestry tractors, and two or three-wheeled vehicles will be included in future regulations.
The European Commission also works on the improvement of testing procedures for pollutant emissions and fuel consumption. This helps assess the performance of vehicles under real-life conditions. Two new testing procedures are currently being finalised: Real Driving Emissions (RDE) for measuring regulated pollutants and the Worldwide harmonised Light duty Test Procedure (WLTP).
The Directive 2008/50/EC sets ambient air quality objectives and aims at cleaner air for Europe.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, contributes to these policy goals through pre-normative research and testing of cars, motorcycles, heavy duty vehicles, and non-road mobile machinery. The tests are done in laboratories and in field tests where Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) are used to measure accurately the pollution of vehicles and/or engines during their real operation. All these activities contribute directly to EU policy development and implementation, for example the adoption of the Euro standards and RDE testing procedure. The JRC also analyses future scenarios for transport emission reduction pathways through its fleet impact model DIONE.
The Green Driving Tool is an in-house development of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service. It is fully owned by the Commission. Users of the tool input descriptions of their vehicle-powertrain-fuel combination used on their typical journeys. It translates this information, via map data and detailed vehicle simulations, into fuel/energy consumption values, costs of the journey and CO2 emissions for the given situation. The user can then modify her/his choices and evaluate the impact of these decisions. The Green Driving Tool can create awareness, support purchase decisions, trigger car-pooling etc.
The detailed vehicle simulations in the background are powered by CO2MPAS (CO2 Module for PAssenger and commercial vehicles Simulation), an earlier JRC development to support the introduction of the WLTP in the type-approval of light-duty vehicles for what concerns the CO2 targets set by Regulations 443/2009 and 510/2011. CO2MPAS will be used by car manufacturers and national type approval authorities for every vehicle that will be subject to type-approval in the EU in the period 2017-2021.
The tool does not provide results for specific car models but synthetic values for vehicle types with specific configurations. The tool features the following car settings: car segment, fuel/powertrain type (gasoline, diesel, CNG, LPG, flexfuel (E85), biodiesel, hybrid diesel, hybrid gasoline, battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), EURO standard, engine capacity, engine power. Also include: gearbox (manual/automatic), car weight, traction (two- or all-wheel drive), tyre class, start/stop, brake energy recuperation, start/end point, number of passengers, weight of luggage, roof box, air conditioning (on/off), driving style (normal/aggressive), fuel/energy price.
The tool has been extensively checked for the quality of its results. However, it may still contain small inaccuracies that will be fixed if needed. Additional features may also be integrated, so watch out for updates. Feedback and enquiries are welcome at JRC-GREEN-DRIVING@ec.europa.eu.