It may seem a little odd, but these days new cars come with energy efficiency ratings like you'd expect to see on the side of a new fridge.
What these friendly-coloured bars are telling us is the amount of C02 each car emits on a comparative scale, giving us all more information to help us decide which car is right.
So, now we have the information, what are we going to do with it?
The first thing to do is to understand what the colours and the numbers mean.
The green colour associations tell the simplest picture - green is 'green' i.e. high fuel economy, low emissions and red is the opposite, low fuel economy, high emissions.
The numbers give the facts behind this - car's that produce 120 g/km of CO2 or less are considered to be economical. 186 g/km or above are therefore labelled uneconomical.
But this banding is more than just information, it now affects the annual Car Tax you pay (see VCA info below) and from October 2008, the price you pay for the London Congestion Charge. The lowest banded cars will pay no congestion charge tax and the highest bands £25 per day! This decision may not affect everyone, but it could well be a sign of things to come.
The net result is that the lower, 120g/km or less vehicles are the best performers and those at the opposite end of the scale at 186+g/km are the worst performers on the fuel economy scale.
To give you an idea of current vehicles that fit these categories, the Ford Focus econetic and the Renault Megane sit in the top end of the second to lowest category (<120 g/km) and you'll be surprised to hear that even the 2.3L Ford S-Max falls in the upper range (226+ g/km) as does the 3.0L Renault Grand Espace, which is perhaps less surprising.
To see the new cars that fit into each of these bands, click on the relevant Fuel Economy Rating below:
Category A - <100 g/km > - Very Green, Low Emission New Cars
Category B - <101 - 120 g/km > - Green, Low Emission New Cars
Category C - <121 - 150 g/km > - Low Emission New Cars
Category D - <151 - 165 g/km > - Medium Emission New Cars
Category E - <166 - 185 g/km > - Medium High Emission New Cars
Category F - <182 - 225 g/km > - High Emission New Cars
Category G - <226+ g/km > - Very High Emission New Cars
Overall, this doesn't just equate to more pollution, it's also about higher running costs.
The following information gives you the ability to understand car emissions in more detail and will help you to calculate the average annual cost of driving a new car before you buy. We've split this into a few sections to make it easier to read:
CO2 emissions refer to the release of Carbon Dioxide in the exhaust gases of a car, and are a good measure of the amount of fuel a car is burning.
The g/km is a measure that quantifies the weight of Carbon Dioxide released for every Km that the car is driven and so makes it a good measure of the Fuel Economy of the car.
More CO2 released over the same distance means more fuel is being used
ANNUAL COST = (ANNUAL MILEAGE / FUEL ECONOMY) x COST OF FUEL
Annual Mileage
You're either going to know this or you're going to have to work it out based around the average. If you are comparing cars then it doesn't really matter what figure you use as long as it's the same for both cars. The average given on the Fuel Economy Label is 12,000miles, though different figures may be used to work out any finance you might take on a new car so please be aware of this. It's not a bad idea to know what your annual mileage will be on a car anyway as this can be used to budget for the cost of your car or to make you aware of how your mileage will affect the long-term value of your car. Higher than average mileage certainly reduces the sale value of your car.
Fuel Economy
The figure you should be looking for is the car's 'EC Combined (mpg)'. As the name suggests, it's a combination of the EC Extra Urban (mpg) - i.e. the fuel economy outside of city / suburban driving and the EC Urban (mpg) - the fuel economy driving around in a typical city / suburb. These are calculated by the manufacturers using standardised tests so you can be reasonably confident that these are comparative between different cars. You can find out what this is for your new car by looking at the technical specifications of a vehicle and looking for the EC combined (mpg) Figure.
Cost of Fuel
The standards given by the VCA (Vehicle Certification Agency) for different fuel costs are 90p for Petrol, 94p for Diesel and 45p for LPG. In the UK there are 4.545 Litres for every Gallon. This works out at £4.09 for Petrol, £4.27 for Diesel and £2.05 for LPG.
Calculating the Annual Cost of Running a car
Example 1: Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi Econetic 5dr (110) Hatchback
Taking an average of 12,000miles a year, a fuel economy of 65.6mpg and £4.27 per gallon, that's:
Annual cost of Focus Econetic (example) = (12,000 / 65.6) x 4.27 = £748
Which seems pretty reasonable. Let's take another Ford that's in the top range and see what the difference is
Example 2: Ford S-Max 2.3 Zetec 5dr Automatic
Taking an average of 12,000miles a year, a fuel economy of 29.1mpg and £4.09 per gallon, that's:
Annual cost of Focus Econetic (example) = (12,000 / 29.1) x 4.09 = £1686
Which is over a thousand pounds more a year. Certainly worth taking into consideration.
The best place to look for this is on the VCA (Vehicle Certificate Authority) website as these can change. Click here to visit the VCA website.
The details of this are still in dicussion at the time of writing this article, however, the proposal is that all vehicles that produce less than 120 g/km will be free and those over 226+ will pay £25 versus the standard congestion charges. For more information, visit the www.cclondon.com website.
Author: Richard Garner
Date: 4th March 2008
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