WHICHEVER way you turn, the issue of clean air is not far away. And nor is the motor car.
Today (April 11, 2019) a report in the The Lancet Planetary Health suggested that there was a direct link between traffic pollution and one in five children having asthma.
This report arrives in the aftermath of the introduction of the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (April 08, 2019). Created directly to address the issue of poor quality London air, the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) operates continuously in central London.
Vehicles that need to pay £12.50 to enre the ULEZ are those that do not comply with Euro 6 emissions for diesel cars and vans, and Euro 4 emissions for petrol cars and vans.
So how do you know how ‘clean’ your car actually is?
I’ve been driving an Audi A6 40 TDI saloon for the last few months. Yes, it’s a diesel but it’s far cleaner than popular opinion might let you think.
The Air Index is one such source of information. According to the independent testing site, the emissions from the A6 have been rated as A – the cleanest you can get: urban levels of NOx (the pollutant associated with asthma and related breathing difficulties) were rated between 0-80g, thanks to Audi’s clever exhaust technology.
Now a leasing firm is joining in to help you understand the influence of your car choice on air quality.
Leeds-based AMT has a new Emissions Calculator the company’s own data on more than 15,000 different cars to provide how many grams of CO2 a particular model can be expected to produce, both in a day’s worth of driving and over a year or more.
It also ranks 51 different car manufacturers in a league table of the most and least polluting, using the average emissions produced across their range of vehicles. Top is Tesla; bottom is Lamborghini.
Jonathan Pearce, group head of marketing at AMT, said: “People are increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, but find it very difficult to understand how much their daily commute produces in realistic terms.
“It might be that they’re looking at a new car that’s less polluting so they’ll pay less road tax, or it might be to monitor their current driving habits.
“This Emissions Calculator gives people an accurate expectation of what their cars will produce every day, so that they can make a more informed decision.”
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
Why not join the conversation on SME fleets – visit our LinkedIn SME Fleet Discussion page