EVs score very high.
These tests do not measure “cradle-to-grave” emissions.
Hybrids lack simple features to make them cleaner.
The premises for this test is to rank a vehicle’s on-road, or as Euro NCAP calls it “tank-to-wheel”, environmental friendliness. They’ve confirmed what we already which is that EVs, once in the hands of the owner, are the cleanest vehicles we can buy. They’ve also discovered that hybrids could benefit from minor upgrades to become far greener.
Using the results of both laboratory and real-world driving tests, the Euro NCAP has revealed scores for 24 cars they’ve tested in the past year. According to Autocar, on a possible result of five stars, EVs got full marks while hybrids like the Toyota C-HR (not available in North America) and the Honda CR-V (offered in the US) scored only 3.5 and 2.5 stars respectively.
Petrol-power compact cars scored 3 stars (none on the list for sale in NA) while diesel-powered cars were rated between three and 2.5 stars. These results seem off as we all expect hybrids to be far cleaner and environmentally friendly.
Niels Jacobsen, the president of Euro NCAP, said: “With our current ratings, hybrid cars have obvious opportunities to score better than non-hybrids, but they don’t always do that as manufacturers may decide to reduce costs by omitting simple but effective exhaust after-treatment devices, such as particulate filters. Such lost opportunities are revealing and disheartening. Among combustion-engine cars, the best performers are smaller cars mounted with effective exhaust after-treatment, where hybrid technology can give them an extra notch up in the ratings.”
Plug-In Hybrids Emit Higher Emissions Than Advertised – Incentives Should Be Cut
For their next round of testing, the Euro NCAP will take on plug-in hybrid vehicles. Recently, it was suggested that PHEVs are not all they’re cracked up to be so we look forward to these results.
