Our cars are more than ever under surveillance. Before being soon equipped with a black box, they have already started to send their consumption automatically to the European Union since the beginning of April. Plug-in hybrids are particularly in the crosshairs!
Since the Dieselgate scandal, the European Union has learned to be wary of certification tests, which are often disconnected from reality. It has therefore implemented a new standard that allows it to retrieve fuel and electricity consumption figures from traffic. Called Euro 6d-ISC-FCM, this regulation came into force in January 2021. Since that date, all private vehicles registered in the Union must be equipped with a system to monitor consumption in real time, then to save it so that it can be transmitted completely anonymously. But it is only since the beginning of April 2022 that the Transport Commission has started to collect this data.
Plug-in hybrids under scrutiny
Plug-in hybrids (PHEV) will be examined with particular vigilance. In recent months, they have indeed found themselves regularly singled out, in particular by various environmental associations. They are criticized for displaying, in reality, figures far removed from those obtained on the WLTP certification cycle, where they often remain below the 2 l/100 km mark. An observation which will not have surprised the faithful readers of The argus, because our testers regularly tell you that these plug-in hybrids are sober only if they are plugged in very often and avoid excessively long journeys. However, various studies have shown that many users tend to recharge too rarely… often because their company has imposed this type of motorization on them when it is not suitable for their home or their travels, replacing the old ones. diesels today pilloried.
TO READ. Plug-in hybrids only perform when charged
Subsidies that are likely to decline
Analysis of these figures could lead to a revision of the PHEV certification cycle. He now assumes that these vehicles are almost exclusively used in electric mode, without taking into account the variety of possible situations. But it could also push some states to cut subsidies for plug-in hybrids. In France, it will not be necessary to wait very long, since the ecological bonus should be reserved only for 100% electric models from the 1er July 2022. This does not prevent the government from campaigning for the marketing of PHEVs to remain authorized after 2035, the year in which the EU would like to completely ban the sale of thermal models, without exception.
TO READ. Plug-in hybrids: the certification cycle soon to be reviewed?
