EnergyPortal.eu

"I'm very happy about the adoption today of the tyre labelling regulation. This is a typical win-win situation where consumers and fleet managers will be able to choose safer and low noise tyres and save on their fuel bills while the European Union as a whole will benefit from reduced road transport emissions". With these words, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs welcomed today the final step for the adoption in the European Parliament of the Regulation on tyre labelling following a political agreement at Council level on 19 November. By 1 November 2012, the fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise performances of tyres will be displayed by means of a grading for consumers and fleet managers. The initiative is expected to trigger fuel savings from the increased use of fuel efficient tyres between 2.4 and 6.6 Mtoe (million tonnes of oil equivalent) in 2020 depending on the speed of market transformation. This is more than the annual oil consumption of Hungary. The CO2 savings from all vehicle types are expected to range from 1.5 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes per year depending on the speed of market transformation towards fuel efficient tyres. This is equivalent to removing 0.5 million to 1.3 million passenger cars from EU roads per year.

The Regulation will require the tyre manufacturers to declare the fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise performance of C1, C2 and C3 tyres (i.e. tyres mainly fitted on passenger cars, light and heavy duty vehicles). Lack of reliable and comparable information on the performance of tyres makes it currently difficult for consumers to take these elements into account in their purchasing decision, in particular when the time comes to replace a used set of tyres. From 1 November 2012, these tyre performances will be displayed at the point of sale and on technical promotional literature such as catalogues, leaflets or web marketing. The aim is to promote the market transformation towards more fuel-efficient, safer and low noise tyres beyond the standards already achieved. It will also pave the way for competition to run on tyre performances in addition to prices, which will in turn stimulate investments in Research and Development.

Few people are aware of the impact of tyres on their fuel bill. Today's technology makes it possible to significantly reduce the tyre share in vehicle fuel consumption allowing a driver to reduce his/her fuel bill by up to 10% between the best and the worst set of tyres available on the market. The labelling scheme is expected to increase the use of fuel efficient tyres, hence contribute to cleaner transport with reduced CO2 and pollutant emissions.

The proposal is set at EU level to avoid fragmentation of the EU market and ensur e a level playing field for fair competition among manufacturers. It is part of the energy efficiency action plan (COM(2006) 545) and will contribute to achieving the objective of reducing by 20% the total energy consumption of the European Union by 2020.

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/labelling/labelling_of_tyres_en.htm

http://www.tvlink.org/media.php?type=video&chid=9&titleleft=Transport

Source: European Commission

< Prev		Next >