Colour-coded rating shows how clean or dirty vehicles are
News
1 Mar 2019
A new colour coded system, called the AIR Index, has been launched to reveal how much pollution a vehicle produces when it is used in towns and cities.
The AIR Index shows at a glance how clean a car’s tailpipe emissions are, allowing comparison with other vehicles based on on-road vehicle testing according to the latest CWA 17379 methodology. A simple A-E colour-coded rating, shows the difference between clean and dirty vehicles.
Inspiration for the AIR Index has been NCAP, the independent vehicle-safety rating system developed in the US in the 1970s that became the industry standard in the EU and around the world. The programme held car makers accountable for their safety performance, resulting in a voluntary adoption of technologies that led to safer vehicles.
Massimo Fedeli, Co-founder and Operations Director, AIR said: “The AIR Index is a game changer. It gives easy to understand, at-a-glance information on actual vehicle emissions in towns and cities. It compiles the results of the most independent, consistent and thorough tests ever carried out. It provides car buyers with the answers they need to make the right purchasing choices, it makes the industry accountable to produce cleaner cars and gives cities and policy makers the accurate data to create fair policies.
“We have worked hard over the last year with our expert academic and industry group to deliver European standardisation for the AIR Index through the CEN Workshop Agreement. For the first time there are comparative ratings between vehicles as a result of setting tough but fair testing criteria, all conducted on the road in real driving conditions. The same standardised test is applied to each different car type.
“For the first time policy makers have the ability to improve urban air quality, using the AIR Index to control vehicle access, without penalising consumers unfairly because the vehicle that they bought in good faith is dirtier, on the road, than they were led to believe.”
AIR has now commissioned a programme of vehicle testing and more results will be added to the AIR Index periodically.
