MEPs back efficient road tyres to cut fuel bills and CO2 emissions

If the tyres on your car are under inflated or of poor quality then you may be filling up with fuel more often than you should be. With tyres making up a quarter of the fuel consumption of a vehicle good tyres are vital to reducing fuel and CO2 emissions. New rules backed by MEPs call for a tyre-labelling system to allow drivers to see how fuel efficient tyres are. The Belgian MEP who drafted the report, Ivo Belet, believes the fuel savings could equal taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.

With a quarter of all CO2 emissions in the European Union coming from road transport, Members believe the urgency of reducing this is compelling. Just having a perfectly good set of tyres on a vehicle at the wrong pressure can cause an increase in fuel consumption. When this is multiplied across millions of cars the effects can be enormous.
 
Members of Parliament's Industry Committee backed measures on 31 March that will ensure tyres carry a mark of A-G for energy on all C1, C2 and C3 tyres used for cars and heavy goods vehicles. The measures are foreseen for introduction by 2012.
 
Noise levels and wet grip also labelled
 
As well as fuel efficiency labels information about tyres would also have to show levels of wet grip and rolling resistance. There would also be a “low noise mark” showing a tyre with earmuffs if it is below 68 decibels (C1), 69 decibels (C2 tyres) or 70 decibels (C3 tyres).

The reason the Committee and Ivo Belet of the centre-right EPP-ED group were so keen on labelling is that 78% of all tyres sold in Europe are replacements for older ones and they want drivers to be informed of their choices.
 
Mr Belet is confident it will cause no hassle to drivers: “Opting for eco-friendly tyres will become very straightforward thanks to a European-wide consumer-friendly and easy to read labelling system.” He went on to tell us the measure has “substantial environmental and consumer benefits”.
 
Steps to improve energy efficiency
 
The tyre proposal forms part of a new “Energy Efficiency Package”, tabled by the European Commission, following its recent “Second Strategic Energy Review” which aims to complete a common European energy policy.
 
These measures are to be seen in the light of Parliament's adoption in December 2008 of the “Climate Package” of legislation, which calls for a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 20% improvement in energy efficiency, and a 20% share for renewable in the EU energy mix by 2020.