Honda has joined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) in efforts to avoid EU emissions fines by pooling its fleet with Tesla this year.
Honda has joined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) in efforts to avoid EU emissions fines by pooling its fleet with Tesla this year.
Revealed in a European Commission filing from last week, the Japanese brand was the latest company to declare its intent to join together with another company to help meet the tough 95g/km fleet average CO2 target and avoid hefty fines.
Rules dictate that car companies who’ve earned a high number of emissions credits (supercredits) for selling low-CO2 models, such as EVs, are then able to sell them on to other car makers struggling to meet their CO2 targets. By pooling these credits together it allows car makers to count their combined fleets as one.
It’s reported that Tesla has made more than AUD$1.98 billion between 2016 and 2018 by selling these credits to other US manfacturers. FCA avoided billions in fines by spending hundreds of millions to join Tesla’s pool, and now Honda is doing the same – although a figure is yet to be disclosed.
The European Commission document suggest Honda has only registered around 1000 units of the E electric small car in Western Europe since it was introduced earlier this year. That figure isn’t enough to generate enough supercredits for Honda to avoid EU fines.
Last week Ford announced plans to form a CO2 pool with Volvo and Polestar to avoid fines. Toyota and Mazda are expected to do similar, while Renault has opened up its CO2 pool to other manufacturers. Meanwhile, the Volkswagen Group has joined forces with SAIC and its subsidiary, MG.
Lawrence Allan