UK Drivers Slow Down as Fuel Prices Rise

While our fellow Texans are reacting to rising fuel prices by leaving their gas tanks empty (see report here), in the UK drivers are slowing down on motorways to conserve fuel, according to a study performed by “Keepmoving”, a traffic information organization that monitors the speed of 230,000 vehicles fitted with sensors.

The study revealed that the average speed in free flow conditions on the M6 highway from Birmingham to Carlisle was seen to have experienced a 0.9% decrease in the first part of June 2008 compared to the same period in 2007 while the M25 was seen to have decreased by 0.3%. The organization said that whilst the decrease appears modest, it portrays a consistent picture across the UK where a cross-section of motorists are driving more slowly in order to conserve fuel. -Continued

As well as a reduction in speed, the study also found that congestion had fallen by up to 12% in the past month because there were fewer cars occupying Britain's roads.

EU: New CO2 Study Reveals That German Carmakers Are Off Course

A new study conducted by the European Federation of Transport and Environment shows that French, Italian and Japanese carmakers have extended their lead over German rivals last year in the race to deliver fuel efficient and low emission vehicles..

From the major car producing countries in Europe (only car groups that sold over 200,000 vehicles in Europe in 2006 were included in the study), in 2006 German groups increased new car emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 0.6% on average compared to 2005 figures. On the other hand, French and Italian carmakers cut emissions by an average of 1.6%. -Continued after the jump

While BMW managed to reduce average emissions by 2.5%, the two largest German groups DaimlerChrysler (now called Daimler) and Volkswagen saw increases of 2.8% and 0.9% respectively.

Japanese car manufactures made significant progress in 2006, achieving 2.8% cuts on average with Toyota making the biggest improvement of any major car manufacturing group in 2006 with the average vehicle sold in 2006 emitting 5% less CO2 than the previous year.

PSA Peugeot Citroën (142 g/km), Fiat SpA (144 g/km) and Renault SA (147 g/km) sold Europe's lowest emitting cars in 2006 on average. Those companies took the top three places when ranked by average emissions of CO2 in grammes per kilometre. Toyota Motor Corp (153 g/km) and Honda Motor Company (154 g/km) took fourth and fifth place. DaimlerChrysler came bottom of the list of major carmakers with average emissions of 188 g/km.

Via: Motorpasion , Pic: Economist