Hybrid, electric push needed to achieve CO2 targets

To achieve an average fleet CO2 emissions of 70g/km, carmakers in Europe will need to be selling an equal amount of hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles, writes Brian Byrne.

That's the view of a study by UK automotive consultants Ricardo-AEA, who have outlined a number of scenarios to 2025, at the behest of Greenpeace and Transport & Environment.

The current EU target is to have reached the 95g/km level by 2020, but campaigners like Greenpeace want 60g/km as the 2025 target.

A hybrid car costs on average around €1,600 more than a non-hybrid, according to the consultants, who say the extra cost can be recouped in less than three years through fuel savings.

If pure EVs are added into the calculation, selling these to a level of 7 percent of the market could cut the percentage of hybrids needed to 22 percent of the total, to achieve the same overall fleet CO2 performance.