In cutting CO2, Italy and gas-fueled cars are the most virtuous

The proportion of these vehicles against the total is still low, 4.5%, against 4% the previous year.

In the first quarter 2016 the increase has been 10.7% (177,000 registration, or 4.6%). The most virtuous countries are Norway, with 19,094 (51.5%) new cars with alternative fuels, and Italy, with 53,000,or 10.2% of the total.

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Italy boasts 30% of all the eco-friendly vehicles registered in the EU-EFTA in the 1st quarter 2016, followed by the UK (14.5%), France (13.1%), Norway (10.8%) and Germany (8%). The leadership is due to the new LPG and LNG cars (80% of the market for alternative fuels in Italy, against an European average of 28%; the remaining 20% consists for 1.6% of electric cars and 18.3% of hybrids).

Gas fuel has had a decisive role in lowering the average level of CO2 emissions of the new cars sold in 2015 (115.1 g/km) and has made Italy one of the most virtuous countries in the EU, already reaching in 2011 (with 129.6 g/km) the goal set by the European Commission for 2015 (130 g/km).

Here are some statistics: in 2015 vehicles fueled by LPG and LNG (plus the E85 flex fuel, but the numbers here are negligible), registered in the UE+EFTA totaled 219,784 (-8.3%). Between January and May 2016 LPG lost 20% of the market it had a year ago, and 2.7 percentage points.
LNG lost 22% of the volume and 1.4 points.

No questions that the market has slowed, but let’s not forget that in 2014 in Europe, out of 253 million vehicles in circulation, alternative fuels accounted for just 5,5%, and of these, almost all – 5.4% – were fueled by LPG and LNG, which also have a role in the future: biomethane and biopropane are renewable energy sources, suitable for use with the existing automotive technologies.