Mayor unveils new cleaner vehicle checker scheme

This morning the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, together announced a new vehicle scoring scheme.

The Cleaner Vehicle Checker will show Londoners how much toxic NOx new cars emit, helping them to choose and buy less polluting vehicles.This scheme will put an end to the smoke and mirrors that have been employed in official emissions tests.

It will provide Londoners with an honest, accurate and independent evaluation of the emissions of most new cars and vans on our roads and on the showroom forecourt. By having ‘on the road’ testing we will help Londoners make an informed choice and incentivise manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles sooner.

Consumers will be able to type in the model of the new car or van they are considering buying and find out more about its actual ‘on the road’ emissions. This will:

1. Help people make an informed choice and minimise the number of ‘more polluting’ vehicles being bought and used in London
2. Help consumers recognise the environmental benefits of switching to zero or ultra-low emission vehicles and encourage their purchase
3. Encourage manufacturers to produce vehicles that conform to the EU’s full ‘real-world driving emissions’ standards much sooner than when legally required by 2021
4. Provide a free ‘health check’ service to London fleet operators to understand how their current fleet performs and where significant improvements could be made, and
5. Create a tool to allow the Greater London Authority Group and local authorities to lead by example and only buy or lease the cleanest vehicles.

The new Cleaner Vehicle Checker will be available online from the Autumn.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:

My scheme will put an end to the smoke and mirrors that have been employed in official emissions tests.

It will provide Londoners with an honest, accurate and independent evaluation of the emissions of most new cars and vans on our roads and on the showroom forecourt.

By having ‘on the road’ testing I believe we will help Londoners make an informed choice and incentivise manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles sooner.

This scheme is also a fantastic example of how big cities around the world can pool their expertise and their influence to encourage big industry to clean up its act. The toxicity of the air in London and many other big cities is an outrage, and schemes of the type we are introducing in London and Paris have the potential to make a massive difference to the quality of the air we all breathe.