Emissions Analytics a company specialising in providing real world fuel consumption figures has produced a useful information graphic that highlights the growing distances between the fuel consumption figures claimed by vehicle manufacturers and those that can actually be achieved on the road.

The company says it is widely recognised that most drivers struggle to get close to the official fuel consumption figures and that onboard computer generated information does not reflect true fuel usage figures. Analysis of exhaust emission over an extended period of time is the only reliable way to get accurate fuel consumption figures according to Emissions Analytics and it has developed sophisticated equipment and analysis tools to gather this data.

With a database of some 900 real world extended fuel consumption tests carried out over several years, Emissions Analytics is now able to show how manufacturer’s fuel figures are getting further away from what can actually be achieved on the road.
For example in 2012, on average car makers where claiming a miles per gallon rating of 50 mpg while Emissions Analytics found that the actual figures achieve in normal driving were only 42.5mpg, a difference of 14%. By 2014 these figures were 59mpg and 45 mpg, a variance of 24%.

The figures seriously call into question the validity of car makers fuel consumption claims and highlight the need for a more transparent testing system that will allow motorist to get more accurate information.