Dirtiest parcel vans 17 times more polluting than cleanest, finds Air Index

An extra 19,000 light commercial vehicles will take to our roads this festive season to cope with increased parcel deliveries, but some will emit 17 times more NOx than others.

Independent real-world tests carried out by Air Index on the best-selling Euro 6 diesel vans in Europe, found the Mercedes Citan has the worst emissions of all vehicles tested, emitting 17 times more NOx than Volkswagen’s Crafter, one of the lowest emitters.

The tests gave each vehicle a simple A-E colour-coded rating according to the latest CWA17379 methodology. The 2019 Volkswagen Crafter is rated an ‘A’ on the AIR Index, emitting 53mg/km NOx, 72mg less than the large-van (Class III) laboratory-based legal limit of 125mg/km,. In contrast, the 2019 Mercedes Citan is rated an ‘E’ on the AIR Index, emitting 902mg/km of NOx, more than 8 times the (Class II) light-van laboratory-based legal limit of 105mg/km – and 17 times more polluting than the Volkswagen.

The Air Index ratings – published to provide a guide for fleets and drivers to help guide purchase decisions – also showed that of the 10 vans tested, only three received an ‘A’ rating, yet all can be driven through the Ultra Low Emission Zone without penalty (see results below).

But the Air Index also shows that manufacturer-led updates of a van’s engine management system can slash emissions easily and quickly. For example, AIR found that when it commissioned a test of the Mercedes Vito CDI 111 LWB 1.6, a simple manufacturer-led update of the vehicle’s emissions management system halved the NOx emissions when tested again.  This would be the equivalent of improving the AIR Index rating from ‘D’ to ‘C’.

Massimo Fedeli, co-founder and operations director, Air, said: “Christmas is a time for giving and this year we urge van manufacturers to give us cleaner air. The ultimate responsibility to implement change lies with them: simple service-led engine management updates can make vans much cleaner, dramatically reducing emissions immediately.

“In the short term, we hope that those in charge of purchasing van fleets and making policy around ULEZ will use the AIR Index so that they are better equipped to know which vans are the cleanest, allowing them to choose the greenest vehicles, helping tackle the air crisis we are currently battling.”

Air Index results:

* Official NOx limit refers to the in-laboratory Euro standards, and NOx limits for vans vary according to vehicle by classification by weight, eg Euro 6 Class I = 80 mg/km, Euro 6 Class II = 105 mg/km, Euro 6 Class III = 125 mg/km
** Provisional rating