During the past two Eco-Run events run by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, where 20 or so of the latest green or fuel conscious vehicles were tested back to back in mid to late spring, showed that it is possible to achieve such numbers in many of these vehicles. But to do so, one typically needed a serious amount of time and restraint to achieve the two-cycle Canadian numbers – and even then, it wasn’t always feasible.
   2013 AJAC Eco-Run. Click image to enlarge |
Unfortunately, it’s these two-cycle figures that are most visible, both on new car labels, and still on the NRCan site as well, sometimes even with antiquated and obsolete imperial miles per gallon, which we feeel only serve to mislead the buying public. To find the new 2015 figures, researchers have to choose the category of vehicle they’re looking for (searchable by year, segment, brand, etc.), and then must ‘Select Models to Compare,’ which puts up to five vehicles’ specs side-by-side to pull up the 2015 figures. It’s just a little more digging, but it would be easy for folks in a hurry to just look at the first specs pulled up, which are the less accurate two-cycle figures.
This will become much simpler by later this year or early next, when all of NRCan’s figures will be five-cycle based, and listed everywhere. The department stresses in the FCG that the higher figures don’t mean that ’15 vehicles will suddenly increase up to 20 percent in fuel consumption, as it appears on paper. But in announcing the changes, which largely flew under the radar at their announcement towards the end of the Canadian International Auto Show, then Minister of Natural Resources and now Minister of Finance Joe Oliver confirmed also that 2016 Canadian fuel consumption labels will be revised, to better show the fuel efficiency ratings, range and potential dollar savings of plug-in and battery electric cars.
The new 2016 labels will also include fuel consumption numbers for other vehicles in that class, as well as overall CO2 emissions numbers, to give buyers more information in choosing a planet- and wallet-friendlier new car.
