EMIS hearing 21 June 2016

Just two working days after the last meeting of the Committee of inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS) members met again, on the 20th and 21st of June. The meeting started with a hearing of Mr Christoph Gauss, Head of Vehicle Test and Emission Lab, Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club. ADAC, as it is usually abbreviated, is Europe's largest automobile club and publishes ADAC Motorwelt, a car magazine with one of Europe's highest readership and publication numbers. This includes testing up to 150 car models per year on things like crash behaviour and emissions. Mr Gauss informed the Committee members that ADAC had evidence of irregularities at emission tests for over 10 years, but failed to inform authorities, much to the MEPs' puzzlement. Having been asked when meetings between them and the Kraftfahrtbundesamt (BKA) took place he claimed to not remember, which is something the EMIS committee shall follow up on in writing. Furthermore Mr Gauss confirmed that there is no technical explanation for cars to have higher emissions after starting with a 'warm' engine when compared to a 'cold' engine start. ADAC has no evidence of measurement error in RDE (Real Driving Emissions) testing according to the witness, who then recommended a conformity factor of 1.5 nevertheless. Mr Gauss also gave insight into the procurement of the cars to be tested, which are directly provided by the car manufacturers. Noting that ADAC does not have the capacity to test software controlling the engine if they had access to it, he suggested that would be the type approval authorities' job to begin with.