Green NCAP: Hers’s everything you need to know about

The Green NCAP ratings for the six vehicles came today which created a curiosity related to the parameters that are used to rate the vehicles. And what exactly the Green NCAP is? 

To answer this, Green NCAP is an offshoot of the Euro NCAP that came into existence back in 2019. It is a consumer programme with an aim to promote greener cars. An independent initiative encourages the development of eco-friendly vehicles that are clean and energy-efficient at the same time. With a higher goal to minimise the use of perishable resources and reduce global warming from passenger vehicles, the tough test regime is conducted by considering various factors.

From factoring in only the energy used while driving aspect, known as tank-to-wheel, the Green NCAP now considers well-to-wheel+ and ultimately the whole lifecycle – from scratch to the final product, has been the rating rulebook of Green NCAP.  

“The new Well-to-Wheel+ rating of greenhouse gases gives a much more realistic assessment of the real environmental impact of cars. With the new approach, we hope to encourage the understanding that not only delivering a clean end product is important, but the whole process should be made greener and transparent,” said, Aleksandar Damyanov, Technical Manager, Green NCAP.

Technically, the updated set of parameters that the Green NCAP now considers is the measurement of emissions from the greenhouse gases right from the extraction to the distribution of energy phase. For combustion-engined cars, it means extracting the crude oil till it turns into petrol or diesel, and in the case of electric vehicles, it is the emissions from the electricity generated.

Well, this points to another important facet. When talking about EVs, most of the emissions are produced because of the battery packs. This is where attention is required. As of now, Green NCAP does not consider this and is rigorously working to improve its evaluation framework. 

While arguments are still around if EVs generate more greenhouse gas emissions than ICE vehicles, a new study from the European body Green NCAP assesses the environmental impact throughout the vehicle’s lifecycle and proves this argument wrong.

However, Green NCAP’s Life Cycle Assessment study says that electric vehicles create the greater part of their greenhouse outflows during the production stage, while on account of the ICEs, the burning of fuel leads to pollution. This raises the notion that electric vehicles will generally be lighter on the climate the more they stay out and about. The inverse is valid with regard to internal combustion vehicles.

Green NCAP also stated that “While compact and mid-sized BEVs show slightly less life cycle greenhouse gas emissions than conventional powertrain cars in the context of the European average electricity mix, big and powerful BEVs may be in the same range as most diesel or petrol vehicles. Larger EVs produce more greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the production of a heavier chassis, bigger high voltage batteries and the manufacturing of more electric components, like cables and power circuits.”

Besides all these grounds, the European New Car Assessment Programme supported Green NCAP ratings do offer useful information in terms of performance and go a step further with its independent nature of providing hidden details from the manufacturers’ emission-control claims. 

Also read: Audi Q4 e-Tron bags five-star rating from Green NCAP