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M/C makers block cheaper bikes
| Posted on September 2, 2009 at 6:50 AM |
Norwegian riders have fought and recently gained political acceptance for a more fair duty scheme on bikes - a CO2-based system - considerably reducing bike prices. But the motorcycle makers refuse to state CO2 emission figures on their bikes, thus blocking riders from having this considerable duty reduction on new bikes.
Yours truly leading the debate where politicians from farthest left to right supported a new CO2 based duty system for bikes as already exists for cars. But M/C makers refuse to state CO2 emission figures...
Photo: Pal Andreassen
In Norway, the Government rewards road users who choose vehicles emitting less CO2. This, of course, to reduce the exposure of harmful greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The Government have designed a non-recurrent vehicle excise duty (VED) system that sets this duty according to the amount of CO2 your vehicle emits in gram per kilometre. A CO2 duty component if you will. It has been valid for cars for the last couple of years.
In short: Lesser fuel consumed - lower duty.
Half the duty
If the same scheme is implemented on bikes it will in some cases half the VED from NOK 100 000 (12 000 euro) to NOK 50 000 (6000 euro). Norwegian riders have therefore through their own organisation Norwegian Motorcyclist's Union (NMCU) fought and recently gained broad political acceptance for implementing the same VED scheme for bikes as already exists for cars.
Check out the video from the Parliamentary Election's Debate here, where the politicians supports the new VED scheme for bikes (Norwegian only).
Less'n shorter
Fair and square, especially when considering the fact that motorcycles in addition to emitting less CO2 than most cars also spends less time to get from A to B due to their size and manoeuvrability in dense traffic. The French ADEME institute has shown in studies that motorcycles use exactly half the time that of cars on the road in commuting scenarios.
No CO2-figures
However, unlike car manufacturers who have reported CO2 emission figures for years as part of the European type approval system, motorcycle manufacturers does NOT state these figures. Why is that? With a few model specific exceptions it's impossible to get hold of these figures. The motorcycle makers simply refuse to state them. And without them, a CO2-based VED cannot be implemented.
The Great Irony
Now we have the situation that Norwegian riders can get far cheaper bikes, but the makers blocks them from their customers. How's that for irony... It's totally beyond me - unless the motorcycle makers are hiding some nasty emission facts from us all.
So Honda, Yamaha, BMW, KTM, Piaggio, Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Kawasaki, Suzuki and the rest of you: Give us the CO2 figures now!
This Yamaha FJR 1300 has NOK 100 000 in non-recurrent vehicle excise duty when calculated the way it still is today...
Photo: Pal Andreassen
If the same bike had 4 wheels and was called a car AND was paying duty after the same CO2 based system like cars do today, the duty would be half that of today - NOK 50 000. But due to M/C makers who don't want to reveal CO2 emission figures, this duty reduction is denied the Norwegian riders.
Photo: Pal Andreassen
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13 Comments
I thought democracy and politics is an oxymoron, here in Northern Ireland and our latest political scandal - the song "Oh here's to you Mrs Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know" has taken on a whole new meaning.
But I'm digressing..... let's see what the little people in DG Enterprise decide on the future of emissions - I am not holding my breath.
Elaine Hardy says...
ha ha ha - I'm good - Trevor and I have returned to Northern Ireland and doing lots of stuff here. How are you?
I'm OK. Still under contract at MSIS (now LEPSIS) but with a little voice in my head talking about moving on ... so if ever you hear anything, you have my email I presume ;)
Now, industrials going to jail, are you serious? How often has that happened? It's like letting a big one go broke, that just can happen only on paper... (and I'm beginning to think government's main function is to prevent that from happening ... but then I still live in France)
As to the EC: I suggest (re)reading Heinlein's Glory Road. A couple of very to-the-point observations on democracy and politics in that one 8-)
Carbon emissions are creating huge problems so as responsible citizens we have to do our part to reduce them. The industry has the technology to do this and it makes sense that they identify the emissions of the motorcycles (like car manufacturers do) within the specifications at point of sale, so that people can decide which bike they want to buy. The testing standards are not set by the industry, so they would have to comply - or go to jail.
ha ha ha - I'm good - Trevor and I have returned to Northern Ireland and doing lots of stuff here. How are you?
--
René Bertin
You have to realize I'm not all that familiar with Eurpean politics and how it all works. Here in the USofA all it takes is to stuff money in a pols pocket, and you can do this in plain view of everyone, TV news cameras, your mother, God Almighty, your confessor, we're very honest about it.
All very TIC
Elaine says...
That's not strictly true. There are standards - Euro 3 and the WMTC, however it's complicated due to a number of factors - e.g. comparisons with other vehicles, so that it is possible to compare the order of
magnitude of current Emission test thresholds used for L category
vehicles in comparison to EU4, EU5 and EU6 thresholds for passenger cars. but that's not the issue here. The issue is that motorcycle manufacturers have been dragging their feet and are reluctant to declare emissions for a number of reasons - not least cost and would prefer to leave that to the end user. At this point in time there is a working group within DG Enterprise (Framework Regulations) looking at emissions and the objective (amongst many) is to decide whether emissions should be declared with the motorcycle specifications- In Use Compliance (IUC) or whether the end user should have to pay for emissions testing as part of roadworthiness testing. This creates a number of problems throughout Europe, not least the significant cost of diagnostic equipment for those carrying out the emissions testing.
magnitude of current Emission test thresholds used for L category
vehicles in comparison to EU4, EU5 and EU6 thresholds for passenger cars. but that's not the issue here. The issue is that motorcycle manufacturers have been dragging their feet and are reluctant to declare emissions for a number of reasons - not least cost and would prefer to leave that to the end user. At this point in time there is a working group within DG Enterprise (Framework Regulations) looking at emissions and the objective (amongst many) is to decide whether emissions should be declared with the motorcycle specifications- In Use Compliance (IUC) or whether the end user should have to pay for emissions testing as part of roadworthiness testing. This creates a number of problems throughout Europe, not least the significant cost of diagnostic equipment for those carrying out the emissions testing.
Is quite possible that the industry prefers leaving the testing to periodic vehicle testing (which in fact makes some sense...), but those tests would probably require a baseline to compare against. Because they're meant to determine if a vehicle should be allowed on the road, not just to determine how much they pollute for determining taxes.
Elaine Hardy says...
There is of course another issue which comes on the back of the reluctance of the industry to reveal the CO2 counts - they want to move the onus onto Road Worthiness testing to do their job for them. From a study on possible new measures concerning motorcycle emissions Final Report LAT November 2008:
?One measure that was found very cost-effective in the previous LAT/AUThstudy was the establishment of a periodic road-worthiness test. Although this was not reassessed in the current study, it is repeated that road-worthiness testing is a very suitable measure in controlling emissions from motorcycles.? So it's all about money I guess.
you can bet on money being the motivator. Here in Whiskysconsin the Home of Harley-Davidson there will never be emission testing for motorcycles of any sort as long as H-D is alive. That's a good thing. And we'll never have to wear helmets or take a road worthy inspection... is that a benifit or a determent, I haven't decided yet.
?One measure that was found very cost-effective in the previous LAT/AUThstudy was the establishment of a periodic road-worthiness test. Although this was not reassessed in the current study, it is repeated that road-worthiness testing is a very suitable measure in controlling emissions from motorcycles.? So it's all about money I guess.
Mark Hasslinger says...
As an interested foreigner I can only applaud your efforts in the behalf of motorcycle enthusiast for your own country which in turn helps the sport in it's entirety. THE DREAM LIVES ON!
Thanks Mark.
But I cannot fathom why the manufacturers denies us this information? I mean, it's no problem for car makers - e.g. BMW makes both cars and bikes, so it should be no problem for them? Piaggio has even a test cycle ready for use, which they demonstrated when they launched the Hybrid MP3 scooter?
