Vehicle technologies, fuel-economy policies, and fuel-consumption rates of Chinese vehicles

One of the principal ways to reduce transport‐related energy use is to reduce fuel‐consumption rates of motor vehicles (usually measured in liters of fuel per 100km). Since 2004, China has implemented policies to improve vehicle technologies and lower the fuel‐consumption rates of individual vehicles. Policy evaluation requires accurate and adequate information on vehicle fuel‐consumption rates. However, such information, especially for Chinese vehicles under real‐world operating conditions, is rarely available from official sources in China. For each vehicle type we first review the vehicle technologies and fuel‐economy policies currently in place in China and their impacts. We then derive real‐world (or on‐road) fuel‐consumption rates on the basis of information collected from various sources. We estimate that the real‐world fuel‐consumption rates of vehicles in China sold in 2009 are 9L/100km for light‐duty passenger vehicles, 11.4L/100km for light‐duty trucks, 22L/100km for inter‐city transport buses, 40L/100km for urban transit buses, and 24.9L/100km for heavy‐duty trucks. These results aid in understanding the levels of fuel consumption of existing Chinese vehicle fleets and the effectiveness of policies in reducing on‐road fuel consumption, which can help in designing and evaluating future vehicle energy‐efficiency policies.