Review and evaluation of China’s standards and regulations on the fuel consumption of motor vehicles

Owing to fast-growing vehicle sales, China began in 2001 to develop vehicle energy conservation policies to help solve oil security and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions problems, and it has established a vehicle fuel consumption regulation system to contain vehicle fuel consumption growth. This regulation system includes technical standards, management rules, and fiscal policies. The system covers passenger cars, light-duty commercial vehicles, and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. This paper presents fuel consumption test methods, fuel consumption limits, and fuel consumption labeling standards for these vehicle categories. It also discusses the enforcement of these standards and their associated impacts on oil savings and CO₂ emission reductions, identifies problems with the policy implementation from both technical and administrative perspectives, and proposes recommendations to improve the current vehicle fuel consumption regulation system. In particular, we recommend that the central government improve the jurisdictional authority for vehicle energy conservation by clearly clarifying the responsibilities of different ministries, develop a long-term vision and middle-term targets to guide the policy and technology development, and strengthen the policy enforcement monitoring and evaluation.