Vehicle Exhaust Emissions

[Barquentine]

The V5C for the car I just purchased (first registered October 2005) states its CO2 emissions are 0.500 and in brackets it has (g/km or g/kWh) - but doesn't say if that number is /km or /kWh.

On the Govt road tax website after entering car registration number it find my car and says it is Band K (201-225 g/km).

Does anyone know what the 0.500 on the V5C means? If it is g/km then I should be Band A and pay no road tax! Which I doubt very much given the size of the car!

Grateful for any clarity on what the V5C number is and how to convert between the different measurements.

[Buenchico]

Quote:
"The emission standards for trucks (lorries) and buses are defined by engine energy output in g/kWh; this is unlike the emission standards for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, which are defined by vehicle driving distance in g/km - a general comparison to passenger cars is therefore not possible, as the kWh/km factor depends (among other) on the specific vehicle".

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards

So, as your vehicle is a car, the figure on your V5C should be in g/km.

I've been scratching my head trying to work out where the apparent anomaly in your figures could come from. Looking at the V5C for my own vehicle though suggests that you might be mixing up carbon monoxide (CO) with carbon dioxide (CO2) on the form.

Under 'Vehicle details', on the left hand side of the two-page spread, there is indeed a section headed 'Exhaust Emissions', with CO having '(g/km or g/kWh)' alongside it. However that's the figure for carbon monoxide, not carbon dioxide. If you look higher up on that side of the page, next to 'V.7', you'll see the figure for carbon dioxide emissions.

[Barquentine]

Oh my goodness, Buenchico, you total genius! I am such a dummkopf! How totally obtuse of me. Thanks so much. My V5C shows 249g/km for CO2 as you correctly explained. How come the two mechanics in my local garage didn't know that?! I had better get on and pay my road tax now then. Many thanks again - mystery solved!!