Environmental alert in Madrid: 15% of cars produce 50% of polluting emissions

The launch of the Madrid Central initiative, now rebranded as Madrid 360, has highlighted the problem posed by the presence of cars with high polluting emissions. To keep track of the cars with the highest and lowest emissions of this kind, the DGT has issued the environmental labels we already know, which divide cars according to the level of pollution they produce.

But there are cars that have fallen outside this classification due to their age, and these are the ones that represent the greatest problem. Of all the cars circulating in Madrid, 15% are very old cars, which do not fall into this classification and which have quite high polluting emissions. So much so that they produce 50% of the pollution detected in Madrid.

Few cars cause more pollution

These data come from 376,000 measurements taken at the access points to the M-30, where the environmental impact of these vehicles on the city’s air could be quantified. The data collected provide important information, and we can draw interesting conclusions from them.

For example, it is known that diesel cars manufactured before 2000 emit up to 10 times more nitrogen oxides and suspended particles than a diesel car with a C label, that is, registered after 2014. If the vehicle without a DGT environmental label is petrol-powered, a car made before 2006 emits up to five times more pollution than one with a C label.

The problem also seems to lie in 2% of the cars circulating in Madrid, which emit up to 20 times more than a car with a C label. What is worrying is that one in five of these cars is not old, but has been registered only recently. This problem with emissions could be corrected with little money, so it is something easy to fix, even if in this case it concerns a more limited number of cars.

Modern cars, fewer emissions

The emissions detected in the most modern cars represent 10% of the pollution problems, thanks to the technology applied to engines and exhaust systems. In addition, modern petrol cars with small-capacity engines produce pollutant emission levels similar to those emitted by cars with an ECO label.

It should also be remembered that many plug-in hybrid cars with more than 40 km of electric range tend to run with a depleted battery, so they use the combustion engine, and mild hybrid cars, which are considered ECO, can pollute as much as or more than a car with a C label.

In Madrid, only 1% of cars carry a Zero Emissions label, while cars with an ECO label account for 4%. The bulk of cars are those with C and B labels, each representing 40%. The rest of the vehicles make up the 15% I mentioned at the beginning, and they have no environmental label.