Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the Community’s integrated approach to reduce CO₂ emissions from light-duty vehicles^f1, and in particular Article 12(4) thereof,

Whereas:

The supplier Valeo Equipments Electriques Moteur (the ‘Applicant’) submitted an application for the approval of the Valeo Efficient Generation (EG) Alternator as an innovative technology on 18 December 2012. The completeness of the application was assessed in accordance with Article 4 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011 of 25 July 2011 establishing a procedure for the approval and certification of innovative technologies for reducing CO₂ emissions from passenger cars pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f2. The application was found to be complete and the period for the Commission’s assessment of the application started on the day following the date of official receipt, i.e. 19 December 2012.

The application has been assessed in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009, Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011 and the Technical Guidelines for the preparation of applications for the approval of innovative technologies pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 (the Technical Guidelines)^f3.

The application refers to the Valeo EG Alternator, which is an alternator with an efficiency of at least 77 per cent as determined in accordance with the VDA approach described in point 5.1.2 in Annex I to the Technical Guidelines. The Applicant’s alternator is equipped with synchronous rectification using metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors thereby ensuring a high level of efficiency.

The Commission finds that the information provided in the application demonstrates that the conditions and criteria referred to in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 and in Articles 2 and 4 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011 have been met.

The Applicant has demonstrated that a high efficiency alternator of the kind described in this application will only be available on the EU market as from 2013 and that consequently the market penetration in 2009 of this type of alternators was below the 3 per cent threshold specified in Article 2(2)(a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011. This claim is also supported by the accompanying verification report. On that basis, the Commission finds that the high efficiency alternator provided by the Applicant should be considered meeting the eligibility criterion set out in Article 2(2)(a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011.

In order to determine the CO₂ savings that the innovative technology will deliver when fitted to a vehicle, it is necessary to define the baseline vehicle against which the efficiency of the vehicle equipped with the innovative technology should be compared as provided for in Articles 5 and 8 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011. The Commission finds that it is appropriate to consider an alternator with 67 % efficiency as an appropriate baseline technology in the case the innovative technology is fitted on a new vehicle type. Where the Valeo EG Alternator is fitted to an existing vehicle type, the baseline technology should be the alternator of the most recent version of that type placed on the market.

The Applicant has provided a comprehensive methodology for testing the CO₂ reductions. It includes formulae that are consistent with the formulae described in the Technical Guidelines for the simplified approach with regard to efficient alternators. The Commission considers that the testing methodology will provide testing results that are verifiable, repeatable and comparable and that it is capable of demonstrating in a realistic manner the CO₂ emissions benefits of the innovative technology with strong statistical significance in accordance with Article 6 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011.

Against that background the Commission finds that the Applicant has demonstrated satisfactorily that the emission reduction achieved by the innovative technology is at least 1 g CO₂/km.

The Commission notes that the savings of the innovative technology may be partially demonstrated on the standard test cycle, and the final total savings to be certified should therefore be determined in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 8(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011.

The Commission finds that the verification report has been prepared by UTAC which is an independent and certified body and that the report supports the findings set out in the application.

Against that background, the Commission finds that no objections should be raised as regards the approval of the innovative technology in question.

Any manufacturer wishing to benefit from a reduction of its average specific CO₂ emissions for the purpose of meeting its specific emissions target by means of the CO₂ savings from the use of the innovative technology approved by this Decision, should in accordance with Article 11(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 725/2011, refer to this Decision in its application for an EC type-approval certificate for the vehicles concerned,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: