Korea announces joint fuel efficiency standards

By Park Jin-hai

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Wednesday that it had agreed with two related ministries to unify their final “notification on testing for vehicle fuel efficiency, emission and fuel consumption rates.”

Under the new standards, the first test of a vehicle’s fuel efficiency will be done on three cars.

However, when if the average result is over 5 percent from what is claimed, tests will be carried out on another three.

The final fuel efficiency will be decided by averaging all the data from tests on the six vehicles.

So far, the fuel efficiency has created plenty of wrangling between ministries. The Ministry of Trade released fuel efficiency data under the category of energy conservation, the land ministry did the same based on vehicle safety and the Ministry of the Environment focused on greenhouse gas emission control.

The main control has now been placed under the land ministry.

The new testing standards will take effect when it and the trade and environment ministries announce a joint notification next week.

The testing institutes will vary.

The Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS), under the land ministry will carry out the first tests, while the trade ministry’s affiliated institutes will conduct the second tests.

However, the crucial road load data such as air resistance and friction coefficients will be set by the TS and used throughout all tests.

In July, in a public notice, the land ministry said the first test would to be carried out on one vehicle and then on three in the second test.

Since then, the automakers have claimed the methods lack objectivity.

They also claimed the second testing should be carried out by different institutes than the land ministry-affiliated TS.

Road load tests are being granted a one-year grace period.