Factors influencing CO ₂ emissions in petrol passenger cars: evidence from Slovakia

The aim of this article is to identify the factors that influence the evolution of CO2 emissions in gasoline passenger cars. Specifically, the factors that can be obtained during emission measurements at technical inspection stations are analysed. This identification is used to determine the factors obtained by measurements at the technical inspection stations that should be used as a design element for the taxation of petrol road vehicles in order to reduce CO2 emissions. The underlying source was data recorded by the vehicle technical inspection stations in 2019 and worked with passenger petrol cars of category M1. In total, almost 460000 passenger cars were analysed. 12 factors were used for each car, from which 7 variables were identified through 2 methods (BMA and WALS) as likely to have a statistically significant effect on the magnitude of CO2 emissions. Subsequently, the effect of each factor was determined by OLS with robust Std. Err. Our results show that the maximum engine power and the latest emission standards can be used as design element for the taxation of gasoline road vehicles, as a positive relationship between the growth of this factor and the magnitude of CO2 emissions of gasoline vehicles has been demonstrated.