Print view

Motor vehicles

Car exhaust

There are 865,000 vehicles in the Auckland region travelling about 12,500,000,000kms¹ every year (that's 12 and a half thousand million kilometres!!). This produces thousands of tonnes of toxic air pollutants - particularly carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO2) and fine particles (PM10) .

The report to the Ministry of Transport, ‘Health effects due to motor vehicle air pollution in New Zealand' estimates that there are:

  • 436 deaths per year in the Auckland region due to PM10, or fine particles
  • 58% of these deaths (253) are due to motor vehicle emissions.

The report is based on the methodology developed for a World Health Organisation (WHO) commissioned study, which involved 14 environmental and health organisations in France, Austria, and Switzerland.

Significant improvements have been made in vehicle technology and fuel quality since 2001, however, motor vehicles are still a major contributor to air pollution in most urban areas because of:

  • increased number of vehicles on the road and vehicle kilometres traveled
  • increasing proportion of diesel vehicles in the fleet
  • increase in average engine size.

What can I do to cut emissions from my car?

For more information read Airfacts 15: Vehicles, Air Quality and Climate Change

¹Vehicle Fleet Model for 2006.

Continue to Carbon monoxide from motor vehicles