| Summary: | The regulation of vehicular CO<sub>2</sub> emissions determines the permissible emissions of vehicles in units of g CO<sub>2</sub>/km. However, these values only partially provide adequate information because they characterize only the vehicle but not the emission of the associated energy supply technology system. The energy needed for the motion of vehicles is generated in several ways by the energy industry, depending on how the vehicles are driven. These methods of energy generation consist of different series of energy source conversions, where the last technological step is the vehicle itself, and the result is the motion. In addition, sustainability characterization of vehicles cannot be determined by the vehicle’s CO<sub>2</sub> emissions alone because it is a more complex notion. The new approach investigates the entire energy technology system associated with the generation of motion, which of course includes the vehicle. The total CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and the resulting energy efficiency have been determined. For this, it was necessary to systematize (collect) the energy supply technology lines of the vehicles. The emission results are not given in g CO<sub>2</sub>/km but in g CO<sub>2</sub>/J, which is defined in the paper. This new method is complementary to the European Union regulative one, but it allows more complex evaluations of sustainability. The calculations were performed based on Hungarian data. Finally, using the resulting energy efficiency values, the emission results were evaluated by constructing a sustainability matrix similar to the risk matrix. If only the vehicle is investigated, low CO<sub>2</sub> emissions can be achieved with vehicles using internal combustion engines. However, taking into consideration present technologies, in terms of sustainability, the spread of electric-only vehicles using renewable energies can result in improvement in the future. This proposal was supported by the combined analysis of the energy-specific CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and the energy efficiency of vehicles with different power-driven systems.
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