International. Despite some German opposition to the new R1234yf refrigerant for air conditioning in vehicles, around 500,000 cars have already registered in the country with this gas.
The figures show that 458,532 new vehicles were registered using the R1234yf between January 2013 and June 2015, the German government announced in response to questions from the Left Party (Die Linke).
While Mercedes and VW are absent from the list released by the government (they refused to adopt the new coolant due to safety fears and will continue to use R134a, in direct contravention of the EU MAC Directive), a total of 44 manufacturers and 85 different car models are on the list, including those of fellow German car manufacturers BMW and Opel
Refrigerant manufacturer DuPont (now Chemorus) has previously predicted that, globally, more than 7 million cars using R1234yf are expected to be on the roads by the end of this year.
Both Mercedes and VW have laid their future on CO2 and have indicated that the vehicles could be available next year as soon as possible.
