Has government got it wrong on diesels? Well new ones anyway.

peter_the_piper

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-6733271/Are-diesel-cars-really-dirty-Tests-reveal-models-produce-zero-NOx-emissions.html


Piece says it all really.

daveyjp

Looks like a German testing company desperately trying to lobby on behalf of the German car manufacturers that are producing diesel cars.

sevenhills

They can get whatever results they want, depending on which cars they test.
I do agree pollution is much reduced, and by the time EURO 7 comes in, there will be no need to ban diesels.
Only a Honda Civic diesel tested by ADAC went above the 80mg/km NOx threshold required for new diesel registered from September. However, a 2.1 allowance means they can legally be sold if they produce below 168mg/km

indianabones

Any time the government asks us to change anything, my immediate thoughts are how are they going to make money from it.


Any change is legislation/laws is always to make them money. There are very very few exceptions.

gamston

a big problem with diesels since 08 plates is the DPF and how its cleaned
with most car's you don't know when the filter is being clean, and so the cleaning can be stopped when you park up at the end of your journey, we had a zafira and I rigged up my own set of DPF run lights, so Mrs know she had to keep running car until lights went off
when I talk to folks that have diesels they tell me its ok to do little trips and then do one long run every few weeks, when I say the DPF does not know when you are going on big run it trys to clean when it hits the % figures, they look blankly at me

Roland_Sausage

On my old 2014 diesel Seat Leon, I could always tell when the DPF cleaning was active when I was driving around town.

When idle (stopped at lights or in traffic, etc) the auto on/off would be disabled and the engine would idle at around 1000rpm, whereas normally it would idle at around 800rpm.

Johnmcl7

There's almost no detail on how they actually did the testing which doesn't give much confidence in their methods since many other tests have found the opposite, not only are diesels producing significant amounts of NOX but often far about the limit they were certified to.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/970188/Diesel-engine-car-emissions-test-EU-standards

One of the main issues with diesels is that if their regen cycle isn't measured then they appear cleaner and more efficient than they are so it's easy to produce better results.

That said I think the emissions aspect of diesels is overblown, I'd have no question buying another diesel on that aspect alone as I've significantly reduced my car use by doing most trips on a bike. However I wouldn't buy a modern diesel due to their complexity, the last diesel I had was the least reliable car I've owned and that's despite actually buying a bike and avoiding all short trips on it.

sevenhills

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

There's almost no detail on how they actually did the testing which doesn't give much confidence in their methods since many other tests have found the opposite, not only are diesels producing significant amounts of NOX but often far about the limit they were certified to.

Euro 1 emissions standards (diesel) CO: 2.72g/km HC + NOx: 0.97g/km PM: 0.14g/km


Euro 5 emissions standards (diesel) CO: 0.50g/km HC + NOx: 0.23g


The article you linked to said the emissions were at EURO 5 levels and not EURO 6 levels, EURO 5 is still much better than the 1992 EURO 1


Euro 6 emissions standards (diesel)
CO: 0.50g/km
HC + NOx: 0.17g/km
NOx: 0.08g/km

John_G_Jones

Looking at it from the other side, what is the big advantage to diesels nowadays?

Arklight

I can't see much future for any new development of ICE models now. Consumer sentiment has already shifted towards hybrids and full electric vehicles so that's what manufacturers will focus on.

John_G_Jones

Arklight wrote: »

I can't see much future for any new development of ICE models now. Consumer sentiment has already shifted towards hybrids and full electric vehicles so that's what manufacturers will focus on.

You may be right.

I’ve what I think is one of the last great normally aspirated internal combustion engines in my car, and it’ll be a sad day when they are not available any more.