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Diesel Cars Contribute To 5,000 Premature Deaths a Year In Europe, Says Study (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Emissions from diesel cars rigged to appear eco-friendly may be responsible for 5,000 air pollution deaths per year in Europe alone, according to a study published on Monday. The numbers are in line with previous assessments of deaths due to the so-called "Dieselgate" scandal, which erupted when carmaker Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating on vehicle emissions tests. Many other carmakers have since fallen under suspicion. The researchers from Norway, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands calculated that about 10,000 deaths in Europe per year can be attributed to small particle pollution from light duty diesel vehicles (LDDVs). Almost half of these would have been avoided if emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel cars on the road had matched levels measured in the lab. If diesel cars emitted as little NOx as petrol ones, almost 4,000 of the 5,000 premature deaths would have been avoided, said the authors. The countries with the heaviest burden are Italy, Germany, and France, the team added, "resulting from their large populations and high share of diesel cars in their national fleets." Touted as less polluting, the share of diesel cars in Europe rose fast compared to petrol since the 1990s, and now comprise about half the fleet. There are more than 100 million diesel cars in Europe today, twice as many as in the rest of the world together, said the study authors. Diesel engines emit less planet-warming carbon dioxide than petrol ones, but significantly more NOx. The study has been published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Tesla is a coal powered car, depending where you live. Just sayin'
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
You, sir, are the problem here.
The cars "passed the test". How much of your science syllabus do you remember after the final exam? The politicians only asked them to pass the exam, not to meet the requirements on the road. being good Germans, they "Obeyed the law".
In reality, the problem is not 1.6 litre Volkswagens its the laws. If you want cars not to pollute on the road, pass a law that says "don't pollute on the road". Since trucks have 16 litre engines (not 1.6 litre), they produce a lot more NOx. Also, they run for about 6 hours a day, in place of about 2 (figures made upon the spot).
The real problem is Urea injection (AdBlu). This was introduced to neutralise the NOx emissions in the tailpipe of Diesels. However, due to low power to weight ratio, when you drive a truck in traffic, your foot is typically "on the floor" or "off the pedal". This means the exhaust temperature goes between 900 deg C and 0 deg C and back in seconds. The amount of N2 in the exhaust depends on temperature in the combustion chamber, not the amount of Diesel burned - the N2 comes from the air, not the Diesel. How is the microprocessor going to know how much Urea to inject when it cannot know how much N2 has been dissociated? It can't.
However, the AdBlu process has been favoured by politicians over other solutions to meet the very tight controls on CO2 (There are other solutions, but they do not involve selling large quantities of pig's piss to trucks).
In short, The vehicle manufacturers did as they were told, and the result was predictable. No one wants to admit it for political and financial reasons, and Volkswagen is not American.
Disclaimers: Yes I am an engineer, was a truck driver, live in Europe, am not German, and don't currently own a car of any type.
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