Recent research shows that nearly every new diesel car model produced in Europe since the “Dieselgate” scandal of 2015 is still considered too pollutive, according to The Guardian.
Emission tests that emit a beam of light to analyze the exhaust plume, the shape that exhaust fumes form when emitted from an exhaust pipe of vehicles, were used 370,000 times in the United Kingdom, France, and other countries. The findings were then compiled into a new rating system called The Real Urban Emissions (TRUE) Initiative and were made public earlier this week.
During “Dieselgate,” it was discovered that Volkswagen cheated emissions tests with trick equipment. However, since then, almost all other car manufacturers have been producing diesels that emitted far more in real-world driving conditions than in official lab-based tests, according to the aforementioned report.
TRUE results show that new diesel models of various makes released in 2016 were still on average five or more times over the European Union’s official limit of 0.08mg of nitrogen oxides per kilometer. 2017 models were nearly four times over.
It is estimated that Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) pollution contributes to 23,500 early deaths each year in the U.K alone.
Beam tests are still taking place and will be able to detect highly polluting models in the future.
“I see this remote sensing mostly as a screening tool, to see which vehicle models behave suspiciously,” said Peter Mock, at the International Council on Clean Transportation which, along with the FIA Foundation and other groups, produced the TRUE rating system.
But Nick Molden, chief executive of Emissions Analytics, warned that the TRUE rating system, which averages the same models across several years, will not show when the latest model has radically cut its pollution.
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