European commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska has branded diesel cars “the technology of the past”, and has predicted that they will "completely disappear" in the near future.
Bienkowska said that the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal has caused public sentiment to shift towards cleaner cars and a greater awareness of emissions.
“People have realised that we will never have completely clean, without NOx, diesel cars,” Bienkowska told Bloomberg.
In recent months, manufacturers such as Volvo and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have laid out plans to abandon diesel power. FCA has pledged to stop selling diesels by 2022, while Volvo launched its final diesel-optioned car, the V60, in recent months.
Other manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover, have come to diesel's defence, citing that diesel is vital to combating global warming due to its lower CO2 output. JLR boss Ralf Speth said recently: “The latest diesel technology is really such a step in emissions, performance, particulates; it’s better for the environment when compared to [an equivalent] petrol. Diesel has — needs — to have a future.”
With ever-tightening EU legislation on car emissions prompting protest from car manufacturers, diesel still represents a valuable lifeline to those that are less advanced in their progress towards the EU’s 66g/km CO2 targets than others. The EU's 2030 CO2 targets are pushing manufacutrers towards plug-in hybrid and electric cars. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association described the target as "aggressive when we consider the low and fragmented market penetration of alternatively powered vehicles across Europe to date”.
VW aims to have half of its range electrified by 2025, with 80 electrified cars planned in this timeframe, and sell one million EVs worldwide annually by that year. Volvo plans to sell hybrids to 50% of its customers by 2025, too, with every car released being offered with a hybrid option from the imminent S60 onwards.
There is increasing national and local legislation against diesel; the UK Government plans to ban non-hybrid internal combustion-engined cars by 2040, while some others plan bans before this date. German cities were recently awarded the right to ban older diesels from city centres, with Hamburg being the first to implement a ban on Euro 5 and older diesels in certain areas starting from 31 May. Several cities in the UK and abroad have announced similar strategies.
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I hereby predict
the future is hot air, powered by forums.
Don't
think she's helping. What we should ask is why the EU and national regulators got it so wrong for so long with regards to no2. It was a deliberate policy to focus on co2 and contrary to the US that for years looked at no2. I really hate it when the EU or national governments do this knee jerk approach. Ralf is spot on but no one's listening.
Cobnapint
If the whole car sector, all over the world, all went over to diesel, the atmospheric levels of the trace gas that is CO2 (400 parts per million...per million!) would hardly rise at all. You don't understand atmospheric science at all, do you? Be honest. I understand it enough to hold a conversation with a physicist (as I have). Car emissions are dwarfed by other contributors. You didn't know that, did you? A few weeks ago, I posted the list on here - produced by the UN. Car emissions are incredibly tiny. Note that I'm not saying climate change doesn't exist, at all! I'm stating that car emissions of CO2 are insignificant - they FACTUALLY are. For example, the world has shifted massively toward production of cattle. The FAO has reported that CO2 emissions from the world's 1.5 billion cattle is 18%... that's more than cars, planes, lorries, bikes - in fact more than ALL transport put together!
You've been fed the lie that cars are to blame, and you've swallowed it. I didn't, I went and found the figures.
@Bazzer
Lol. That's brilliant, made me laugh.