Friends, Romans, and countrymen, our planet is under siege by pollutant forces and this is our own doing. Sadly, our ecosystem has had to bear the brunt of our misgivings. Though all of the humanity is to blame, some automakers are credited with being some of the biggest damage makers. A couple of days ago ahead of the Earth day, we had reported about a Japanese carmaker confessing their wrongful deeds that were carried out to mislead efficiency tests. This incident happened within a year of the infamous dieselgate scandal that involved a German carmaker giant and this doesn’t stop here.
As per new data, from testing industry leader Emissions Analytics (EA), 97% of the latest diesel-powered cars do not comply with the official limits prescribed nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission. Following a study by Department for Transport of emissions that analyzed NOx emissions of 37 vehicles, the new extensive study by EA dubbed as the EQUA Air Quality Index study scrutinized over 200 vehicles for their assessment.
The Key findings of the study are as follows-
- Only seven out of 62 Euro 6 compliant diesel powered cars did not exceed the NOx emission limit.
- The EQUA Air Quality Index scores the vehicles by denoting the letter A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.
A – Meets NOx emission limit prescribed by Euro 6
B – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by up to 1.5 times
C – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by 1.5 to 2.25 times
D – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by 2.25 to 3 times
E – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by 3 to 6 times
F – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by 6-8 times
G – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by 8-12 times
H – Exceeds Euro 6 prescribed NOx emission limit by more than 12 times
The best of the list are-
| Manufacturer | Model | Model Year | Engine Size CC | Power | Transmission | Regulatory Stage | Equa AQ Index |
| Audi | A5 | 2014 | 1968 | 161 | Manual | Euro 6 | A |
| Skoda | Superb | 2016 | 1968 | 148 | Manual | Euro 6 | A |
| Volkswagen | Passat | 2016 | 1598 | 118 | Manual | Euro 6 | A |
| Volkswagen | Scirocco | 2015 | 1968 | 148 | Manual | Euro 6 | A |
| Volkswagen | Touran | 2016 | 1598 | 108 | Manual | Euro 6 | A |
| BMW | 3 Series | 2013 | 2000 | 184 | Manual | Euro 6 | A |
| Volkswagen | Golf SV | 2015 | 1968 | 148 | Automatic | Euro 6 | A |
The worsts of the list are-
| Fiat | 500X | 2015 | 1598 | 118 | Manual | Euro 6 | H |
| Audi | A8 | 2013 | 3000 | 247 | Automatic | Euro 6 | H |
| Ssangyong | Korando | 2016 | 2157 | 176 | Manual | Euro 6 | H |
- On testing the vehicles in labs and under fixed conditions, the diesel cars produce results that obey all the laws, but once put out on the real roads, almost all of them exceed limits.
- The study does not suggest that these vehicles in question break any emission limit laws or have employed cheat devices.
- There is no suggestion that any of the cars tested broke the law on emissions limits or used any cheat devices.
The said study was also carried out on petrol and hybrid vehicles but the results are reversed with only a handful of cars failing the test. This is an overview of the research and study but gives a clear idea of what lab tested vehicles are doing to the environment in real world use. While the capital city of India is trying exercise ways to curb the pollution levels there are others who are proposing ban on petrol/diesel powered cars. There are ways that will work instantly, but there are some stringent ones that should be tried and tested. It is time for all three forces – Government, automakers, and consumers and put up a fight against this encroachment of the eco-system.
(all images used are for representation purpose only)
source: EQUA