New figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers show that sales of new diesel cars plummeted by 27.3% in April. The drop is likely to be in response to a proposed crackdown on the use of diesel cars, which is expected to take place after the UK’s general election.
The policy manifestos of all three major political parties contain plans to encourage diesel drivers off the road. The most extreme of these was the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which proposes banning all diesel cars by 2025 should the Lib Dems be elected.
It’s no wonder the government is under pressure to tackle the pollution crisis – London exceeded its target pollution levels for the whole of 2017 in the first five days of the year alone. British courts recently forced the government to publish a watered-down pollution plan, which contains details of new toxicity charges and clean air zones for some of the highest-polluting areas of the UK.
The uncertainty around future policy in relation to diesels, and lack of clarity on whether there will be a diesel car scrappage scheme, is evidently causing many motorists to avoid buying diesel cars.
Conversely, it seems there is another group of Diesel drivers who are entrenched and sticking to driving their diesel cars, come what may in terms of future charges.
Annual diesel sales down
Overall sales for diesels have only dipped slightly this year, going down by 1% compared to last year. This does, however, make for dim viewing when you consider that the industry overall has grown by 6%, with petrol car sales increasing by 11.5%. This seems to suggest that concerned consumers are opting to buy petrol vehicles instead of diesels.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) states that there were 1,285,160 diesel registrations in the UK in 2016, versus 1,318,707 petrol car registrations. With the production of diesel cars making up an estimated £26.4bn of Britain’s economy, encouraging people away from diesels (or even worse, banning them) would be a major risk to the economy.
Jaguar Land Rover, one of Britain’s most iconic car manufacturers, claims that nine out of ten cars it sells are diesel. It’s not hard to imagine what the impact of banning diesel vehicle sales could be on the business.
In the long term, drivers continuing to steer clear of buying new diesel cars could lead to job losses and potential plant closures. Not only this, but credit rating agency Fitch has warned that a crackdown on diesel cars might lead to a ‘rapid and large shift in demand,’ which could hit the used car market, causing the value of all owned diesel vehicles to plummet.
Does diesel do that much harm?
Contrary to what the recent anti-diesel press may be suggesting, new diesel cars produce very low emissions and emit next to no harmful toxins. The much-publicised statistic showcasing the fact that 9,500 Londoners die every year from diesel-related pollution is caused by older, pre-Euro 4 vehicles, including heavy goods vehicles and public transport such as buses and taxis.
At PetrolPrices.com, we believe that discouraging drivers to purchase diesel cars will harm manufacturing profits and damage – perhaps irreparably – one of Britain’s most flourishing industries.
Are you concerned about the impact moving customers away from diesels could have on the car industry? Do you think diesel is being misrepresented? Is this negatively affecting the value and future sales of a perfectly good fuel? Let us know in the comments.
British industry? ??? All foreign owned
Its not fair to owners of newer diesel cars that they should see the value drop and banning all diesel cars
by 2025 is daft stupid policy from loony parties who would have us all riding bikes and eating lettuce.
Following advice & encouragement from the authorities (Including government) I finally committed to Diesel 8 years ago. I now drive a Jaguar XF 2.7D and on a recent journey across the country and back I averaged 45.6 MPG. My car sailed through the MOT with extremely low emission.
I recently read about urine cleaning up the by using Blue DEF. The system is currently being fitted to new cars.
Can mine be converted to this system?
Anything to stop the politicians using my essential, daily motoring as an excuse for hiking the price of diesel fuel would be welcomed.
But a lot are made here plus car sales garages and parts distributors.
I have a Landrover Discovery,I tow a trailer or transport a motorcycle on a rack, Have a lodge in Sussex. If I had to go petrol,it would have to be A V8 ,which would probably return about 15 MPG ,At the moment Im getting about 30 mpg so It seems to me I would use twice as much fuel.Thecost would be far to great and Just me would be using the world resourses twice as fast ! Also My wife runs A Volvo V40 2 litre diesel which returns over 50 mpg same would apply.
Unfortunatly what all the parties do not understand is that This country has to many people and to many cars .It seems to me that the only way to change anything is to TAX it ! This is not the answer. I must stop here as i could go on for hours.
PS dont worry diesel drivers The Lib dems Wont be running the Country.
Could you give us some comparative figures on pollution from diesel ang petrol engines and then we can base our opinions on facts.
Has anybody investigated the amount of pollution put out by diesel engine frames? They must be more guilty than most cars.
This should read trains not frames! John.
Well,well,well,this latest load of s*** aimed directly at the ‘Geese That laid The Golden Eggs’ has really shown the government for what they really are. The Class of the 21st Century that really should all be Specsaver Clients.
Not only have they completely and reasonably successfully stifled the new sales of diesel powered cars (possibly the cleanest across Europe) but they appear to have also scared the shit out of owners of otherwise perfectly good Euro 5 &6 diesel powered cars with those cars being sold/given-away for buttons.
With the relatively low annual mileage that I cover since my forced retirement from Self Employment in 2007 coupled with being on a modest fixed income I have scoured the market for a 15 year old premium brand petrol powered automatic car that returns very acceptable mpg and lowish service costs.
Used car dealers must be rubbing their grubby hands together at the thought of a return to petrol powered vehicles because the hybrids and other alternative powered vehicles will be dead on the forecourts because of the cost of replacing batteries and fuel cells.
With new technology cars now costing as much as a average mortgages from the 80’s and house building at an all time low – we will be reverting to living under the stars in tents and in tree houses and foraging for food in competition with wild-life.
I can’t think of any other areas where the green movement is working to stifle economic growth. Anyone? Can you? (grrrr)
I have a 2009 jaguar 2.0 deisel xtype which has just done 1000+ miles around the lake district at an average of 48 mpg and it sailed through its mot with low emmisions and does not put out any smoke whatsoever she is serviced regularly and I use slick 50 fuel cleaner and oil aditive to keep the engine clean. All this do goody auntie state causes more trouble than its worth and will take this country back to a third world economy. Also if you ban diesels how much will it cost to transport all our goods using petrol powered lorries as the engines would need to be more than twice the size to pull the weight. I hope the politicians do their homework before making anymore stupid decisions.
Alan you are spot on, it is lunacy, I am fed up to the back teeth of politicians they need to et out in the real world and find out first hand before making blanket statements I understand the issue of air pollution but they need to take a measured response, some of the older diesel engines are a problem and some pre 2004 engines need to go but that is buses, lorries and taxis and what support would they need to get up to euro 4 plus standards that is where they need to focus
Bob Bridge
Here here , well said !!
I have had diesel cars for some years & i don`t intend to change,its about time that the real poullution problems are sorted, IE the buses,trains,older taxis etc.from what i have read the poulition in Oxford St. in London is NOT down to private cars as they are not allowed there so stop this wild goose chase & sort out the real problem. When I was young in the fifties/sixties at times you couldn`t see 50 yards in winter due to smog from coal fires etc. & I hear that wood burning stoves are responsable for about twenty percent of the polution now so why is this not being sorted,oh sorry I forgot, it`s easier to once again hit the motorist.
I have a 2017 Euro6 ford ranger I am committed to A 4 year lease, what sort of government would jeopardise businesses that have taken the decision to upgrade to clean diesel? The emissions (when tested in real-time) are lower than my partner’s Skoda Fabia 1.4 petrol also it exempt from the LEZ charge in London! It makes no sense to me to penalise those of us who just want to get on and make a modest living, and contributing to this once great country? I MAY DECIDE TO LAY OFF MY STAFF CLOSE DOWN MY BUSINESS AND MOVE TO FLORIDA
Bob Bridge disgruntled and frustrated business owner
I would like to see the actual pollutant’s measured, compared and results published for new petrol and diesel cars. As an ex mechanic, I could experience the difference in chest irritation working on or near a running diesel.
I had occasion to walk up a steep hill in an urban area recently and noted that most of my breathing problems came from petrol cars often ill maintained and sometimes clearly emitting carbon particulates. I had no similar breathing issues from the modern diesel cars which passed me.
I recently converted to a so called pure tech petrol driven car with good torque torque which behaves similarly to my last 2L 2006 diesel which was still going like a bomb when I sold it.
I note now that I have changed to petrol that on filling up how bad the petrol fumes are. More breathing problems.
All fossil fuel creates problems when it is burned. Why pick on diesels based on some half baked research when they are now as safe if not safer than petrol? As rightly pointed out by other readers the economic impact of tax measures to drive customers away from diesel could be devastating. Also what about the impact on petrol refining as demand for diesel and petrol changes radically?
Goodness knows who I am going to vote for on 8th June. Knee jerk Government coupled with using the NHS and education as political footballs is driving me nuts.
What heats London I mean the heating of offices /hotels /hospitals/the shard /the gherkin /all buildings in London ,I don’t think they use gas or electric its more likely they use oil fired heating /fuel oil ….diesel what goes up must come down
Having frequently visited London & other big cities, I’ve often been in traffic behind taxis & buses & HGVs belching out black diesel fumes. I also frequently end up behind the odd older diesel car belching out clouds of smoke. If emissions are checked each year, why should this happen? Certainly buses & taxis should have regular & stringent checks on all aspects including emissions. As for British industry, yes maybe foreign owned, but U.K. employees.
If this carries on the government will have to change direction and announce that the real problem lies with petrol vehicles, otherwise they’ll lose a fortune in taxes.
also the diesel engine lasts four times longer than any petrol engine just change the oil and air filter twice a year or even three times a year this ensures a clean running engine with low emissions ..I own a Skoda diesel I get 60 + mpg my next car will be another diesel .maybe the mayor has a deal with south Africa to supply old diesel cars that he has banned in england
Just another way of taxing us more.
Electricity used in electric cars, if not renewable, is generated by a power station where it is cost effective, and required, to install the necessary equipment to scrub the emissions. (it’s cheaper and more effective than fitting a little scrubber to every vehicle ; )
Some manufacturers are redeploying their spent electric car batteries as domestic batteries to store energy generated by solar etc. As and when the batteries are completely useless I am sure that the precious metals they contain will be fully recovered.
I seem to remember years back that the Government was encouraging people to buy diesel cars as they were healthier than the petrol (I may be wrong) but if they changed the fuel in buses, coaches, trains, lorries and large vans there will be a lot less pollution – why not concentrate on that first instead of trying to penalise the average motorist – no matter what fuel type is used there will always be some residue that is not healthy – electric cars !! well the electricity has to be produced somehow and the main source is fuel burning, the more batteries that these cars need means more acid in places where they are dumped – next fresh air will be bad for you , when will it stop – why use London as a benchmark, there must be other ways – trams instead of buses, electric trains/vehicles to transport goods from large lorries to the shops (if electric they can be refrigerated as well ) etc etc – maybe that’s just common sense – or me just missing the point
Hi the trouble with diesel is NOX as so little sulphur in fuel these days why many engines suffer premature wear on the internals.
If you run a engines emissions ultra clean you increase NOX instead of carbon deposits.
But much of this can be dealt with by filters existing or creating better ones plus if they want to bring street level down all the have to do is install scrubbers/filters in place to filter air!
Diesel isn’t the only NOX producer! Coal/oil/wood burners also for one only burnt at atmospheric pressures so much not burnt fully just emitted to the atmosphere.
Modern diesels in Lorries&Buses use a system called add blue it’s a product from animals urine ie ammonia why buses have a funny stink! they have a separate small tank that adds it into fuel line quite a few cars use it like Peugeot for one.
With electronic/common rail diesels the injector pressures are so high &with the precise timings that very little is waisted/unburnt these days.
Petrol engines have unleaded and Catalyst unleaded is awful gear they only put the last component into the tanker going out at last moment as so corrosive it’s been destroying fuel tanks esp on motorcycles which are using a plastic type tank and the thing that you get from petrol engines is suphur(tree killer) why on summers hot days you can see a yellow cloud by M25 or looking down from Crystal palace into central london.
If they want to cut street level P levels well they should start to THINK about traffic management properly so things actually move so traffic lights that phase better.sorting junctions out.HUMPS&Traffic junk should all have to conform to a uniform standard not that will do so if it’s a 20mph then should be able to drive over it @20 not have to climb over it Chris Bonnington style as some/most are downright stupid in the east side of london we have ones you can’t climb over without scraping the bottom of the car a normal showroom standard height that should not happen! many of those odd shaped blobs actually destroy the suspension as pulls it apart in a way it wasn’t meant to face on the open road as ie Ford mondeo’s for when first came out the front suspension arms was failing so fast as the inner bushes got ripped apart from them that you couldn’t get any replacement arms as any there was sold! BMW’s was another as they use similar system also many had there sumps cracked going over them.
They have a stupid hump/tank trap over as you come off of Hackney marshes @Eastway the road drops over a bridge then theres a hump that drops steeply on other side had so many buses and ambulances ripping the bases off on it one+ ambulance lost the lift off the rear end of them so there out of service plus going to a shout life endangered!
So they should all have to conform to a Gov standard!
As they found places that have poor traffic management/Obscure or is that obscene? Humps had very high pollution levels as drivers are slowing right down then accelerating away.
I have a 2.0 HDI with an average over it’s 140.000 lifetime of mid 50’s mpg and that was for a long while towing a large trailer and he wasn’t the smoothest of drivers always on the brakes gears for corners often in too low a gear etc etc.
where as i get into the 60’s when work figures out up hill down dale in town out of town and sometimes door handling it round corners!
One of the advantages of a diesel(if driven correctly)is when moving around like in traffic is just letting the engine pull you along so don’t have to use jabs of throttle pedal to move so no waisted fuel.
One of the issues with some diesels plus petrols also is the dear ole EGR valve plus Read VAG issues as many things clog it up which then sends things in all sorts of wrong directions it’s function is the recycle exhaust gases at low revs but often goes wrong! amount have had out and had to de coke them.
Which is another con when you go to Main Stealer’s ho Mr brum brum your EGR is blocked new one Kerching £££ when take it out clean it and replace job done which to be honest is probably when they do!
People try to judge others(mostly iphone dorks) with likes of why do you need a diesel/large/small/4×4/any car in London as have buses! Err (another classic type is a university pleb that has more degrees than a compass but can’t put a nail in straight or have an oz of common sense!)Well let me educate you we have a car! to go out of london you know that countryside where they have trees and nature sea sand and fresh air! also that 4×4 has to tow a boat which can’t with your bicycle or Gwhizz! so live in London but don’t drive in London!
I for one rarely drive in town unless i have to like if picking something up that’s heavy other than that use a bus if have to go to my hospital appointments etc
when i first got a diesel it was like going from £5 to go round the corner to £5 going round the world!
If you go from 30’s to 60’s no matter what fuel it’s got to be better for all and these petrol figures don’t add up after a while ok while perfectly new? but once had a few miles on the clock soon drop plus put 4 people in a car then see figures!
As for comments re Petrol Trucks they used to be you get more bang out of a petrol per figures but has other issues like fire risks/heat etc.
But one thing that no one has mentioned or not seen/heard about it anywhere!
Is to do with likes of particle charging/electronic radiations etc as everywhere is more and more electronics going into things from ring main in houses to WIFI,aircon,traffic lights,electric buses/trains,lights,bill boards, fluorescent lighting!,and so much more you get things like ozone with it and so many other things like RF things like you find in particulates are drawn to electrics like for one go to somewhere that has a lot of electrical equipment and feel the air it’s poor yet after a thunderstorm the air is so breathable as the ions have changed and all the dry dead air has cleared as no long suspended in the air/environment!
The problem is that diesels burn their fuel at temperatures which create a lot of nitrogen oxides. Petrol engines burn at lower temperatures and produce much less. There are all sorts of possible ways of reducing this by tweaking the engine but these are not being developed because cheating software is much easier and cheaper. I have a diesel Skoda with the cheat software still on the vehicle despite promises from VW. I will be very relieved when someone actually sells and effective bolt-on unit to deal with these emissions. Unfortunately, I have knowledge in the area so can’t join in with the uninformed chorus. The Whole of Europe should be forcing VW and other car makers to produce units which can be fitted to diesel cars or built in to the car. They’ve tried to not make diesel systems clean and cheated rather than do so.
There are several methods of dealing with the issue in theory and action needs to be taken to *MAKE* manufacturers develop and fit a system to diesel *cars* (they are already available for trucks and buses).
Politicians can never hear past how many votes there are to be gained from any idea. If someone tells them that encouraging buying diesel cars will look good to the public, they won’t hear anything else until their collective noses are rubbed in the mess they’ve made.
Diesels can be made to run cleanly, all it takes is the will to make it happen. I can’t afford to change my diesel Skoda. I have to continue with it. Please, someone out there make an effective NOx cleaner that I can afford to bolt on to my car, that works effectively and that doesn’t cost too much in fuel efficiency.
And we have in Trump the extreme stereotype who gives the idiot US Republican rednecks what they want, regardless of health consequences It’s all about votes and financial greed.
Latest rubbish I heard was breathing in diesel fumes makes the left heart ventrical grow larger lowering blood pressure. I am 63 was a Police man for 30 years did loads of traffic point duty breathing in all sorts was tested at 55 for lung function told had lungs of a thirty eight year old
well said !
TIME AND TIME AGAIN I SAY LOOK UP OVER LONON 24/7 AND SEE POLLUTION FROM AIRCRAFT AT ALL LEVELS CRISS CROSSING LONDON. THIS MORNING AT 2 A.M. AIRCRAFT WERE FLYING OVER LONDON BELOW 15000′ ON THEIR WAY TO STANSTEAD AND LUTON. FURTHERMORE, FIGHTS FROM EUROPE WERE PASSING OVERHEAD GOING TO BRISTOL, CARDIFF, BIRMINGHAM, EAST MIDLANDS AND MANCHESTER, ALL BELOW 30000′. EVERY SINGLE RAINING POLLUTION OVER LONDON AND THE COUNTRYSIDE.
DURING RUSH HOUR AT LONDON HEATHROW AIRCRAFT ARE LANDING SPACED OUT AT 5 MILE INTERVALS BUT THIS IS STILL ONE EVERY 1.5 MINUTE ITERVALS!!!!!
Please will the Lib Dems tel us what they will be doing with all these Cars when they ban them ? ie Where will they be dumped and scrapped ? ……………These are ridiculous statements and propositions that can only harm the Motor trade industry …………………………………Its a complete load of nonsense , all diesel cars are testing on their MOT , they have got better and better , is this not “Just another excuse for another Tax???”
what will happen to hgv lorrys, taxi,s boats on inland waterways, motorhomes, caravan tow cars; bet it dont effect to the first two , only the public pays???
The simple way to sort this out is to reduce the duty on petrol so that it is never economic to buy a diesel car. I bought petrol for both our cars because of the potential maintenance issue as diesels get older with so many fancy devices added to them. Some drivers are fining these a costly issue. But teh first three years are probably fine and dandy. But when will this happen? I suppose VAT would be the answer as the commercial traffic would get the VAT back leaving the private ones to pick up the tab.Fair enough to balance the cost of petrol versus diesel I think and level the playing field. But the Blair/Brown government actively encouraged diesels as they fretted about CO2. and manipulated any figures for the climate change crap.One day it will be back to horses but they emit CO2 as well.
I’ve often wondered why no one with sufficient financial resources has ever taken legal action against the government for applying VAT to petrol and diesel AFTER duty has been added. According to EU rules, VAT can only be applied to goods and services and should therefore not be applied to duty, which is merely another added tax.
I have recently purchased a Jaguar XE 2.0D which uses the Blue DEF system for reducing emissions. As far as I am aware this is one of the new cars with very low emissions.
Previous to this I had a VW Touran 1.6 diesel which was recalled for ‘adjustment’ and after this was carried out the car did not seem the same.
I and, I am sure many others, would like to know what engine the cars have that the prime and her entourage use.
See my comment, I have the new F-Pace with the same technology.
Sorry, it should have read – Prime Minister.
It would be nice to clearer on how we identify Diesel vehicles that are the issue.
i.e. Don’t paint all Diesel vehicles with the same brush.
This might stop a general panic in vehicle sales, both new and 2nd hand.
As some comments mentioned, there are many Diesel vehicles out there that are less toxic that Petrol equivalents.
Like thousands of other people in the UK, I have recently bought a new car with the ‘AdBlue’ technology that means that the diesel engine now produces much lower emissions than any previous vehicles Petrol or diesel. Jaguar have invested many millions in ensuring that this technology is suitable for our ‘Cleaner air requirements’.
We need this new technology that improves performance and output so let’s not tar all vehicles diesel or whatever with the same brush. Electric and hydrogen are the next phase now being worked on but I often wonder what happened to gas turbines after Rover.
The government should tackle congetion rather than rob the motorist,the amount of time I spend at a red traffic light for no good reason causes me to create more pollution than anything else,why are councils not using the sensors at traffic lights anymore so that if I’m the only vehicle at those lights they change to let keep moving so less pollution
I had a similar thought to yours. I contacted my local council and they said they had no control of them and told me that all the traffic lights were controlled by a central computer in the nearest city. A few months later and I spoke to an engineer who had his head buried inside the traffic light box. He told me it was easy to alter any light sequence, even the local bobby could do it with a special key. I know who I believe.
Earlier this year, the BBC devoted a week to looking at air quality. In it, they stated that EU air quality rules permit target levels to be exceeded on 18 days per year. How could they have been exceeded after only 5 days? It is well worth looking at the website aqicn.org which gives access to thousands of air quality monitors around the world in real time. The quality at each location is given a number and quality colour flag. As I write this, the worst figure for the whole of the UK is in London (Farringdon Street) where the quality is moderate due to slightly raised levels of NO2 and P.M. 2.5. However, while NO2 levels show slow peaking during the day, and falling back overnight, particulate levels are pretty constant. If, as it is alleged that Diesels are supposed to be the main source of these 2 evil pollutants, is it not reasonable to expect that they would follow the same trend? The world map shows that air quality in Western Europe is generally good (green or occasionally yellow flags). Turkey and some Eastern European countries often have red flags, but India, and especially China is covered in them. Is the concentration of Diesel cars in those counties that much higher than here? These worldwide monitors do not back up the claim that Diesel cars are the cause of so much pollution and early death.
Talking of early death, the Diesel bashers like to quote the alleged 40, 000 premature deaths due to Diesel related air pollution. The accuracy of this estimate is questionable because death certificates do not list premature death due to air quality as a cause. Sifting through about a million death certificates a year and analysing the history of every one where premature death is suspected and then identifying which, if any, can be directly attributed to air pollution caused by Diesel cars, strikes me as an impossible task, but the only way to get reliable figures.
We are looking at lobby science where any report, however suspect, is used to damn Diesel cars, while ignoring the fact that they undoubtedly produce a lot less CO2 and CO than petrol powered cars. Euro 6 Diesels with NO2 Adblue injection produce only slightly higher levels of NO2 than Euro 6 petrol cars and over time, if the legislators will allow, they will slowly replace older, more polluting types.
So, Diesel-Powered vehicle sales down? Yes, ok. I’ll go with that. Due to the over-zealous scaremongering of the media and from other sources, we are probably all going to be forced into buying petrol-powered cars come renewal time.
The problem is: Petrol Internal Combustion Engines emit much more CO2 than Diesel powered engines – they always have and I expect always will. Petrol also contains known cancer-causing chemicals – Benzene being just one of them. Every time we fill up with Petrol – no matter how careful we are – we all come into contact with Benzene. It’s in the Vapours. It’s on the nozzles. It’s emitted while driving.
The USA is pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement – to what extent we don’t know yet – so the USA will likely be producing more CO2 as a by product of Mr D Trump looking after American Citizens and American jobs.
If everybody buys Petrol engined vehicles, the UK levels of CO2 will increase again, probably dramatically. Therefore we will be as bad as America – without actually having done anything regarding trashing the Paris agreement on Climate.
Does that make us all responsible for Climate Change? Again, I suppose the answer is yes.
Surely, what we need is for engine (vehicle) manufacturer to come up with a truly clean(er) form of Internal Combustion Engines. Why is there also such a dire lack of Diesel-Hybrid vehicles. Yes Toyota and Lexus prefer the Petrol route – and I drive one. But I really miss the ease of power, high torque and constant surge of a decent Turbo-Diesel engine. I would think Diesel-Hybrid would be the magic mix for a lot of drivers. Diesel engine in use on high speed runs and to charge the battery pack – Electric Moror in use at low speed, in Towns, Cities and the buil-up areas. All this and still producing MUCH LESS CO2. Come on you other manufactures – if Peugeot, Mercedes, Audi and some other companies can do it – why not ALL work together to bring us the ‘engine of the future’.
It won’t be possible for the UK to rely on its Mains Electricity Network to provide enough juice to power a country-wide electric car only policy. So why not make something that will help keep CO2 levels down as well as provide much more economical motoring – thus saving the worlds and the UK’s oil supply. It makes sense to me – but expect there must be some strange, unknown scientific reason as to why it can’t be done. (Read that as a way of grabbing money from motorists by fining them for driving diesel powered cars)!
What will I buy next time? To be honest, I don’t know. But IF the manufacturers can come up with a way of virtually eliminating any remaining particulate matter and NOX from their exhaust systems – I think I would rather cut down on the amount of CO2 my vehicle produces while driving and save some oil resources – rather than have a pretty- gutless, less economical, less powerful Petrol or Petrol-hybrid engine.
The fact that Diesel takes less energy to refine than Petrol should also surely come into the equation. Overall, I really do believe that by taking the plunge and buying a Euro 6 comliant Diesel-Engined vehicle, almost any driver will be doing less harm to the Climate than those driving Petrol.
The icing on the cake would be a thoroughly modern Diesel-Hybrid for me though.
The current campaign against diesel-powered cars is mainly due to the supposed toxic levels of nitrous oxides they produce, and is nothing to do with CO2. However, even CO2 has been unjustifiably demonised as a ‘pollutant’ when in fact it is one of the most greenest of all the gases. The largest single source of it is the oceans, for when they heat up, the CO2 they contain becomes progressively insoluble and released into the atmosphere. Humans produce a mere 0.03% of the atmospheric CO2, and even this small addition is easily consumed as food by plant life.
Although it’s classified as a greenhouse gas, CO2 is also one of the heavy gasses, and contrary to the uninformed assumption of most, it does not float high in the atmosphere like a big sheet of glass trapping the planet’s heat, but lays over the Earth’s surface, where plants can access it.
Alas, for those who have effectively made ‘climate change’ into a modern religion, carbon dioxide has unjustifiably become their new Satan.
Never been a fan of noisy, smelly oil burners. Petrol rules, but then with the Tories about to steel our houses after we die actually who the hell cares about polution. I certainly don’t, just like Trump, I put me, my enjoyment of all my petrol powered internal combustion engines, doing what I want to and my own convenience first, why the hell should we worry about future generations, let them look after themselves.
Yes, of course, mile for mile the Diesel will generate significantly less CO2. But the real elephant in the car show-room is carbon particulates. These and nitrogen oxides are the real health threats to those living or working in over-trafficated towns and cities. As for hybrids, all we’re doing is kicking the can elsewhere. Electricity generation still requires fuel that gives rise to obnoxious products of combustion
using conventional fuels. The joys of benefiting from fresh air in sparsely populated areas of energy generation may be numbered!
Why is it only ever car drivers who cause pollution? As others have said, buses, lorries, taxis, trains, planes, power stations, and oil fired central heating systems all produce worse emissions than many modern diesels. So now everybody is being coerced into petrol cars, but I notice nothing ever gets mentioned about them producing carbon monoxide. This used to be a pretty good way of shortening your life with a hose from the exhaust into the car. I therefore conclude that we will still see the same volume of deaths but by different gases.
what I would like to know is when the government are wanting us to stop using diesel cars are they the only ones that have a co.2 emissions level of less than 100 any petrol engines I have looked at are all above that level where as there are quite a few diesel cars as described above with less than level 100 emissions
Once upon a time there was a city which had few cars – most people could not afford them. This city had trams and trolleybuses, electric and so no pollution at point of use.
These were considered at the time to be old-fashioned, out of date and inflexible. They were phased out and replaced by diesel buses and our leaders (if not the people) said, “Good riddance”.
I know because I remember the last tram in this city and I used to go to school on the trolleybuses.
We are now paying the price for the short-sighted and blinkered views of politicians and community leaders – and people are dying for it.
That city is London, GB whose leaders would not invest in the long-term.
All is not lost – it is relatively easy and cheap to bring back the trolleybus – many countries and cities poorer than ours have done it – when will we ever learn?
I resent having my comment about the hazards of diesel cars blocked. Do you people have a vested interest in continued support of diesel engines?
I wrote to the government, Therese Coffey, a minister with responsibility for the environmnet, asking for the evidence that Diesel emissions are responsible for [any] deaths in the UK
She replied, didn’t provide any evidence and as a ‘good’ politician said that the initiative to get diesels off the road was as a result of compliance with EU directives.
I have been unable to establish any evidence, discounting expert opinion and computer modelling
Apparently it has been estimated that more than 95% of everything in the average British house, spent at least some of its journey there on a diesel engined vehicle. Just think about it – all your clothes, furniture, food, electrical gadgets etc. What is likely to replace the diesel?
Someone has to pay for brexit. Thank you British diesel drivers.
A recent report by Defra states that “exposure to NO2 is increasing mortality by the equivalent of 23,500 deaths per year (within the range of 9,500 to 38,000 deaths). Additionally, many of the sources of NOx are also sources of particulate matter (PM). The impact of exposure to particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) is estimated to have an
effect on mortality equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths in the UK”. So HALF the deaths are caused by PM and most PM comes from brake disk dust and tyre wear and thus drivers of PETROL, diesel, lorries, buses…ALL MOTOR VEHICLES….are to blame. It is thus unfair to pick on diesel drivers, especially those driving Euro 4, 5 or 6 diesels.
>The piece on Diesel engines is intriguing..if these vehicles are going
>to be banned what happens to all the deliveries done by the
>Lorries/trucks which are generally powered by the more economical
>diesel engines, as well as all the Busses????
How many of these much publicised deaths have ‘car pollution’ on the death certificate?
Once again it is the car haters, (sadly which now seems most political parties), using junk science/outright lies, just hating the individual freedom of choice car travel brings and so wish us to either travel by public transport with its very limited destinations and strict timetables or cycle for those that are fit enough to do so.
With VED now based on CO2 output, this means petrol cars which produce more CO2 will cost more to tax and of course consume much more fuel, hence a nice ‘win’ for the Treasury!
British industry? ??? All foreign owned
Its not fair to owners of newer diesel cars that they should see the value drop and banning all diesel cars
by 2025 is daft stupid policy from loony parties who would have us all riding bikes and eating lettuce.
Following advice & encouragement from the authorities (Including government) I finally committed to Diesel 8 years ago. I now drive a Jaguar XF 2.7D and on a recent journey across the country and back I averaged 45.6 MPG. My car sailed through the MOT with extremely low emission.
I recently read about urine cleaning up the by using Blue DEF. The system is currently being fitted to new cars.
Can mine be converted to this system?
Anything to stop the politicians using my essential, daily motoring as an excuse for hiking the price of diesel fuel would be welcomed.
But a lot are made here plus car sales garages and parts distributors.
I have a Landrover Discovery,I tow a trailer or transport a motorcycle on a rack, Have a lodge in Sussex. If I had to go petrol,it would have to be A V8 ,which would probably return about 15 MPG ,At the moment Im getting about 30 mpg so It seems to me I would use twice as much fuel.Thecost would be far to great and Just me would be using the world resourses twice as fast ! Also My wife runs A Volvo V40 2 litre diesel which returns over 50 mpg same would apply.
Unfortunatly what all the parties do not understand is that This country has to many people and to many cars .It seems to me that the only way to change anything is to TAX it ! This is not the answer. I must stop here as i could go on for hours.
PS dont worry diesel drivers The Lib dems Wont be running the Country.
Could you give us some comparative figures on pollution from diesel ang petrol engines and then we can base our opinions on facts.