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Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, cipalities. “The problem will persist in the need to convert bus fleets in par-
to take measures to ensure air could be many cities, whether diesels are there ticular, which had to be converted and
cleaned, and human health protected. or not”, remarked Gerd Landsberg, Chief modified for the depots.
The affected German cities and munici- Executive of the city and municipal asso- The Deputy of the State Parliament and
palities are now under massive pressure ciation, in a round table discussion on the Minister of Economics of Baden- Würt tem-
to act. This has sparked a discussion over German radio station Deutschlandradio [4]. berg, Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, want
potential entry restrictions for vehicles For one thing, the road traffic is far from to see an end to what they deem “subjec-
which fail to meet the limit values under the only culprit: “it is partly the shipping tive diesel bashing”. “What we need is
real-world driving conditions. traffic, and there are drifts which differ not blame-mongering but constructive
considerably from one city to the next”, dialogue to help make the vehicle-emis-
stated Landsberg. He wants to highlight sions debate more objective and meet
BAN ON INCOMING DIESEL
VEHICLES IN GERMAN CITIES a point that is currently being overlooked our responsibilities for employees nation-
amid the media “diesel bashing”: traffic wide and the forward-looking industry,
It remains to be seen whether retrofitting also generates fine dust, almost inde- while also addressing concerns over the
will achieve sufficient results to ward off pendently of the drive system. Namely, environment and sustainability”, said
the threat of entry bans for diesel vehicles. such factors include turbulence and Hoffmeister-Kraut in an interview [6]. To
Industry experts are sceptical, especially abrasion from road surfaces as well as ensure the public can remain
when the issue of a hardware interven- wear and tear on tyres and brakes [5]. mobile, they are not entertaining further
tion arises. Applying a motor is a highly These emissions are also generated by discussions on traffic restrictions such as
sensitive task, with the systems involved “local emission-free” electric vehicles. drive-in bans or a city toll. Instead, the
fine-tuned to each other. If the exceeding But Landsberg raised another prob- levers include intelligent traffic control,
of the limit values were to continue and lem: the problem would not go away, increased expansion of public transport,
thus put driving bans on the agenda, because many of the vehicles, such as road infrastructure and car sharing. “To
excluding these diesel cars would not those used for deliveries, would not be make a switch to alternative mobility
necessarily be cause for celebration on eligible for retrofitting in the event of options feasible [...], they have to be sig-
the part of the affected cities and muni- any doubt. Another problem involved nificantly improved”, she admits.

2 QUESTIONS FOR …

MTZ _ The issue of whether to ban incoming more quickly. But this should only be
vehicles with diesel engines is currently a hot done as a last resort. It would be prefer-
talking point. What is your view? able to upgrade diesel vehicles via soft-
KRAUTZBERGER _ There is an urgent need ware updates or retrofit them with
to clean the air in cities so that municipal-
modern, well-functioning exhaust gas
© The UBA Umweltbundesamt for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and protect I clearly see the pressure car manufac-
aftertreatment systems. Here, however,
ities can meet EU-wide air quality limits
turers will face – particularly in terms of
the health of the citizens living there. In
costs incurred.
2016, the annual average NO 2 limit was
exceeded at 57 % of inner-city measure-
defined in Europe will be infeasible
Among the main culprits are the Euro 5
unless modern diesel engines are used.
and Euro 6 diesel vehicles. On average, a
Maria Krautzberger ment points near traffic in Germany. German carmakers warn that fleet targets
President of the Euro 5 diesel engine emits about 45 times Diesel vehicles are not necessarily
German Federal Environment Agency
more nitrogen oxide than an equivalent required for climate protection – or at
standard gasoline engine, and a present- least are not currently doing much to
day Euro 6 diesel still 25 times as much. help. This is because manufacturers are
At highly polluted locations, even if increasingly relying on heavier and more
future RDE diesel passenger cars are used, powerful cars, for which more efficient
compliance with air quality limits will, diesel engines are used. In 2015, newly
realistically, not happen until after 2025. registered gasoline- and diesel-engined
Imposing a ban on incoming vehicles cars generated an identical CO 2 average
would keep diesel cars with high nitro- equivalent to 129 g/km. Therefore, talk
gen oxide emissions out of inner cities of diesel as a means of rescuing the
and bring cleaner cars onto the market climate is out of the question.
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