To Be or Not to Be …? Part III: Diesel versus Electrically Powered Cars

Abstract

X5 and 335d model diesel cars built by Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG) between 2009 and 2011 were sued in a USA court in New Jersey for creating more pollution on the roads than in laboratory tests. BMW AG used testing methods similar to those admitted to by Volkswagen AG for cheating authorities (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-27/bmw-sued-for-install ing-defeat-devices-in-us diesel cars) [1]. Other manufacturers of diesel driven cars, for example, Ford Motor Co., Mercedes-Benz, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, General Motors Co., and Volkswagen, have also produced diesel driven cars with higher levels of environmental pollution caused by sulfur oxides and NOx in exhaust gasses than is permissible. These companies have also met with similar problems and legal accusations. Was all this only the fault of the diesel car manufacturers, or was it perhaps a well-prepared attempt to discredit the diesel cars as they are or maybe the diesel motor as it is? Was it an attempt to favor the electric driven cars by undermining the manufacturers of diesel driving cars, and even possibly by undermining all manufacturers of cars driven by internal combustion engines (ICEs)? Diesel driven vehicles as a type of motor driven means are very powerful and economical and can be environmentally cleaner than other motor driven media, including electrically driven vehicles, if the total pollution produced by such vehicles is taken into account. The total manufacturing pollution from motor driven means, the handling, and the production of the driving force (e.g., benzene, kerosene, gasoline, diesel, and electricity) should all be taken into account. The environmental safety of the utilization of motor driven means and parts thereof after such vehicles have been decommissioned is also a very important consideration. The health hazards and environmental safety associated with the production, handling, and decommissioning must be considered as significant factors in the ranking of motor driven vehicles as a contributor to environmental pollution and health hazards.