Diesel vehicles less polluting than some hybrid cars – ‘cleaner than petrols’
Some hybrid vehicles are worse than diesel cars for some harmful emissions, new research has revealed.
Channel 4’s Dispatches programme has discovered that certain groups of potentially harmful pollutants are worse in some new hybrid cars than some new diesels. Hybrids are the most popular form of electric vehicle in the UK, accounting for nearly a quarter of all new car registrations in September 2021.
Mild hybrids (MHEV) which use diesel have seen a 79.6 percent increase in registrations since 2020, while petrol MHEVs saw a 184.1 percent jump.
Despite their growing popularity, new research has shown hybrids not to be as environmentally friendly as they appear.
Hybrids contain both an electric motor and a fuel tank, which makes the vehicle heavier and less efficient in terms of needing to fill up more often.
With an electric motor, hybrids can reduce exhaust emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.
However, volatile organic compounds – VOCs – are chemicals that are emitted as gases from some liquids including petrol and diesel.
At certain levels some VOCs can cause cancer or cause ground-level smog.
Dispatches worked with Emissions Analytics, a group of exhaust experts, to test emissions from nine cars: six hybrids which all use petrol, two diesels and one pure petrol car.
With an electric motor, hybrids can reduce exhaust emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.
However, volatile organic compounds – VOCs – are chemicals that are emitted as gases from some liquids including petrol and diesel.
At certain levels some VOCs can cause cancer or cause ground-level smog.
Dispatches worked with Emissions Analytics, a group of exhaust experts, to test emissions from nine cars: six hybrids which all use petrol, two diesels and one pure petrol car.
He said:
“It’s often a simplification when people look at emissions to say that electric is good and diesel is bad. In cold starts, VOCs for the electrified cars were often much higher than for diesels. And the diesels were even cleaner than the petrols.
The prevailing wisdom that electric cars are clean when it comes to VOCs it isn’t the case. The VOCs we found, like benzene and formaldehyde, are in notable quantities. We still require research into what quantities of VOCs are acceptable”
In response to the findings, the Department of Transport told Dispatches:
“We’re on course to become the first G7 nation to fully decarbonise cars and vans. Hybrid cars and vans have an important role to play to achieve our phase-out date and will only be allowed to be sold between 2030 and 2035 if they deliver significant zero emission capability.
By 2035 all new cars and vans will be zero emission at the tailpipe. Before 2035 we will continue to regulate emissions from non-electric vehicles.”
See more here: express.co.uk
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Howdy
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“By 2035 all new cars and vans will be zero emission at the tailpipe.”
Farce. Just like electrics now, the environmental, and personal devastation required to achieve this target will not be controlled, nor acknowledged. The end justifies the means, right?
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Left Coast
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The joke about the “Electric” Car is that the CO2 aka Karbon . . . is created in the manufacture of the battery and related components. When they EV is parked in the Showroom it has already a Massive Karbon Footprint, before it ever turns a wheel.
A similar sized gas vehicle has a much smaller footprint, you have to drive it for Years to equal the New EV.
Factor in the fact that as of yet there is NO PLAN to recycle these massive Toxic Batteries & you have a new Envirnomental disaster in the making. And I haven’t even talked about the mining, refining & child labor involved in the Rare Earths for the Battery & Motor.
Did I mention Oil is Abiotic, the second most common liquid on the Planet after Water . . . and will likely be with us forever . . .
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kaiwanshou
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How much fossil fuel does it take an e-car battery. Then are the e-car batteries recyclable. Apparently there’s a place in France where 1,000s of e-cars have been dumped, unable to be recycled.
I read somewhere that what it costs to make an e-car battery 4 petrol driven cars can be made and run for 4 years. When they banned lead fueled cars the level of toxicity in the atmosphere sky rocketed, but it’s invisible; out of sight out of mind. I am all for a return to lead in petrol because lead is so easily mined and it is a fantastic lubricant, and it can actually be recycled at the point of emission. Bio-Diesel can easily be made at home so that would be a direct threat to the oil cartels. My mate’s brother has been fueling his two Mercedes for 8 years with his home made bio-diesel and it’s safe too, meaning not volatile to make. Can you imagine BIG OIL allowing us to make our own? I can and I just saw a pig flying past my bedroom window!
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