The VW Scandal: Go Green Hilliard’s Take

There has been plenty of ink spilled on the Volkswagen scandal since the story broke in September. But being a self-confessed car nut, I thought it’d be worth putting in my own two cents with regard to what the story means for Volkswagen diesel owners, diesel cars in general, and the automotive industry as a whole.

U.S. owners should sit tight (for now)

Volkswagen (and Audi) owners can use their VIN number to check if their car is affected here.

Although Germany has already ordered a recall of approximately 2.4 million affected vehicles (which extends to 8.5 million vehicles across the EU), no such recall order has yet been issued in the US. When the recall does eventually arrive on our shores, most owners can expect the “fix” to take the form of a software upgrade. For some models, however, owners may be required to install a larger catalytic converter.

Either way, the fix will be required to bring vehicles into compliance with NOx emissions standards. This is generally a good thing, as NOx is associated with adverse respiratory effects including airway inflammation in healthy people and increased respiratory symptoms in people with asthma.  However, owners should be warned that the fix will likely result in blunted performance from their engine, and possibly decreased fuel economy.

A reminder to look upon “official” mpg (or emissions) numbers with suspicion

It’s worth noting that the Volkswagen scandal differs from the all too common phenomenon of cars performing worse in real-world conditions than in the official tests.

The “MPG gap,” as it’s sometimes known, has long been an issue. For example, back in 2013, Consumer Reports tested several hybrid models and found that official EPA numbers were up to 24% higher than those encountered in “real-world” conditions.

Generally, this phenomenon occurs because the engineers that design the cars know the test conditions ahead of time. This allows engineers to specifically design cars to operate at maximum efficiency in test conditions. Compounding the problem is that those test conditions do not necessarily correlate well with “real-world” experience. For example, tests generally involve gentle acceleration and low top speeds. And for hybrids (and especially plug-in hybrids), the problem is even more complicated because the amount of time spent in electric mode greatly influences overall fuel economy.

The VW scandal differs from these examples in that it isn’t simply about designing a car to run efficiently under pre-defined test conditions. Here, even if a real-world driver was to mirror test conditions by accelerating gently and sticking to low speeds, the real-world driver would not be able achieve the advertised emissions numbers because the car would not be in its “test mode.” Notably, this VW test mode cannot be activated by a button inside the cockpit, as opposed to many modern cars that come with an “eco mode” available to the driver.

Diesel isn’t dead (yet)

Although it should be, if you believe Tesla founder Elon Musk.

Diesel has long been pushed in Europe because of its lower CO2 emissions and improved fuel economy. However, as this scandal illustrates, NOx emissions remain a significant issue, even with the advent of so-called “clean diesel” technology.

That said, despite Musk’s suggestion that this scandal proves EVs are the future, hybrid and electric vehicles still have their own challenges to overcome. Chief amongst those challenges are the car’s batteries. Range, charge time, reliability, and production capacity are all significant challenges that the industry must meet before EVs are as common as internal combustion engines.

Regardless of one’s choice of fuel, however, it seems worth a reminder that reducing the number of trips, driving smoothly, and properly maintaining vehicles over time will always help the environment…