ROME – Dieselgate second act? The ICCT, International Council on Clean Transportation, the non-profit organization that sparked the 2015 scandal involving the Volkswagen group, has taken the field again. And in a report on the evaluation of the excess emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) of European diesel cars, it has cast new, strong, shadows on the manufacturers. In Italy there are 2.6 million vehicles circulating with suspect levels of NOx, of which 1.9 with extreme levels of emissions, and with the almost certain use of a device for manipulating the emissions themselves. In the EU as a whole and in the UK, however, the ICCT estimates that there are 19 million vehicles in use with suspect emissions and 13 million with extreme emissions.
The analysis is based on test results and market surveillance interviews conducted by regulators to understand how many vehicle models may have prohibited defeat devices based on recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CGEU).
The focus is on Euro 5 and Euro 6 diesel cars produced before the adoption of real-life testing in 2017.
According to the ICCT surveys, suspicious NOx emission levels were found in 77% of the tests, with the probable use of a prohibited defeat device. Extreme levels of emissions were found, however, in 40% of the tests, and here the presence of a prohibited manipulation device is assumed to be “almost certain”.
In addition, more than 200 vehicle models tested show high NOx emissions, above the threshold defined as “suspected”. And 150 models show emissions above the “extreme” threshold. From 2009 to 2019, the ICCT points out, around 53 million Euro 5 and Euro 6 certified diesel cars were sold in Europe. Most of them are still in operation and continue to emit high levels of NOx.
Peter Mock, director general of the ICCT for Europe said that “it is difficult to dispute what is a large amount of data analyzed and tests collected from multiple sources. They all point in the same direction. After the rulings of the EU Court of Justice , these findings represent a solid body of evidence for authorities who need to investigate and potentially take remedial action to address the health risks posed by European diesel cars driving on our roads.”
A defeat device is a software code installed in the vehicle, used to alter or disable the emission control system under certain operating conditions. The use of defeat devices was at the center of the 2015 dieselgate scandal.
For Yoann Bernard, ICCT senior researcher, “the levels of emissions found in the tests offer a wide range of data to estimate the prevalence of prohibited defeat devices. We have found that the number of vehicles exceeding the extreme threshold is alarming and that should make us ask questions about the causes of these high emissions.”
For the ICCT, the problem of excess NOx emissions is common among car manufacturers. And the organization estimates that of the 53 million diesel cars sold in the EU, including the UK, from 2009 to 2019, 24 million were models showing ‘suspicious’ emissions in government tests and around 16 million were models showing levels of “extreme” emissions.