Dozens of other clean-energy executives signed a letter to the California Air Resources Board, arguing that a “giant sum of money” will be wasted attempting to fix cars “that cannot all be fixed,” and drivers may simply decline to bring their cars in for a fix that reduces performance.
“Instead, direct VW to accelerate greatly its rollout of zero-emission vehicles, which by their very nature, have zero emissions and thus present zero opportunities for cheating, and also do not require any enforcement dollars to verify,” the letter reads.
Euro-spec vehicles appear to be receiving relatively inexpensive and straightforward refits, ranging from a software revision to a ‘flow transformer‘ component upstream from the mass airflow sensor. US limits for nitrogen oxides are much lower than in Europe, suggesting the company will have to implement a much more extensive — and expensive — hardware modification to bring cars into compliance with EPA regulations.
“Retrofitting urea tank systems to small cars is costly and impractical,” Musk writes. “Some cars may be fixed, but many won’t and will be crushed before they are fixed.”
The US recalls are expected to cost VW billions, though specific details have not yet been announced. In any case, Musk claims the money would be better spent on development of electric vehicles, with an estimated “10 for one or greater reduction in pollutant emissions as compared to the pollution associated with the diesel fleet.”
The letter also serves as an argument against diesel engines in general, claiming that the technology has already reached its reasonable peak in terms of practical emissions mitigation.
“Unsurprisingly, and despite having the greatest research and development program in diesel engines, VW had to cheat to meet current European and US standard,” Musk concludes. “In contrast to the punishments and recalls being considered, this proposal would be a real win for California emissions, a big win for California jobs, and a historic action to help derail climate change.”
The executive points to the 1990s diesel truck cheating scandal as a precedent for such a resolution. Rather than requiring an interim recall, the EPA simply moved up its schedule for implementing tighter emissions regulations. The example isn’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison, however, as the truck fiasco involved all major diesel engine manufacturers and the companies still had to collectively pay $1 billion in penalties.
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