Photo: Mercedes-Benz Portland
The current Volkswagen dieselgate scandal shows yet another side of the way policies are written and enforced. The German manufacturer cheated on its pollution tests to claim that its diesel models were cleaner than they actually were.
Did they do it out of pure malevolence? Hardly. They did it probably out of desperation, trying to still sell cars and abide the law at the same time. Of course, the whole thing backfired when the EPA showed that their products released up to 40 times more toxic fumes into the atmosphere than they should’ve. What did we learn?
First of all, diesels are not a solution. No matter what manufacturers try, they can’t change the character of the combustion process these engines have and the residues they release into the atmosphere. The alternative? Plug-in hybrids.
Mercedes already has a plan to phase out diesels entirely, replacing them with plug-in hybrids but for this endeavor to work, they’ll need to do something about the batteries they are using.
At the moment, they are far too big and too heavy to be profitable, offering too little range. That’s probably why Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche talked about ‘commonalities’ between automakers, some of them regarding the stringent laws they have to abide inside the EU.
He also said that he can imagine his company working together with BMW and Audi in trying to find better battery technology shortly. That wouldn’t be a first in terms of collaborations between the German trio.
They recently purchased Nokia’s mapping giant, HERE Maps for a rumored $2.8 billion, to try and improve their own navigation systems. If they were able to share that success, why not try again on a bigger scale? After all, better batteries would be beneficial to everyone, from manufacturers to customers and even the competition.
In the meantime, Daimler signed a deal with Nissan and Ford to speed up the development of hydrogen fuel-cell technology. But even this alternative needs good batteries to work with.
First of all, diesels are not a solution. No matter what manufacturers try, they can’t change the character of the combustion process these engines have and the residues they release into the atmosphere. The alternative? Plug-in hybrids.
Mercedes already has a plan to phase out diesels entirely, replacing them with plug-in hybrids but for this endeavor to work, they’ll need to do something about the batteries they are using.
At the moment, they are far too big and too heavy to be profitable, offering too little range. That’s probably why Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche talked about ‘commonalities’ between automakers, some of them regarding the stringent laws they have to abide inside the EU.
He also said that he can imagine his company working together with BMW and Audi in trying to find better battery technology shortly. That wouldn’t be a first in terms of collaborations between the German trio.
They recently purchased Nokia’s mapping giant, HERE Maps for a rumored $2.8 billion, to try and improve their own navigation systems. If they were able to share that success, why not try again on a bigger scale? After all, better batteries would be beneficial to everyone, from manufacturers to customers and even the competition.
In the meantime, Daimler signed a deal with Nissan and Ford to speed up the development of hydrogen fuel-cell technology. But even this alternative needs good batteries to work with.
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