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Berlin (dpa) - Deutsche Umwelthilfe accuses Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) of doing too little to counteract excessive pollutant emissions from diesel vehicles.
The background to this is a measurement report presented on Wednesday by the Emissions Control Institute (EKI) affiliated with Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), in which the exhaust gas values of several diesel vehicle models were examined.
The EKI found in the report that the 15 vehicles examined under normal driving conditions sometimes exceeded the permitted nitrogen oxide limit by 18 times.
The DUH complains that the emission of climate-damaging carbon dioxide is sometimes too high.
In one of the plug-in hybrids examined, the CO2 emissions were 440 percent above the officially permitted value.
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The investigation has also shown that especially in diesel cars with the Euro 5 and Euro 6 emissions standard, pollutant emissions increase when the outside temperature drops.
As a reason for this, the environmental aid cites temperature-controlled shutdown devices in the vehicles, which it believes cause inadmissible air pollution.
A shutdown device is software that suspends the full emission control of a vehicle in some situations.
There are conditions under which it has so far been absolutely permissible - for example to protect sensitive components at low temperatures.
One then speaks of thermal windows.
Many environmentalists criticize this as a loophole.
They think that the argument “engine protection” is often just put forward - actually, the point is to justify exceptions to emission limit values.
However, a distinction has to be made: Intentionally operated, manipulative shutdown devices can technically ensure that measured values are embellished during tests - this was the origin of the VW scandal.
In addition, there has long been a debate about the legal gray areas of “normal” shutdown devices, which take effect at certain outside temperatures for reasons of engine protection.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210414-99-201504 / 2