Beef up emissions testing, EU urged after VW scandal

Germany's environment minister is urging tougher emissions testing throughout the European Union in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal by Volkswagen AG.

In a paper on the ministry website, Barbara Hendricks says Germany and the rest of the EU have to act quickly to implement real-world testing and call automakers to account.

• Toyota wants to virtually eliminate gas engines by 2050
• VW's personal betrayal a sad lesson in business morality: Don Pittis

Volkswagen faces investigations by regulators in Germany and several other EU countries after admitting its diesel cars are installed with engine software that turns on emissions controls during testing conditions, but turns them off during real-world driving.

Diesel engines typically emit less carbon dioxide than regular gasoline engines, but they also emit nitrogen oxides, which cause smog and respiratory problems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Association found Volkswagens may have been emitting more than the legal limit of NOx for the past seven years.

• U.S. regulators probe whether Volkswagens have 2nd cheat device
• Volkswagen facing 'tsunami' of legal trouble in emissions scandal

Hendricks said diesel cars are threatened unless regulations are demanding enough to prove they  truly cause less pollution.

"Companies have to learn they can't escape the necessity of environmental protection in the long term," Hendricks said. She said consumers would reject vehicles in future that cannot be proven to be clean.

Urges more electric cars

She even recommended laws that would allow cities to keep diesel cars that violate emissions standards off the streets, a measure that could affect unrepaired VW diesel cars currently on the roads.

"It is a bitter irony of the Volkswagen scandal that the penalties threatening the company could have financed the market introduction of several million electric vehicles," she said, recommending faster development of affordable electric vehicles.

The German government is considering incentives for the purchase of electric cars.

The auto sector in the EU has pushed back against real-world testing for NOx emissions.

European government officials met last week to try to get agreement on the introduction of real-world measurements of NOx emissions.

They settled on beginning testing next year, with enforcement beginning in September 2017, with some leeway between emissions in the lab and on the road. By 2019, vehicles would have to fully comply with the 80 mg per kilometre limit on nitrogen oxide emissions.

Hendricks has recommended independent tests should be conducted by authorities but manufacturers would have to pay for them.

Probe into VW's 2016 diesels

In the meantime, VW is submitting additional information to the EPA and California emissions regulators about its 2016 diesel models, which have a second device that reduces emission cleanup.

The 2016 diesel models have as an auxiliary emissions control device, a piece of software that is legal if approved by regulators and can help improve the car's performance in cold weather or going up hills.

"This has the function of a warmup strategy which is subject to approval by the agencies," said Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan. "The agencies are currently evaluating this and Volkswagen is submitting additional information."

The EPA and California Air Resources Board are investigating "the nature and purpose" of additional software on the new VW models, said Janet McCabe, acting assistant EPA administrator for air quality.

 "We have a long list of questions for VW about this," McCabe said, adding that they have not yet determined whether this is another "cheat device"  meant to foil emissions testing.