German car makers may have to gear up to face any action that regulatory authorities may take against hazardous car emissions. Recently, European Commission’s anti-trust department conducted raids at the BMW Headquarters to ascertain the car maker’s compliance with required emission standards. Even though a formal case hasn’t been registered against BMW, the car maker has been accused of colluding with its German rivals for installing AdBlue tanks that are smaller than the stipulated size.
Basically, an AdBlue tank is a urea solution tank that helps to curb the emission of oxides in the atmosphere. Der Spiegel, the German newspaper, had earlier accused BMW and other German car makers of colluding to cut costs by deploying smaller AdBlue tanks. Authorities at BMW have refuted the claims and they have stated that they will be lending their full cooperation to the investigation. BMW has asserted that their diesel cars utilize a special catalytic converter that contains NOx emissions. Hence, the size of the AdBlue tank relates to the solution consumed rather than the amount of oxides emitted.
The current round of investigation might be one of the many government measures that will soon be implemented in countries that are fighting tooth and nail to curb air pollution. Previously, the US Government had penalized Volkswagen with a fine of $2.8 billion for manipulating the greenhouse gas emission tests. In fact, countries like UK have already affirmed their seriousness to phase out diesel cars for cutting down carbon emissions. The French Government plans to bring in electric cars by 2040 while Norway wants to all its vehicles to run on ‘green energy’ by 2025.
And UAE might be the first country in the Gulf to reduce dependency on diesel car because there are signs that the region is slowly moving towards electric as well as hybrid cars. Tesla, the manufacturer of electric cars, has already launched its showroom in Dubai and recharging points are being installed at various places.
