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The emissions debate - when will other vehicles be included?

When - in the emotive debate about diesel emissions - will the words "agricultural machinery", "shipping", "railway locomotives" and (heaven forbid) "LORRIES" start to figure? Have you seen them mentioned in the press? I haven't.

An aquaintance is one driver on a trans-continental rig that does around 150,000 miles a year (some do more) at an average of less than 10mpg using around 1,500 GALLONS a year - equal to about 10 cars. And there are lots of HGVs - all are diesel! There should be an "equal" debate on the matter - not just bash the car owner. Again thanks for the excellent newsletter.

PS Your reply to the person who wants to hand back his 5 month old diesel car was magic! Remind me never to ask you a stupid question!

Asked on 29 September 2015 by Red Spinner

Answered by Honest John
Diesel trucks bring us everything we live on, so get rid of them and almost all of us will die. They have had SCR systems and DPFs for years. The DPFs last about 80,000 miles before the ash needs to be cleaned out. In some countries some diesel trucks are run on CNG, but this requires a cage of about 20 gas cylinders behind the cab to give enough range and is not practical enough to be used by every truck. Besides which, there wouldn't be enough CNG.
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