DieselGate means VW should switch to PHEV or BEV’s says Robert Llewellyn

Is the only way Volkswagen can repair its image is to completely erase Diesel engines from its car line-up, and to completely switch to plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles? That’s what Robert Llewellyn says in this rant. Why is his opinion important? In addition to being an actor, TV show host, and comedian, what’s important at this moment is his years of work under the “Fully Charged” brand name exploring vehicle emissions, electric vehicles and clean energy. He is something of a hero to those of us who’ve been promoting electric vehicles ourselves.

As he says, Volkswagen lied to all of US … “conned us” … by claiming these TDI Diesel’s were ultra clean wonder-cars, when in fact they were nearly as bad as the old school dirty diesels. The lie was told to the EPA, CARB and other regulatory agencies. Those agencies then awarded Volkswagen with green car awards, prominence in publications about clean vehicles, and even government subsidies. In other words, those agencies repeated Volkswagen’s lie by telling us their vehicles were so clean.

Why did Diesel cars become so popular in England? (now 55% of all cars) It was seen by the government as higher fuel efficiency, less CO2 emissions, and the fuel is cheaper because it’s easier to produce. However, most of that has now been disproved.

About the Author
Latest Posts

About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.