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I've been at the Commercial Vehicle show this week and have had a number of discussions with various representatives of the major Motor manufacturers about a variety of topics on behalf of my clients. Ill probably raise separate topics for them if I get time. One of the main ones that I didn't get a satisfactory answer to considers emissions. During the show, there were a number of speakers punting messages purveyed by the government and from environmentalists, if you just walked into these "seminars" with a totally clear mind and no preconceptions, you would leave with the clear message that Diesel has to go, Diesel is Dirty, Diesel is killing our children etc etc. Whilst I am fully in concert with the need to reduce emissions , I wondered why Diesel is the concentration. Although the government has said it wants to ban new IC engines by 2030, almost always they refer to Diesels. During the show I challenged a number of people to tell me why the SMMT had published a document showing that current Euro 6 diesel vehicles had between 25 and 34% cleaner emissions than the comparable diesel. The answers usually centered around a comment such as "you are making an incorrect comparison between the old NEDC measurement and the new WLTP" , so I decided to check for myself (I've done a bout 2 dozen different vehicles this morning) I've attached a file which represents a current 2019 model Sportage (only because Ive actually tested this myself), but all that I checked gave the same sort of result. Considering most people only Talk about CO2 and particulates ill just mention those, but as you will see from the file, Particulates for the Petrol 1.48 mg/km for the Diesel 0.31 mg/km , IE petrol is considerably higher. CO2 (using NEDC figures) Petrol 162 g/km Diesel 129 g/km and for the WLTP figure Petrol 183 g/km , Diesel 158 g/km , so again Petrol is considerably higher. Diesels do appear to produce more NoX , and the figures for Petrol and Diesel are still close. What about Hydrocarbons , Im not a chemist , so anyone who can enlighten me Id like to hear from. So what do you think are we being conned.......again. Book1.pdf

I may be taking the van into the emission zone in a couple of months and have just done some research. I thought that I would have to pay a daily charge based on the emissions of my car so wanted to learn the procedure and cost. It seems that: (unless I have misunderstood the rules). I don't need to register as my car is already registered with the DVLA Despite being a medium sized 4x4 my car complies. I can tow a caravan. I imagine that people already have experience of this, and/or live in the area, does anyone know if my assumptions correct? John