Volkswagon’s Campaign for ‘Clean Diesel’ | Hacker News Reader

Volkswagon’s Campaign for ‘Clean Diesel’

nytimes.com

32 pointsfmihaila15 comments

This is just the same theme that any big lobbying industry will use. Tobacco, oil, Pharma, agriculture, Auto, you name it. They all do the same. Sponsor some research that either questions or contradicts anything negative to the industry, while hopefully producing some industry specific positive studies. A friend of mine is doing his PhD on this. This isn’t small business or trivial / niche research. This tactic runs and controls all top US universities (MIT, Stanford, Harvard), or at least the critical departments he looked in-depth at.

Ironically “controversial” researchers will also get disproportionate media coverage, as media tries to find pro and against statements. Thankfully the worst researchers have started being branded as evil. A lot more to be done though...

What is the point of subjecting macaque monkeys to diesel exhaust fumes?

Don't we already know that diesel fumes are harmful, wouldn't it be enough to measure the concentration various compounds / particles?

The EPA also conducted unethical studies on diesel exhaust.

https://www.scribd.com/document/215909101/EPA-Human-Study-Su...

Might want to change that to Volkswagen

Yeah, I submitted it with the original title (used the bookmarklet). It doesn’t let me edit it now.

How does one summon the moderators to correct the title?

I'd grab a stick of chalk and some goat's blood.

You're better off bringing up gender and tech politics to get that.

paywall

Thank goodness for those people that worked to uncover the diesel scandal, also thank goodness for the efforts of Tesla in changing the automobile market. These old auto manufacturers have the option to sell people nice new electric cars instead of taking the 'tobacco/lead-in-petrol' route.

The Tesla Roadster went on sale in 2008, so I'll give them that. Though the Nissan Leaf went on sale in 2011, prior to the Model S, and was/is still 1/2 the price. I credit Nissan with producing something for the 99%.

I always thought the VW (diesel) Rabbit pickups were neat. A 50 MPG truck back in the late 70s. I was considering a modern VW diesel wagon, until the scandal. I love my EV though, so no more diesel. Clean diesels have too much emissions crap on them to be reliable.

I just wish Nissan wasn't so stingy with the battery. A nice 200+ mile battery with truly fast-charging would be truly awesome.

Nissan already uses Chademo, which is partially compatible with the Supercharger in Teslas, so they should be able to partner with Tesla and access the Supercharger network.

Looks like 2019 will have the 60 kWh battery, so 200+ miles. They may beat Tesla, given the rate of Model 3 production.

You might be interested in the Chevy Bolt and the Tesla Model 3; the 2019 Leaf is going to have a bigger battery.

Yes, the Bolt is good and the Model 3 is ideal.

And good to hear that the 2019 Leaf will (according to leaked info) have an option for 200+mi range and 100kW fast charging. Now, if only they get access to the Supercharger network, this will be a very interesting vehicle as it'll be the first one truly competitive with the Model 3 (the 50kW of the Bolt isn't fast enough, and it uses a different charging standard which is not at all compatible with the extensive Supercharger network).

...but I'm worried that the base 2019 Leaf still has a sub-200 mile battery and only 50kW charging. That makes it a pain to do long-distance travel. (Still fantastic for a second car, though, as is the older Leaf.)

2018 leaf has a 150 mile battery. 2019 leaf is supposed to have a 200 mile battery.

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