A 2016 New York Times article recounting the history of our relationship with diesel, from its invention in the 1800s to Volkswagen’s ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, concluded that the notion of clean diesel was “an oxymoron”.
Exhaust from diesel engines contains harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and soot particles. Although governments from the late 1990s onwards encouraged their uptake, in the belief that they were more environmentally friendly than petrol/gasoline equivalents, it has since been argued that diesel cars produce more than four times as much pollution.
For the automotive sector, the solution was the introduction of regulations to discourage the use of diesel vehicles, while accelerating the uptake of electric alternatives. For commercial vehicles, however, it is not so simple. Despite all the bad publicity diesel has attracted in recent years, there is simply nothing that can match this fuel for its energy density, reliability and durability...