Enrico De Vita, one of the most experienced automotive journalists, was the guest of the programme "A conti fatti", hosted by Giuliano Giulianini and broadcast on Vatican Radio.
The subject, much debated in this period, concerned the concentric attack on the diesel engine, which seems to be destined to be the scapegoat of several administrations unable to address and solve the problem of pollution.
De Vita, just as many of his illustrious colleagues (see some of their speeches at the bottom of this page) have failed to listen, has defended the most recent diesel engines with various arguments.
"From 2004 onward - he said - the diesel engine has become cleaner than gasoline engines which, instead, at the exhaust always have a marked problem: that is, a high emission of unburned hydrocarbons when you press the accelerator thoroughly. In fact, in order not to burn the valves and to cool them down, we have always used a technique that has not yet been abandoned: the enrichment - even 20% - of combustion by adding excess gasoline. And it is for this reason that, just these days, it becomes imperative a rule that requires even petrol engines to introduce a particulate filter. In conclusion, we can say that at present, in diesel engines remains a very mild enemy, the oxides of nitrogen, harmless to humans, only a little 'irritating, while in the petrol engine remain unburned hydrocarbons that are potentially carcinogenic and dangerous.
With regard to the decision of several European and even Italian regions to completely block the use of diesel engines up to Euro 4, De Vita stated that: "It is an own goal of Europe against its industry and against the common rail. Europe shared the US battle against diesel NOx, which probably originated in the US for commercial reasons, and ended up suffocating a prestigious creature of its own, diesel, in the cradle. But, banning diesel from the city, it does damage to the environment, to the pockets of the citizen and also to the future of the planet. This is because the diesel engine has CO2 emissions 25-30% lower than all other endothermic engines, whether petrol, natural gas or LPG: it is therefore the main tool to contain CO2 emissions, accused of causing global warming. Europe has decided to limit the circulation of all diesel up to Euro 4, almost all equipped with particulate filters, ignoring the fact that these already represent a high standard of sustainability. Diesel, from Euro 4 onward, not only should not be banned, but should be welcomed and given preference over petrol engines.
Giulianini then asked him if it was right to immediately eliminate the diesel, or wait a little longer since it will be a mandatory decision and De Vita replied: "All fossil fuels, and especially liquid ones, are destined to disappear because of exhaustion. However, to believe that it is necessary to make the diesel disappear to replace it with electric cars, today, is definitely premature. The electric car, for its production, requires a quantity of CO2 - additional to that necessary for a traditional car - emitted at the time of producing the batteries, which will be amortized during the use of the car only in 30-40 thousand kilometers. So, for the first 30-40 thousand kilometers of operation of an electric car, the Planet goes into debt. In Brussels, European standards tend to favour new technologies, and they do not pay rational attention to what can still be preserved: and which is called the circular economy.
For example: if we scrap three million diesel cars in Piedmont together with Lombardy and Emilia, we practically throw into the landfill a gigantic amount of electricity - equal to 25 thousand kilowatt hours - used for the production of each of these cars. If we were to produce these cars again, whether electric or with any other engine, to sell them and replace those we scrap, we would have to spend a gigantic amount of energy: three million new cars require 75 billion kWh. This is a crazy thing... We cannot afford, today, to do this shopping just for the sake of praising the technology of the future: the electric car, which is still not certain, nor guaranteed; nor, above all, does it make us independent of the Chinese industry, which owns the technology for manufacturing lithium batteries, cobalt, palladium and rare earths. Cobalt is used in the electrodes of lithium batteries to reduce charging time; rare earths, like neodymium, are used in electric motors to have a high efficiency, or like lithium, for batteries ... If we accept the technology of electric car battery, we will almost certainly have a future of subjection to industry and the Chinese economy. Let's face it: are we so rich that we can afford to spend our energy at home, and pay for the technologies that we will buy from Eastern Asian countries?
I hope you enjoyed this article and have been very helpful! Thanks for your attention! Subscribe to the channel!
