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In the ad, Volkswagen claimed that it makes “all-electric cars with zero driving emissions”. However, the complainants, who have not been named by the ASAI, argued that every car emits tyre particles and brake pad particles.
Responding to the complaint, Volkswagen told the ASAI that the term “emissions”, when used in the context of car advertising, was “widely accepted and understood by consumers to refer to emissions emanating directly from the source of power of the vehicle”. In petrol and diesel cars, that meant exhaust emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which battery-powered vehicles did not emit.
However, the carmaker added that it wanted to promote transparency on the topic of emissions, so it pledged to include a disclaimer alongside any claim of “zero driving emissions”in future advertisements. This disclaimer would clarify that driving emissions referred to exhaust emissions.
The ASAI said it considered this to be an appropriate response. It said its complaints committee ”considered that consumers’ understanding of the claim would generally relate to tailpipe emissions”. However, “it was, as an unqualified claim, not correct and had the potential to mislead”.
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The ASAI said that where “zero driving emissions” claims are made, appropriate disclaimers should be linked to these claims, and it urged advertisers to take care when making absolute claims in marketing communications. The watchdog confined itself to issuing this advice, stopping short of upholding the complaint.
The ID.4, an SUV with a €44,000 price tag, has been by far the bestselling new electric car in Ireland since 2021. Almost 2,000 were sold in the first five months of this year, according to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry. It is also the most popular car on Done Deal.
Tyre wear and tear is a significant source of harmful particulate pollution in the environment. It contributes to microplastic pollution of rivers and seas, while the smallest particles become airborne and can be breathed in.
Earlier this year, researchers at Imperial College London warned that even though electric vehicles removed the problem of fuel emissions, six million tonnes of tyre pollution released globally each year remained to be addressed. Because electric vehicles tend to be heavier, this might result in increased tyre wear.
The ASAI has received several complaints about carmakers’ environmental claims in recent years, upholding complaints against firms including Toyota and Land Rover. Last year, it upheld another complaint against Volkswagen in relation to its marketing of the ID.3 and ID.4, after the carmaker described these as “carbon neutral” in a radio advertisement.
The complainant said electric cars were not carbon neutral when charged using electricity generated from fossil fuels and the ASAI concluded there was “no guarantee” the vehicles would be carbon neutral while being charged.
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Tyres are the issue here. I’d be more concerned that they’re allowed to say zero emissions when the electricity that’s powering the car is coming from burning gas, which certainly isn’t zero emissions.
@James Groden: The transition should start from somewhere. EV owners have done their bit – car is zero emission. It is up to electricity producers to change now.
@Dan Dare: Sometimes facts sound like conspiracy theories. EVs do use regenerative braking nearly all the time sending the car’s energy back in the battery and not to the brake pads. The same ID.4 has enclosed drum breaks at the back and they are expected to last the life of the car for the exactly the same reason.
But if you have a conspiracy theory….
Nearly half of the population of the world is in Asia, but they aren’t made to go along with this climate “con”. And, much of the pollution worldwide comes from Asia. The “climate crisis” con is tied to the colonizing and conquering of Western Europe, U.S., and Canda. It is “reparations extortion”, and a race war/Holy War weapon by 3rd world nations upon 1st world Caucasian Christian nations. The “con” is meant to bleed the assets of 1st World Caucasian Christian nations, and was concocted by Mossad.
@Elio Borza: what would they use if not the current types of trye? Genuine question, I’m not familiar with the options. I 100% agree tyres are not good for the environment.
There is no such thing as a zero emissions car as the manufacturing process alone creates a lot, however overall its still LESS emissions overall which is good. My concern is how expensive are these cars going to be in the future? With a loss of tax revenue from petrol/diesel sales in what way will the govt tax cars going forward? I could see huge car taxes coming down the road or possibly some way of clocking up tax on electricity used to “fill up”.
@Dave Mercedes2: yes. Because there is nothing a government loves more than making people lock down where they can’t gather taxes from them meanwhile having to spend extra billions on welfare and other services.
Tyre and brake particles are not emissions and they also occur on most modern bicycles. Whoever started the complaint should be publicised as wasting people’s time.
If they are using brake and tyre particles as the reason for the objections, they really are scraping the bottom of the barrel, as that is a common particle source across all vehicles regardless of power source type, (even though regenerative braking would generate less than when the proper brakes do get applied). We all know when car manufacturers make zero emissions claims it only concerns the car itself on the road, in terms of where the energy to turn the drive is stored and how it is released. These kind of objections actually take from the proper debate about how the energy used to propel an electric car is generated, and whether if oil is used to generate said energy, is it still zero emissions as if the car does not use it, something else will or does it go to waste if no draw on it while the oil is being burned to turn the generator.
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