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The Volkswagen ID.4 is the most popular electric car in Ireland Volkswagen

Watchdog warns about electric car 'zero emissions' claims

Volkswagen said it would include a disclaimer in future advertising if repeating the “zero driving emissions” claim.

THE ADVERTISING WATCHDOG has warned that marketing claims that battery-electric vehicles have “zero driving emissions” need to be explained.

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) was responding to a complaint about a television advertisement for Volkswagen’s ID.3 and ID.4 electric cars.

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”. 

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.

Volkswagen Ireland / YouTube

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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    Mute James Groden
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    Jun 14th 2023, 12:03 PM

    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.

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    Mute Nick Caffrey
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    Jun 14th 2023, 12:52 PM

    @James Groden: Read the article properly. That’s just what VW are saying.

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    Mute zot
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    Jun 14th 2023, 10:33 PM

    @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.

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    Mute Thomas Meaney
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    Jun 14th 2023, 11:13 AM

    Wow. Do people not have other things to do on their day?

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    Mute Dan Dare
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:48 PM

    @Thomas Meaney: Idle hands never get tired of making shocking claims.

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    Mute Finn H. Schoyen
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    Jun 14th 2023, 11:35 AM

    Tyre particles? Sure, an EV weighs more, but get purpose-made tyres, where the rubber compound is different, in order to mitigate this.

    As for brake pad particles: EVs actually emit less, due to many drivers using regenerative braking.

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    Mute Dan Dare
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:46 PM

    @Finn H. Schoyen: We don’t do facts here, but if you have a conspiracy theory?

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    Mute zot
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    Jun 14th 2023, 11:14 PM

    @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….

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    Mute Fi Wyse
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    Jun 14th 2023, 11:26 AM

    I was wondering how long this would take

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    Mute Robert Bruce Tracy
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    Jun 14th 2023, 12:59 PM

    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.

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    Mute Gearóid MacEachaidh
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    Jun 14th 2023, 7:14 PM

    @Robert Bruce Tracy: congrats. It normally takes a week or two before I mute someone. Your crazyness managed it after just two posts.

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    Mute Fionnan Burke
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    Jun 14th 2023, 7:18 PM

    @Robert Bruce Tracy: this is the most amazing comment on climate change I’ve ever read!

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    Mute Elio Borza
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    Jun 14th 2023, 11:42 AM

    We should definitely ban tyres. They are planet killers.

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    Mute SPQH
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:26 PM

    @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.

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    Mute Tomasso San Roque
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:45 PM

    It wouldn’t be like Volkswagen to lie about or falsify their vehicle emissions, would it…

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    Mute SPQH
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:25 PM

    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”.

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    Mute Marie Carroll
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    Jun 14th 2023, 2:22 PM

    @SPQH: its there already. Look at the high rate of VAT on goods. And what about VRT.

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    Mute AnthonyK
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:29 PM

    There are no zero emissions. And I’m sure if you checked, Eamon Ryan owns shares in companies involved in this scam.

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    Mute Dave Mercedes2
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:47 PM

    In the next lock down, No charging and No driving, It’s all about controlling people with green BS.

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    Mute Gearóid MacEachaidh
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    Jun 14th 2023, 7:16 PM

    @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.

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    Mute Keth Tgi
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    Jun 14th 2023, 11:33 AM

    Ironic the complainant should emit so much gas-bagging.

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    Mute Myles McCarthy
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    Jun 14th 2023, 1:32 PM

    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.

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    Mute Joe x
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    Jun 14th 2023, 6:28 PM

    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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    Mute Ivan Dickson
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    Jun 14th 2023, 8:42 PM

    Aahhh God bless the Journal, yet another BS story to get a rise out of everyone!

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    Mute zot
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    Jun 14th 2023, 10:45 PM

    Alternative of course is walking. Oh, wait, my shoe soles are made of rubber.

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    Mute Ivan Dickson
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    Jun 14th 2023, 10:48 PM

    @zot: and can u imagine the amount of shoes runners etc. that go into landfill every year? and they worried about tyre pollution ffs lol

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    Mute Emma Evans
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    Aug 2nd 2023, 1:45 PM

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