The Future of the Internal Combustion Engine After “Diesel-Gate”

The paper captures the recent events in relation with the Volkswagen (VW) Emissions Scandal and addresses the impact of this event on the future of power train development. The paper analyses the impact on the perspectives of the internal combustion engine, the battery based electric car and the hydrogen based technology. The operation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), VW and the United States prosecutor, sparked by the action of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is forcing the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) towards everything but rationale immediate transition to the battery based electric mobility. This transition voids the value of any improvement of the internal combustion engine (ICE), especially in the lean burn, compression ignition (CI) technology, and of a better hybridization of powertrains, both options that have much better short term perspectives than the battery based electric car. This transition similarly narrows the future perspectives of the hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2-ICE) or the hydrogen fuel cell (H2-FC) electric mobility, solutions equally competitive vs. the battery based electric car. As the further development of the diesel emission scandals may determine the premature end of not only the diesel, but of the internal combustion engine, without any realistic replacement, the paper rings the alarm bell for the transport industry that must engage more deeply into the discussion of the future of transportation.