There will be no “quick solution” to hardware retrofitting – Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that a decision on hardware retrofitting is not in sight. “We will continue to examine the hardware retrofitting proposal, but according to what I saw, there will certainly not be a quick solution for millions of vehicles,” said Merkel at a press conference held after a meeting with federal state premiers. About half of the planned software upgrades for diesel cars had already been implemented, the rest would be done by the end of 2018. To help bring down nitrogen oxide emissions in affected cities below EU clean air limits, her government would talk to the municipalities in the coming days to look for short-term solutions. After the meeting, federal state premiers said that avoiding inner city diesel driving bans was a “major goal” shared by all.

Find the government press release in German here.

For background, read the CLEW news digest entry European Commission grants “very last deadline” on clean air, and find background on the diesel technology’s impact on clean air and climate in the CLEW article Why the German diesel summit matters for climate and energy.