Government will support hardware retrofitting for large municipal diesel vehicles

The German government will support hardware retrofitting for large municipal diesel vehicles in certain polluted cities, such as garbage or street cleaning trucks, writes the transport ministry (BMVI) in a press release. This could affect at least 20,000 vehicles across Germany. As these vehicles operate full-time in polluted inner cities, “hardware retrofitting actually makes sense,” said transport minister Andreas Scheuer. “This measure is significantly more effective than retrofitting millions of old diesel cars that enter the city only once in a while.” In contrast, environment minister Svenja Schulze calls for hardware retrofitting for passenger cars. Chancellor Angela Merkel had announced that her government would find a joint stance by the end of September, which would mean that the two ministers have to find a compromise before Bavarian state elections in October, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung in an article. 

Find the BMVI press release in German here and the SZ article in German here.

Find background in the CLEW article One year after German "diesel summit," air quality challenge remains and in the factsheet “Dieselgate” – a timeline of Germany’s car emissions fraud scandal.