Dieselgate Redemption: VW’s new ‘Double Dip’ Adblue CUTS NOx emissions by 80%

Volkswagen has a new ‘Twin Dosing’ Adblue injection system for diesel cars which cuts NOx emissions by 80 per cent in the real world.

Volkswagen spent years telling us how clean their diesel engines were, and how they were a way to save the planet with their low Co2 emissions. And then reality arrived.

VW were found to have fiddled the emissions on their cars – the Dieselgate Scandal – and it turned out that far from being good for the environment, VW diesels were chucking out emissions – NOx and particulates – like a diesel lorry no one had serviced for a decade.

VW’s road to redemption is their plan to turn in to a fluffy green car maker churning out millions of electric cars every year, although we’re still not convinced there are that many car buyers willing to jump in to an EV yet.

But VW are also trying to address diesel engine emissions in case we all decide EVs aren’t for us just yet, and they’ve come up with a Twin-Dosing Adblue injection system which cuts NOx – this time in the real world – by 80 per cent.

The trouble with diesel fuel is that it burns more efficiently then petrol, and therefore emits less CO2, but that means combustion takes place with more air than needed, and the nitrogen in the excess air reacts with the oxygen and creates NOx. Which is not good.

To get rid of the NOx VW, and most car makers, use an SCR Catalytic Converter and Adblue injection to turn the NOx in to water and harmless N2 (nitrogen). 

But VW has now added a double-dip version of Adblue, with a second SCR Catalytic Converter fitted in the underbody, which expands the aftertreatment of exhaust gases and reduces the NOx. 

The new double-dip system is already fitted to the Passat 2.0 litre TDI Evo with 148bhp, and VW is now starting to roll it out further, including in the soon to arrive Golf Mk 8, which will get it in all diesel variants.

Time to embrace diesel-engined cars once again?