AN EX-STUDENT of Castellón University was one of the investigators who uncovered the Volkswagen emissions data rigging scam.
Vicente Franco, industrial engineer with a PhD from the Jaume I University (UJI) in the eastern Spanish city, near where he was born, moved to Berlin two years ago to take up a job with the International Council for Clean Transport (ICCT).
The company started a research project on the difference in CO2 emissions between diesel cars in the USA and Europe, and tested two VWs and a BMW on the road.
West Virginia University in the USA took part in the research.
During testing, they found the Volkswagen cars exceeded Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) emission levels 40 times over compared to laboratory results from when the VW models were registered and signed off before hitting the forecourts.
Dr Franco says he and his team were obliged to inform environmental monitoring organisations in California, which immediately launched an inquiry.
Had it not been for Vicente Franco and his company deciding to carry out the research and choosing Volkswagen cars as their guinea pigs, the fraudulent software designed to hide emissions readings would probably never have been discovered.
It led to further research in Europe of CO2 data over 140 hours from 12 different types of vehicles, showing that the problem of toxic emissions from diesel cars on the continent is 'very serious'.
Urgent action is needed from European authorities to remedy the situation, says Dr Franco, who led the investigation team at the ICCT.
He reveals that the main problem is that legislation relating to NOX output – gases which have been shown to be harmful to health – is 'much more lax' in Europe than in the USA, and aggravated by the fact Europe has a much higher percentage of diesel-run cars.
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