Air quality issues drive vehicle alternatives

摘要

In early April, the south of Britain woke to a hazy blanket of smog. A few weeks earlier, Paris had choked and spluttered through its own shroud. Tales of the nightmare air of Beijing have gone global. The World Health Organisation estimates that in one in eight deaths worldwide, the cause is linked to, or exacerbated by, air pollution. There is no one culprit. Coal burning and construction make major contributions, as do naturally occurring conditions, like dust blown from the Sahara. Yet one factor almost all have in common is high levels of emissions from traffic, particularly the fumes from diesel vehicles.