I think it is a silly argument to say it helped people by helping them exist in the first place. It is a weird argument for a larger population, which probably isn't a great thing.
Julian Simon would have strongly disagreed and he put his money where his mouth was in his famous bets with Erlich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Simon
You don't need a lot of horsepower to replace a horse. Quite literally, one would be enough.
> Honestly, where has it made life possible where it was not?
Antarctica!
But yeah, I think the parent was just making a point :P
I am not an expert, but based on my understanding, the issue was not chassis design, but cost. http://www.autoblog.com/2015/09/30/vw-diesel-fix-would-have-...
The reclaiming system would add to the cost of the vehicle, and operating it properly would also decrease fuel economy. Both would tend to decrease sales. So this was strictly about profit for VW.
> WhyTF do you need a 10k mile service interval
Because people want their cars to support their lifestyle, not vice versa.
> But somehow people aren't competent to refill their AdBlue tank and need ridiculously-long service intervals? But they can be trusted to refill their fuel tanks with a highly-flammable and toxic substance
The issue is not one of consumer trust. It's practicality. Gasoline filling stations are everywhere. Now: where can a consumer buy AdBlue or whatever the brand of urea is required by VW? No one wants a car that implies more complexity in their life.
The issue, according to everything I've read, is that they have an AdBlue system but they don't inject nearly enough of it to keep emissions down.
>The reclaiming system would add to the cost of the vehicle, and operating it properly would also decrease fuel economy.
They have a reclaiming system (DEF injection). It does not decrease fuel economy. DEF injects urea into the exhaust stream to catalyze NOx emissions into N2 and H2O.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid
>Because people want their cars to support their lifestyle, not vice versa.
Too bad. If they can be bothered to refuel their fuel and washer fluid tanks, they can be bothered to refuel a third tank too.
>The issue is not one of consumer trust. It's practicality. Gasoline filling stations are everywhere. Now: where can a consumer buy AdBlue or whatever the brand of urea is required by VW? No one wants a car that implies more complexity in their life.
BS. Go read the article. Lots of truck stops have AdBlue dispensers at the fuel pumps now. If consumers don't want to refill a second tank periodically, then they shouldn't buy a diesel vehicle.
(where "slightly" = 40x)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/business/internation...
An EU perspective (and EU rules) http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/21/all-top-sell... has results no where near 40x.
None of that of course is "slightly less", but that wasn't my point.