Zero Emission Vehicle Ethics

In the automobile industry, there has been an increasing trend in developing zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in response to the demand for environmentally sustainable means of transportation. ZEVs are cars whose engines do not emit harmful pollutants and may even lack a tailpipe to do so. In fact, many plug-in electric cars and hydrogen cars even exhibit an emblem with the words “zero emission” fixated on their metal frames. According to a 2015 sustainability plan, the U.S. government itself defines a ZEV as a vehicle without the production of “exhaust emissions … or greenhouse gas under any possible … conditions” (Exec. Order No. 13692). However, this definition of zero-emission vehicles does not take into consideration other possible ways

As such, Kantianism can be applied to the labeling of zero-emission vehicles; because these cars still emit pollutants, this deceptive and misleading marketing tactic is immoral in and of itself—even if the widespread adoption of ZEVs does lead to less overall emissions. Kant’s categorical imperative can be used to determine the morality of an action, especially for moral gray areas like that surrounding the name of zero-emission vehicles. In this case, if a maxim was created that “companies should always be misleading to their customers,” most rational beings would disagree and, therefore, Kant would consider this idea to be morally wrong. However, if the maxim that “companies should always be open and transparent to their customers” were offered, most rational beings would accept this to be morally correct. Unfortunately, the failure of the automobile industry to execute or even understand the importance of corporate transparency shows their disregard of human moral worth. The companies that offer zero-emission vehicles are purposely being misleading to consumers and treating them as merely a means to profit. While critics may see zero-emission car companies being deceptive towards their consumers, others may argue that regardless of morality, consumers should be less gullible towards company claims and learn to research products before they buy