...........................................................................................
Diesel Emission Tests And Volkwagen
 |
Volkswagen recently had to admit that 11 million of its diesel-powered cars
are equipped with devices that intentionally cheat pollution tests.
|
After
Volkswagen: Where Does Diesel Go From Here?
BY KRISTEN HALL-GEISLER
Volkswagen
has done its reputation no favors by hiding lines of code in its diesel cars'
programming to defeat federal regulators' emissions tests.
Those
lines of code made the engine into a low-emissions machine with pokier
performance when it counted during testing, and allowed it to emit more
pollutants while improving performance and fuel efficiency during everyday
driving situations.
But
has this dirtied clean diesel's reputation beyond repair? Elon Musk seems
to thinks so. But then again he's the founder of electric car company Tesla.
In
the United Kingdom, car leasing company Flexed claims in a press release that people are actually citing the VW scandal
as a reason to look into buying all-electric cars in recent weeks.
Diesel
passenger vehicles only made up about 3 percent of sales in the United States
on diesel's best day, and in recent years the price of gasoline has dropped
rather than continuing its steep rise in the last decade.
Then
there's the fact that gasoline-powered cars usually cost a few thousand dollars
less than diesel-powered cars when they're brand-new.
Cheaper
gasoline-powered cars and cheaper fuel are hard hurdles for diesel to overcome.
But
as Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel
Technology Forum, points out, “... clean diesel
is a real thing. It's not something someone made up and didn't tell the truth
about.”
He
also notes that manufacturers still have the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy
(CAFE) standards to meet by 2025.
In
order to reach that 54.5 miles per gallon (23.2 kilometers per liter) target
and the lower carbon dioxide requirement that comes along with it, all while
still maintaining performance and load capacities in larger vehicles like SUVs
and pickups — diesel is going to have to be part of the equation.
Kevin
Downing at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality specializes in the heavy-duty side of diesel,
and he reminds us that this defeat device scandal isn't anything new.
In
1998, heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers found themselves facing a
record $1 billion settlement for using software-based defeat devices to
perform better on emissions tests while spewing illegal amounts of exhaust on
the road.
“We've
been there and done that on the heavy side,” Downing says.
Downing
and Schaeffer agree that the heavy-duty diesel market isn't likely to be
affected by the VW scandal.
About 90 percent of commercial trucks are
powered by diesel. “It's the technology
of work and the global economy,” says Schaeffer.
Passenger
cars, however, may suffer in the short term before diesel might start bouncing
back.
“VW
has 40 percent of the market share for passenger vehicles in the U.S.,” Schaeffer says.
“If
they're taking the products off the shelf for some period of time, people will
have fewer choices for diesel cars.”
He
also expects emissions testing will become more rigorous, and the Environmental
Protection Agency has already changed its testing procedures to be more random
and harder for software to predict.
Downing
notes that studies performed in Europe have shown that since 2010, diesel
engines have been outperforming gasoline engines when it comes to reining in
toxic output.
That's
often thanks to selective catalytic reduction, which treats the exhaust with a
chemical called urea.
Volkswagen
and Audi six-cylinder cars — the ones that aren't in hot water with the EPA —
already use this system.
NOW THAT’S COOL
Allen Schaeffer
had some surprising diesel stats at his fingertips during the interview. The
state with the most diesel passenger vehicles — cars, SUVs, pickups and vans —
is Wyoming, with 11 percent.
But the state
with the most diesel passenger vehicles in sheer numbers is Texas, with nearly
900,000 in the Lone Star State.
No comments:
Post a Comment