Volkswagen squeezes 52 miles a gallon with new Golf BlueMotion

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bulldog @ Sep 6 2007, 05:15 PM) [snapback]508148[/snapback]</div>

Why won't the automakers just meet the Euro V and VI standards earlier than required? Because it cost money to add exhaust after-treatments to cars and companies are in business to make money. If the customer cared then they might. Since Europeans tend to focus on CO2 I doubt you will see a lot of people willing to pay more money to cut down on NOx.

 

"If the customer cared then they might. Since Europeans tend to focus on CO2 I doubt you will see a lot of people willing to pay more money to cut down on NOx."

spot on! Too few could care less about pollution, but are the 1st to complain of pollution-caused health problems. When and where do we educate and begin to add $$ to the pollution that comes from our cars? There's got to be a way to equate paying more now for clean technology than paying later and forever with high pollution and poor health.

Keep up the data flow, I'm so glad there are stats people are digging up that I can use to compare emissions (not just the 'standards', but actual data).

Thanks for all the leg (mouse?) work.

 

My Prius reported 59.4MPG at the 59 mile mark driving from Erie, PA towards Buffalo a few weeks back. Some highway, but mostly backroads.

This shows that when I'm not driving up a bunch of hills like I do at home, the car is still as good as I can expect. What I expect out of a diesel is an average of 30 extra cents per gallon around here and random unavailability of fuel on trips. This is not an ideal vehicle for me...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finman @ Sep 7 2007, 08:08 AM) [snapback]508540[/snapback]</div>

This is what a lot of instructors at the community and UC/CSU level are trying to teach in "Natural Resource Concervation", Environmental Ethics, Interdisciplinary, and a growing number of classes that have some aspect of sustainability in them. CSU Chico now has over 150 classes that have a component of sustainability in them and the goal is to creat a curriculum that will not allow anyone to graduate with any degree without having being introduced to the concept of sustainability. There is so much work in this area and it is exciting!

 

Regarding the concerns about diesel exhaust emissions, Ricardo here in the UK have just announced a SULEV (tier 2 bin 2) diesel engine for use in an un-named automaker's lineup. It puts out about 0.02 g/mile NOx.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/08/ricardo-announc.html

That's cleaner than a lot of current gasoline engines.

 

Another article on Ricardo's SULEV diesel engine:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/09/ri...hieve.html#more

"Having demonstrated these accomplishments on the test bed, the powertrain has now been installed in a test vehicle to enable calibration refinement and validation. In the coming months Ricardo intends to carry out extensive vehicle testing to validate the achievement of SULEV/Tier 2 Bin 2, currently the world’s cleanest emissions standard."

"Throughout the project, a major emphasis has been placed on achieving low emissions under transient conditions to maintain or improve the fun to drive responsiveness of the engine without deteriorating emissions performance. The engine has been developed with a competitive power rating of 65 kW/liter to meet US emissions regulations for both sea level and altitude compliance." (eg, 130 hp from a 1.5 litre diesel).

These results were achieved without the use of NOx aftertreatment.

 

Another article on Ricardo's SULEV diesel engine:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/09/ri...hieve.html#more

"Having demonstrated these accomplishments on the test bed, the powertrain has now been installed in a test vehicle to enable calibration refinement and validation. In the coming months Ricardo intends to carry out extensive vehicle testing to validate the achievement of SULEV/Tier 2 Bin 2, currently the world’s cleanest emissions standard."

"Throughout the project, a major emphasis has been placed on achieving low emissions under transient conditions to maintain or improve the fun to drive responsiveness of the engine without deteriorating emissions performance. The engine has been developed with a competitive power rating of 65 kW/liter to meet US emissions regulations for both sea level and altitude compliance." (eg, 130 hp from a 1.5 litre diesel).

These results were achieved without the use of NOx aftertreatment.