Published in the Barrie Examiner, July 21
‘Big Three’ hit much harder
(Re: Don’t forget Europe’s love of diesel, July 15 edition of the Examiner)
I cannot blame J. G. Armstrong for his misguided statements that there are “. . . lax car emission regulations for diesels in Europe,” and that the ‘Smart’ “must meet tough California emission regulations.” California trumpets its standards very loudly.
I just read a recent (June 2008) study:Long Beach Transit: Two-year Evaluation of Gasoline-Electric Hybrid Transit Buses.The buses were driven over similar routes in a Los Angeles suburb. The hybrids had an ‘Ultra Low Emissions’ gasoline (Ford V-10) engine. They were compared to standard diesel (Cummins) buses.
Although the hybrids operated in a very favourable environment (eight stops per mile), allowing them to use regenerative braking and electricity boosted acceleration, they used 4.5 per cent more fuel than the diesels.
Their emissions performance surprised me. While hybrid NOx emissions were 0.6 g/hp-hour compared to 4.0g/hp-hr for diesels, their carbon monoxide emissions (3.7g/hp-hr) were much higher (0.5g/hp-hr) than the diesels.
The California emissions regulations were set up to penalize diesels. In Europe, they recognize that each has its strengths and weaknesses and regulate accordingly.
No California gasoline engine could pass the European emissions standards for diesels.
However, the latest Euro-diesels do meet California limits -and deliver 30 per cent better fuel economy. We could have had them four to five years ago, but we refused to reduce the sulphur in our diesel fuel, which would have ruined the emissions devices.
Not all of Europe taxes diesel fuel favourably. Britain, Switzerland, and Holland don’t. Nevertheless, British new car registrations are 40 per cent diesel-powered.
Europe-wide, 80 per cent of new luxury cars are now diesels. Several SUVs and light trucks no longer offer gasoline versions.
But the bottom line must be that Fiat, Peugeot, Renault, etc. were not devastated by the recent run-up in the price of petroleum like the (not so) Big Three.
Peter Bursztyn
Barrie