VW Faces $17B Fine for Emissions Scam

As much as I mine data from "Test Cat Database," I think we need to track the roadside metrics. They won't be as precise, they will give relative metrics which is what we're down too. Also I'd like to see road particulate metrics IF POSSIBLE.

Bob Wilson

 

Like this Bob?


Edit: For some reason, I can't get the link to post. Here's the citation...

Naomi Zimmerman, Jonathan M. Wang, Cheol-Heon Jeong, Manuel Ramos, Nathan Hilker, Robert M. Healy, Kelly Sabaliauskas, James S. Wallace, and Greg J. Evans (2016) “Field Measurements of Gasoline Direct Injection Emission Factors: Spatial and Seasonal Variability” Environmental Science & Technology

 

The first good news: Germany seeks to ban shut-off software in wake of VW diesel scandal | Autoweek

Germany wants to close a loophole that allows automakers to employ emissions control shutoff devices under certain conditions, which the German Federal Ministry of Transport (KBO) views as allowing automakers to skirt emissions regulations.

The ministry had earlier launched an investigation into a wide range of diesel vehicles sold in Germany following the outbreak of the Volkswagen diesel crisis, testing over 50 other vehicles by different manufacturers. While the ministry did not find any other defeat devices (ones that use a cycle recognition system to turn off their emissions equipment), it did find various discrepancies in the course of its testing that could not be readily explained by manufacturers.

"The outcome of this test was that no other cycle recognition systems such as the one used by Volkswagen were discovered," the Council of the European Union stated in a memorandum published last week. "However, it became clear that for many vehicle types, real driving emissions are significantly higher than on the dynamometer. One of the main reasons for this is that the manufacturers adapt the effectiveness of their emissions control systems to driving and/or environmental conditions in different ways. This is done primarily by means of the 'temperature window,' outside which the manufacturers reduce the effectiveness of the emissions abatement."​

This has been a wake-up call for the European regulators and it is good to see they are finally taking notice. A breath of fresh air ... in the future.

FYI, the GDI link.

Four field campaigns were conducted between February 2014 and January 2015 to measure emissions from light-duty gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicles (2013 Ford Focus) in an urban near-road environment in Toronto, Canada. Measurements of CO2, CO, NOx, black carbon (BC), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene-xylenes (BTEX), and size-resolved particle number (PN) were recorded 15 m from the roadway and converted to fuel-based emission factors (EFs). Other than for NOx and CO, the GDI engine had elevated emissions compared to the Toronto fleet, with BC EFs in the 73rd percentile, BTEX EFs in the 80–90th percentile, and PN EFs in the 75th percentile during wintertime measurements. Additionally, for three campaigns, a second platform for measuring PN and CO2 was placed 1.5–3 m from the roadway to quantify changes in PN with distance from point of emission. GDI vehicle PN EFs were found to increase by up to 240% with increasing distance from the roadway, predominantly due to an increasing fraction of sub-40 nm particles. PN and BC EFs from the same engine technology were also measured in the laboratory. BC EFs agreed within 20% between the laboratory and real-world measurements; however, laboratory PN EFs were an order of magnitude lower due to exhaust conditioning.​

Bob Wilson

 

Cars with non-compliant emissions, whether for performance, cost cutting, or just laziness, is an issue regardless of fuel and engine type. While behind an old, oil burning Corolla(not a diesel) this morning, it occurred to me that the number of such non-compliant gasoline cars in the US might outnumber all the diesel ones.

 

However, with long emissions warranties, and relatively simple emissions control systems, repair is more likely to happen.

The big question is how to handle gasoline PM at this point - GPFs will be a failure, with deletion and paying off the tester to ignore the missing GPF. And as far as fault codes go, stealth emissions delete tunes absolutely exist, that even set readiness on the removed or disabled components. The solution may simply be more displacement, with variable Atkinsonization to improve partial load efficiency. If you're running relatively low compression and load, DI is far less important - note that the Prius gets to 40% efficiency with Gen 4, on regular unleaded, with port injection.

And then there's VOC emissions, of course.

 

Depends on what the emission warranty covers. I don't think it will cover the worn rings that likely lead to the Corolla burning oil. Nor will it help when the average registered car age is over 3 years older than than the federal mandated emission warranty. The longer CARB one is likely only on cars in order to qualify for the ZEV program or California sales incentives. If not forced by such means, the manufacturer will drop it down to the federal level to save money.

 

Looks like the perfect opportunity for VW to start pushing the Audi e-tron - ev or phev.

 

There is that new internet ad.

 

TV too, apparently - that's what made me think of it. Just saw one there yesterday.

 

Almost. Cars that only use electricity/batteries, or hydrogen will not be non compliant. Much easier to monitor the sources of the electricity that the 100s of millions of individual cars and refineries.

 

Source: Over 300,000 Increase in Clean Diesel Vehicle Registrations in U.S. | Diesel Technology Forum

“For the second year in a row, California led the nation in the fastest growth of diesel car and SUV registrations,” said Allen Schaeffer, the Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum. “California consumers are particularly interested in energy-efficiency and eco-friendly vehicle technologies which helps explain the sustained interest in clean diesel cars, trucks and SUVs - ones that provide proven energy efficiency without compromising vehicle performance or driving range.”​

CARB policies have consequences. By throwing out hybrids, they are encouraging more light-duty, diesel sales. Further more, we find:

California and Massachusetts are the only two states that have more hybrid vehicle registrations than diesels.​

I wonder if any of our Massachusetts owners might have insights why their state is a hybrid leader? Did MA follow the California CARB lead and evaporate support for hybrids?

Understand I know a diesel doesn't have to be a cheat and certainly they are getting more inspection than ever before. But they will never meet the same MPG performance of a good hybrid (there are shitty ones on the market.)

Bob Wilson

 

Does anyone in North America even still have incentives for hybrids without a plug?

Mind you, diesel doesn't either - the advanced lean-burn technology credit expired a long time ago.

And, as far as mileage, it really depends on what you're doing, and how you're counting things. Ignoring VW for obvious reasons, on highway mileage, a Gen 3 Prius may not quite be able to beat a diesel driven at lower highway speeds. (Gen 4, on the other hand...) City mileage, of course, the hybrid will destroy the diesel due to regenerative braking (unless it's a really lame hybrid like the GM eAssist systems).

However, diesel tends to be more expensive than gasoline in recent years (between higher taxation aimed at heavy trucking, extra costs for making ULSD, and refineries sending more product to Europe to satisfy their demand), and the carbon footprint is higher (you have 14% more hydrocarbon energy per gallon, you'll get (assuming all else is equal - it isn't) 14% better MPG, and you'll emit 14% more CO2 per gallon).

 

iduno - focusing on your word 'depends' a bit more - even at legal freeway speeds 55-70 mph - a Prius can out-efficient a diesel. It 'depends' on whether one properly or improperly accounts for the much higher btu percentage of diesel vs gas. Of course if you're doing 80 or 90mph, the efficiency range drops on a prius type configuration because it's not designed for that efficiency purpose. As for diesel 'fuel' costs, the clean factor of diesel turns on how much refining goes on / removeng of sulpher etc. Much of how clean a diesel car runs, turns on how clean the fuel is to start with, so yes the diesel can run very clean but it turns on whether or not the fuel is ultra clean or filthy. Often when diesel fuel is cheap it's because the refinery spent little on cleaning it up - & then it looks like diesel fuel is a bargain. We knew a bunch of families who regularly crossed from San Diego to Tijuana because of the very low cost (yet filthy) diesel fuel. The diesel fuel industry has fought for many years to NOT have to clean their product. So - even at this Junction, comparing diesel efficiency, cleanliness & cost differences ... there's no need to even factor in the higher maintenance cost on a diesel.
.

 

Oh, I agree that at this point, a Prius can beat a diesel on actual pump-to-wheels fuel efficiency (not sure which way it goes for well-to-pump) easily.

But, if you ignore the added energy content, as most people do - note that I said mileage, not efficiency - the Gen 3 Prius can lose. Not saying it does every time, but it can. (Gen 4, OTOH... there's not a diesel in America that can match it on the highway, in MPG, except maybe cheating 2015 Golf TDIs, when driven similarly. And then, once you do things as MPGge, it gets really ugly for the diesels, as you point out.)

 

Here are the well-to-pump emissions and energy consumption of E10 gasoline and ULS diesel fuel according to Argonne National Laboratory's GREET model.


WTP - ULSD vs. E10 (@2016; current U.S. mix; w/well infrastructure; per mmBTU)

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
0	Parameter	ULSD	E10
1	Energy (BTU)	226391	301645
2	VOC (g)	9.633	31.589
3	NOx (g)	35.563	45.266
4	CO (g)	24.827	30.689
5	PM10 (g)	3.144	4.525
6	PM2.5 (g)	2.236	2.815
7	SOx (g)	27.593	42.459
8	GHG (g)	18140	19768

 

One minor change, "table=head" solves the problem:

WTP - ULSD vs. E10 (@2016; current U.S. mix; w/well infrastructure; per mmBTU)
(URL?)

	Parameter	ULSD	E10
1	Energy (BTU)	226391	301645
2	VOC (g)	9.633	31.589
3	NOx (g)	35.563	45.266
4	CO (g)	24.827	30.689
5	PM10 (g)	3.144	4.525
6	PM2.5 (g)	2.236	2.815
7	SOx (g)	27.593	42.459
8	GHG (g)	18140	19768

Bob Wilson

 

What does "table=head" do, Bob?

 

Makes it so that the first row is a header, rather than a line of data, with "Column 1", "Column 2", and "Column 3" as the header.

 

Oh, okay, 'toof. Thanks!

Learn something new everyday!

 

I'd say this hasn't anything to do with CARB's policies, but with available vehicle choices, mainly in the SUV segment. Even ignoring the VW group, BMW, Mercedes, and Jeep have diesel SUV options. For hybrid, you have Toyota/Lexus. Other hybrid models that were available may have moved on to plug in versions.

Then there are no hybrid options for trucks.

California is also one of the few places in the country where regular gas and diesel are close in price. Plus, it is the only state with a chain of diesel stations selling second generation biodiesel, which can be used as a straight replacement to petro-diesel. It isn't a surprise that diesel cars would enjoy some popularity there.