LONDON -- General Motors’ powertrain chief, Dan Nicholson, intends to campaign for global harmonization of emissions standards, particularly between the U.S and Europe.
Nicholson said he will use his upcoming presidency of the automotive engineers’ society, Fisita, to push for changes while the topic is high on government agendas in the wake of the Volkswagen Group emissions scandal.
“I’m not sure any of the European regulators are happy with the status quo,” he said on the sidelines of the Fisita summit here this week.
He said the differences between upcoming European Union tailpipe emissions standards and those set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S were small in terms of actual emissions. However engineering the same cars to pass them both was costing “hundreds of millions of dollars” a year across the industry.
“We want all our engineering resources focused on improving air quality and reducing CO2. With different sets of rules, we have to put our engineering resources into nuanced regulatory differences rather than working on the root problem,” he said.
Nicholson said that agreeing harmonized standards will be difficult, but argued that the benefits would outweigh the difficulties. “There is more overlap in the areas of interest than people think,” he said.
One issue is the split in the U.S between the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which sets its own air quality standards. However Nicholson said the two agencies were now showing “unprecedented co-operation” and he is hopeful they will agree emissions harmonization in the same way that a safety framework around autonomous driving has been agreed globally.
The timing is also critical as China firms up its own emissions standards. “With China in discussions right now, we are at a key pivot point. I’m concerned that if we miss our opportunities now they won’t come again for a long time,” he said.
Nicholson takes over as Fisita president next year from Paul Mascarenas, who retired last year as Ford Motor’s chief technical officer.
