Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Automotive News
  • Automobilwoche
  • Automotive News Canada
  • Automotive News Mexico
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Login
  • HOME
  • News
    • Photos
    • Automakers
    • Suppliers
    • Sales By Market
    • Environment/Emissions
    • Latest Launches
    • Sales and Retail
    • Car Cutaways
    • On The Move
    • EU, Japan back automatic braking regulation
      German auto jobs at risk from hard Brexit
      Aston Martin to preview SUV for revived Lagonda nameplate at Geneva show
      How VW, Daimler, BMW, others are transforming into tech companies
    • Sweden's Veoneer forecasts flat sales in 2019
      Ionity boss has plan for stations across Europe; he just needs an EV boom
      Moscow's short-term car rental boom highlights threat to automakers from new players
      German auto jobs at risk from hard Brexit
    • Porsche, Alfa Romeo and Nissan take big hits as European sales fall 5% in January
      Russia sales rise nearly 1% in January despite VAT increase
      Audi, Fiat, BMW among losers as Spanish sales fall 8% in January
      Volvo, VW gain sales in UK market down nearly 2% in January as diesel plunge continues
    • Volvo blurs the wagon/SUV line with the V60 Cross Country
      view gallery
      7 photos
      New Range Rover Evoque designed for the 'urban jungle'
      Range Rover Evoque gets hybrid tech to cut emissions
      Tarraco gives Seat a flagship SUV to help retain wealthy buyers
    • Ferrari will unveil V-8 hybrid supercar this year
      Mercedes outsold Audi in China last month on sedan demand
      Tesla's Musk visits Norway to review delivery delays
      Europe's minicar segment to shrink as VW, PSA mull axing their smallest cars
    • Suppliers to the new Porsche Panamera
      Suppliers to the new Peugeot 5008
      Suppliers to the new Seat Ibiza
      Suppliers to the new VW Touareg
    • Daimler appoints Airbus exec as finance chief
      VW China CEO to join VW brand's management board
      Mini USA names marketing veteran McKenna head of product planning
      Dyson hires former Infiniti chief to head its electric-car business
    • Geneva Photo Gallery
    • Beijing Photo Gallery
    • Frankfurt Photo Gallery
    • Paris Photo Gallery
    • Shanghai Photo Gallery
  • Auto Shows
    • Geneva Auto Show
    • Frankfurt Auto Show
    • Paris Auto Show
    • Beijing Auto Show
    • Shanghai Auto Show
    • China EV startup Aiways will launch SUV in Europe
      Bentley revs up Bentayga with Speed variant
      Skoda will debut first EV at Geneva show
      VW Passat gets cleaner diesel, partial autonomy
    • Bugatti considers four-door model for 2024
      Frankfurt photo booth
      Frankfurt's best and wurst
      Merkel says German car industry must work to rebuild trust
    • Vietnam's first automaker now has names for first sedan, SUV
      China's GAC likely to debut in Europe with an EV
      Bugatti mulls SUV as part of broader model range
      Ferrari Monza supercars will earn $755 million in revenue
    • VW will launch SOL EV brand in China with subcompact crossover
      view gallery
      9 photos
      BMW will export iX3 electric SUV to Europe, U.S. from China
      view gallery
      9 photos
      BMW's iX3 concept heralds electric expansion
      view gallery
      15 photos
      Mercedes-Maybach is betting on a hybrid SUV-sedan look
    • view gallery
      7 photos
      Jeep finds green groove with plug-in hybrid SUV concept
      Foreign automakers embrace China as EV development hub
      China lands Chevy Volt in a Buick wrapper
      Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati sales soar in China as rich snub austerity push
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Luca Ciferri
    • Douglas A. Bolduc
    • Paul McVeigh
    • Ford's 'redesign' for Europe emphasizes SUVs, LCVs
      Russia's Google, Yandex, impresses with its self-driving tech
      Renault Twizy gets new life in Korea as motorcycle replacement
      Why the car is no longer the ticket to freedom
    • Ford's 'redesign' for Europe emphasizes SUVs, LCVs
      Russia's Google, Yandex, impresses with its self-driving tech
      Renault Twizy gets new life in Korea as motorcycle replacement
      Why the car is no longer the ticket to freedom
    • Ford's 'redesign' for Europe emphasizes SUVs, LCVs
      Russia's Google, Yandex, impresses with its self-driving tech
      Renault Twizy gets new life in Korea as motorcycle replacement
      Why the car is no longer the ticket to freedom
    • Ford's 'redesign' for Europe emphasizes SUVs, LCVs
      Russia's Google, Yandex, impresses with its self-driving tech
      Renault Twizy gets new life in Korea as motorcycle replacement
      Why the car is no longer the ticket to freedom
  • Maps
    • E-Car & Component Map of Europe
    • Powertrain Map of Europe
    • Assembly Plant Map of Europe
  • Supplements
    • Connected Car
    • Talk From The Top
    • BMW 100
    • Car Cutaways
  • EVENTS & AWARDS
    • Automotive News Europe Congress
    • Rising Stars
    • Eurostars
    • Leading Women
  • E-MAGAZINE
    • Read the latest issue
    • Download the app
    • Subscribe
  • More
    • E-Magazine
    • Contact Us
    • 2019 Media Kit
    • About Us
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Automotive News Europe
April 04, 2016 01:00 AM

VW not alone in defending excessive NOx output

Christiaan Hetzner
Douglas A. Bolduc
Luca Ciferri
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Vicente Franco: "Emissions are higher than they should be. Whether this is coming from weak regulation or from dishonest emission control strategies from manufacturers or a combination of both, we don't really know."

    Volkswagen Group isn't the only automaker having to explain excessive nitrogen oxide emissions from its models, especially in Europe, where even vehicles that have been certified as compliant with new Euro 6 standards produce seven times more NOx than allowed when on the road, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. Vicente Franco, who is a senior researcher at ICCT, the nonprofit group that helped expose VW's cheating on emissions tests last year, shared his views on the topic with Automotive News Europe during a phone interview last month.

    Since the Volkswagen Group emissions cheating scandal was revealed has there been any evidence others are guilty of this kind of fraud?

    What we know for sure is that the new diesel cars in Europe have high NOx emissions. We estimate that the average Euro 6 vehicle on the road has a conformity factor of seven. That means they emit seven times more NOx than they’re certified for [560 milligrams of NOx per kilometer instead of 80mg/km]. But that doesn't mean every car is the same because the other characteristic we are seeing from Euro 6 diesels is that there are very large differences across different manufacturers. You can have a vehicle that has OK emissions during certain driving conditions, typically conditions that are covered by the certification tests, but as soon as you go outside of this boundary NOx goes up very quickly.

    Does that mean that other manufacturers have defeat devices?

    It's difficult to judge. The fact is that the emissions are higher than they should be. Whether this is coming from weak regulation or from dishonest emission control strategies from manufacturers or a combination of both, we don’t really know.

    Has the VW scandal brought more attention to a problem that was already there?

    Looking at the emissions data, there are several manufacturers that have problems. Volkswagen was, perhaps, a particularly bad offender because it had two calibrations. One of the calibrations was detecting the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s] FTP [federal test procedure] cycle. Even in the lab if you are not running the certification cycle it would switch to the on-road cheating calibration. It was kind of over-engineered to detect the precise certification cycles for the U.S. You don’t really need to go to those lengths to engineer a defeat device.

    How is a defeat device defined?

    If you have a system that diminishes the effectiveness of your after treatment during real-world driving, that's a defeat device. You can do that, for example, by detecting ambient temperature. That's something that we have seen from a couple of manufacturers.

    Which manufacturers?

    For example, BMW and Daimler. Based on measurements done by third parties, they were showing a markedly different emissions profile as soon as the temperature dropped below 10 degrees Celsius. There is no reason to switch off your NOx control under 10 degrees Celsius because that's a common temperature in western Europe. Their line of defense was that they needed to switch off or diminish the effectiveness of their NOx control systems below 10 degrees Celsius to protect the integrity of the engine. The engines would break if they were to run clean in the winter. From our point of view, there's no technical justification for this.

    What is the next step?

    The European authorities have not really responded to this yet. It's up to them to decide whether this appeal is valid. They may ask them to recalibrate their systems. Other manufacturers already have committed to recalibrating their systems, such as Fiat [and Renault]. From our point of view, it's technically feasible to have clean diesel. You will have to pay some penalties in terms of cost trade-offs, but it's not an impossible technical challenge.

    In the future, do you expect the EU to be less friendly to the industry during negotiations on emissions, which could put automotive jobs and profits at risk?

    In the end there will be a compromise. But I would expect automakers to branch out into alternative technologies. Hybridization and full-electric vehicles seem to be an obvious choice. If the European authorities give the manufacturers the appropriate lead time, jobs should not suffer. And, if Europe becomes the technological leader in electro-mobility as we have been for decades in diesel mobility, this might even be an excellent opportunity for job creation. I'm quite confident that the future of the auto industry is rather bright.

    Will moving to real driving emissions rules be a shock for the industry?

    They will not have too much struggle meeting the conformity factors that are currently proposed. I don't expect a big impact to diesel sales in the short run, but in the long run, when we get rid of this market distortion that stems from diesels being allowed to emit substantially more NOx than they should, then manufacturers will probably need to re-think their product planning strategy. We will probably see fewer diesels in the smaller segments and we will see a shift of investments from diesel to other technologies.

    Why?

    Because there are trade-offs, such as the durability of the systems and some fuel penalties that the customer has to pay. For example, there's a 3 percent to 4 percent overconsumption penalty that you have to pay if you want to have an LNT (lean NOx trap) that is fully operational. There is an incentive to cut corners or to change the calibrations because the European emission certification system does not, or did not until very recently, factor in the on-road test. It was just a laboratory test. These systems are fully operational during the homologation test in the laboratory with NEDC [new European driving cycle], but when on the road it can be substantially different picture. And that's where the problem is.

    Bio box

    NAME: Vicente Franco

    TITLE: ICCT Senior Researcher

    AGE: 33

    MAIN CHALLENGE: Getting automakers to reduce NOx emissions from diesels during real world driving.

    What is the difference between LNT and selective catalytic reduction or SCR. Is SCR better?

    SCR, the urea injection, is probably the more robust technology of the two. LNT is the one that has a fuel penalty of around 3 percent to 4 percent. It's slightly cheaper and it’s easier from the packaging point of view. Both technologies work but the problem with LNT is that it has this fuel consumption penalty. So during real-world driving there’s a strong incentive to have diminished operation and save fuel because the driver is going to appreciate this fuel penalty but he's not going to see whether his NOx is higher not.

    Have you tested a plug-in diesel and how was the result?

    We tested a Volvo plug-in diesel, Euro 5 though, and a Mercedes-Benz Euro 6 conventional hybrid, and they both had NOx emissions comparable to conventional Euro 5 or Euro 6 counterparts.

    AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE E-MAGAZINE

    This story is from the current issue of the Automotive News Europe monthly e-magazine, which is also available to read on our iPhone and iPad apps.You can download the new issue as well as past issues by clicking here.

    So six to seven time more NOx than the limit?

    I think it was closer to four and five. They were not that great.

    Is that a knock against hybridization?

    Hybridization definitely has a potential to lower NOx emissions but you also need the right policy incentives to make that happen. With Euro 5 and Euro 6, meaning pre-RDE Euro 6, the diesel hybrids were not tuned for better performance. The electrification of the powertrain was used to provide like more push and make the cars more snappy. It wasn’t engineered with [reducing] NOx emissions in mind.

    Monthly E-Magazine
    Thumbnail
    View latest issue
    See our archive
    Sign up for free newsletters
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get Free Newsletters

    Sign up and get the best of Automotive News Europe delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Automotive News Europe Monthly E-Magazine

    Sign up to receive your free link to each monthly issue of Automotive News Europe as soon as it's published.

    GET THE E-MAGAZINE
    Connect with Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Instagram

    Founded in 1996, Automotive News Europe is the preferred information source for decision-makers and opinion leaders operating in Europe.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI  48207-2997
    Tel: +1 877-812-1584


    Email Us

    Resources
    • About us
    • Contact Us
    • 2019 Media Kit
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Awards
    • Rising Stars
    • Eurostars
    • Leading Women
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    Copyright © 1996-2019. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • HOME
    • News
      • Photos
        • Geneva Photo Gallery
        • Beijing Photo Gallery
        • Frankfurt Photo Gallery
        • Paris Photo Gallery
        • Shanghai Photo Gallery
      • Automakers
      • Suppliers
      • Sales By Market
      • Environment/Emissions
      • Latest Launches
      • Sales and Retail
      • Car Cutaways
      • On The Move
    • Auto Shows
      • Geneva Auto Show
      • Frankfurt Auto Show
      • Paris Auto Show
      • Beijing Auto Show
      • Shanghai Auto Show
    • Opinion
      • Blogs
      • Luca Ciferri
      • Douglas A. Bolduc
      • Paul McVeigh
    • Maps
      • E-Car & Component Map of Europe
      • Powertrain Map of Europe
      • Assembly Plant Map of Europe
    • Supplements
      • Connected Car
      • Talk From The Top
      • BMW 100
      • Car Cutaways
    • EVENTS & AWARDS
      • Automotive News Europe Congress
      • Rising Stars
      • Eurostars
      • Leading Women
    • E-MAGAZINE
      • Read the latest issue
      • Download the app
      • Subscribe
    • More
      • E-Magazine
      • Contact Us
      • 2019 Media Kit
      • About Us