It has been said that there is always a silver lining behind every cloud, a blessing in disguise, if you will. It seems that a year after the controversial emissions scandal involving German carmaker Volkswagen, something good may finally come out of it—not just for VW but for the auto industry as a whole.
As the European Union clamps down on emissions, a report by Reuters reveals that EU nations have backed a resolution calling for a strengthening of on-road emissions testing to supplement tests done in the lab. While lab tests may give a potential picture of how cars perform, nothing beats real-world demos.
Apart from the real-world tests, the move calls for including the number of fine particles in emissions tests for gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines, as well as all other engines. With GDI motors becoming all the rage nowadays, the sad reality is that some of these powerplants tend to emit 10 times more particulate matter than their regular gasoline counterparts. While it used to be that diesel engines were the only ones subject to scrutiny, recent studies have shown that the particulate matter spewed by these gas motors can be just as deadly, if not even worse.
To comply, manufacturers must place a gasoline particulate filter, similar to what is being done to diesel mills. The new rules will take effect for all new car models by September of 2017, while all vehicles need to comply a year after.
