A breakthrough in the management of diesel emissions has been announced today, enabling diesel cars to undercut future limits for nitrogen oxide (NOx) by practically 90 per cent.
Cars should currently emit no much more than 168mg/km (milligrams per kilometre) of NOx and, in 2020, that limit will decrease to 120mg/km in real-world driving tests, and 80mg/km in lab assessments. but new technology developed by Bosch allows a diesel VW Golf to emit just 13mg/km of NOx in mixed driving conditions, measured using the most recent RDE paradigms.
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Even in urban driving, where NOx emissions tend to be higher due to low engine temperatures, Bosch’s system cuts them to 26mg/km – practically a fifth of the levels permitted by the forthcoming 2020 limits. Crucially, Bosch’s tests were conducted in real-world conditions, not laboratory tests – implying they reflect the levels of NOx cars with this tech ought to be capable of emitting when being driven by motorists.
While the car Bosch used to develop its new system was a VW Golf, the changes to its engine were so significant the company refers to the car as a ‘platform demonstrator’. Bosch’s head of powertrains, Dr Rolf Bulander, told car Express: “We completely refurbished this engine because we wanted to have a motor that is not linked to a brand. This is not a VW motor, this is a generic motor.”