US bull

 The Volkswagen Lupo 3L turbodiesel and the Audi A2, which use the same
engine, have both edged close to 80 mpg. That's better than a hybrid. On
the downside, that amazing three-cylinder diesel doesn't meet U.S.
emissions standards. US standards? The Cummings in Dodge Ram, the
Duromax in GM's and Ford Powerstroke that get 10 to 15mpg do meet US
standards?

DON'T PISS ON MY LEG AND TELL ME IT'S RAINING!!

 

That sounds very unlikely, somehow.  I'm thinking it may have mroe to
do with the 15 second zero to 62mph acceleration in (for example) the
Audi A2 than just emissions.  There are other regulatory problems
getting minis (the only thing the 3 cylinder diesel's gonna be able to
push) legalized in the US that have nothing to do with emissions.

Do you have any other info on the engine not meeting US emissions
standards, or is this the start of another urban myth?  I"ve got no
dog in this hunt, but it's just hard to imagine an 80mpg engine NOT
meeting emissions standards (unless it's attached to a moped).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

 Mark Hickey wrote:

And we all know just how emissions-friendly the moped is...  No regs for
<50cc 2-strokes, even.  They're stinky on campus here.

--
Phil

 

Getting that kind of mileage out of a 3-liter diesel is actually an
improvement over what has previously been done.

Little VW diesel pickup trucks were around in the
70's or 80's and I remember that they would get up and run at 80 mph,
but they took forever to get there.

I witnessed an economy demonstration at the California Speedway
several years ago. A small penny stock company was trying to get
diesel manufacturers interested in buying licenses to produce cars
that took advantage of their proprietary information.

They called their idea "pulse charging" and compared it to what
happened with the air flow through V-1buzz bomb engine.

I took the engineer who leaked that information to mean that it had
something to do with modifications to the induction tract of the
engine.

But when I looked under the car's hood out at the speedway, I saw that
it had a 3-into-1 exhaust header.

The engine was a 1500cc Yanmar 3-cylinder that was intended for
industrial use, turning a generator.

The company first claimed they were going to drive across country and
get 90 mpg, but they realized they would have no public to witness the
trial. That's why they rented the speedway for a day.

And the test drivers went out and drove the car around and around the
speedway at a steady 45 mph and achieved about 90 miles per gallon at
the steady speed where the exhaust header was doing its thing.

I could still smell diesel fuel in the exhaust, but the exhaust system
wasn't loud even when it was enhancing economy at 45 mph. That
probably meant the engine was only turning 1800 RPM, though.

After the initial flush of success when the penny stock's price rose
to $3.25 a share for an hour or two, the stock went into a gradual
decline back to
only a penny a share.

But the company wanted to prove that a diesel could achieve the same
mileage as a hybrid gasoline-electric car, so they went out and bought
a Toyota Prius and did another test, over the road, against their
Yanmar-engined Geo Prizm.

The Prizm got 90 mpg on the highway, when driven at a steady 45 mph.
Critics complained that 45 mph cruising was not real world driving
conditions, but the company countered that 45 mph was normal in other
parts of the world.

Somebody else pointed out that diesel fuel has a higher BTU content
than gasoline, so that explained part of the increased fuel economy.

They were also trying to get a contract to rebuild Eastern Bloc diesel
bus engines to meet more stringent emissions requirements and the lone
engineer developing the "pulse charging" system was working at a truck
repair company near Oxnard.

He had a dynamic fuel flow indicator and he was talking about trying
to achieve a specific fuel consumption of about 0.25 pounds of fuel
per horsepower hour.

He explained how diesel engines ran without generating any vacuum
because they ran wide open all the time, and just controlled the fuel
injected.

That means that diesels don't have as much "pumping loss" inducing air
into the engine.

He has probably died by now, I've heard nothing about "pulse charging"
for years.

 

When exactly did that stop our lovable krusty kritter from expounding on
a topic?

;-)

--
Later,
John

johajohn@indianahoosiers.edu

'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.