New legislation in the European Community (EC) will significantly reduce allowable exhaust emissions from cars and include higher speeds in the emission test cycle. These changes will make it necessary for cars to be equipped with more effective emission control systems. This report describes the measurement of exhaust emissions from three types of car at steady speeds up to 130 km/h. One type of car was built to comply with EC directive 83/351/EEC and had no specific emission control system, another had a controlled three-way catalyst and the third had a lean-burn engine with an oxidation catalyst. At speeds over 110 km/h all cars emitted substantially increased rates of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, with a decrease in the rate of emission of oxides of nitrogen. Overall, the emission controlled cars produced substantially lower emissions at high speeds than the car without catalyst. The fuel consumption of the lean-burn cars was consistently lower than that of the other cars. (A)
Abstract