Honda To Bring us a Hybrid Odyssey
Hybrid Cars from Hybrid Hippie!
Honda is heading in the right direction with this one.
- Diesels are shaping up to be an important component of Honda's future product strategy in the US.
During his Vision 2010 speech, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced an increasing focus on the use of diesels for medium- and large-size vehicles. He also announced that the company would introduce a 4 cylinder, 50-state-ready clean diesel in the US within three years, and noted that Honda would work on developing a six-cylinder clean diesel for the US.
In a subsequent interview, Mr. Fukui said that Honda had no plans to put hybrid drivetrains in light trucks such as the Odyssey minivan or Acura MDX SUV. "We think Hondas light trucks, such as the Odyssey and the MDX, will be more fuel efficient with diesels," he explained.
The key challenge of such an introduction is the development of an exhaust treatment system that can meet all US emissions standards.
There are two sets of emission standards at work in the US: those set by the EPA, and those set by California (California's emission control work pre-dates the EPA). Each state has the option of enacting the more stringent California standards or defaulting to the Federal. No new diesel passenger vehicle currently meets the more stringent California standards; therefore you cannot currently buy a new diesel in any state that has adopted those standards.
(The good news is that the two sets of standards are converging, with the coming EPA Tier 2 Bin 5 standard mapping to the California LEV II standards.)
For automakers, a "50-state" diesel would thus currently have to be designed to meet the California emissions standards. While two automakers DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen--do currently sell diesels in only the EPA-regulated states, others such as BMW are holding off entering the US market with a diesel until they can deliver a 50-state solution.
Earlier this year, DaimlerChrysler announced the first 50-state diesel with the coming introduction later this year of the E320 BLUETEC, a car with a new emissions control system that meets the tough converged standards.
Hondas verbal commitment to the complete diesel market in the US means that the automaker has a Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions solution under development. In fact, the company was just awarded a US patent on such a system.
Unlike the approach taken by DaimlerChrysler with BLUETEC, Honda has patented a plasma-assisted catalytic system a multi-phase system combining a small electric plasma reactor and two catalytic conversion units that promise the requisite reductions in oxides of nitrogen necessary to meet the emissions standards.
A number of automakers and researchers have explored this approach over the past ten years. The design promises a more fuel-efficient means to lower emissions than a more conventional adsorber approach, and doesn't require the additional infrastructure of a urea-injection approach.
However, the engineering behind such a system to develop the right catalytic units, to solve the problem of generating and maintaining the electricity required for the plasma--to package it in such as way to work within vehicle form factors, to make it cost-effective and to deliver the required low emissions is not trivial.
If Honda has figured out how to do all that, and can deliver the requisite low-emissions diesels into the US, we may start thinking of Honda for its diesels rather than its hybrids
Honda is heading in the right direction with this one.
- Diesels are shaping up to be an important component of Honda's future product strategy in the US.
During his Vision 2010 speech, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced an increasing focus on the use of diesels for medium- and large-size vehicles. He also announced that the company would introduce a 4 cylinder, 50-state-ready clean diesel in the US within three years, and noted that Honda would work on developing a six-cylinder clean diesel for the US.
In a subsequent interview, Mr. Fukui said that Honda had no plans to put hybrid drivetrains in light trucks such as the Odyssey minivan or Acura MDX SUV. "We think Hondas light trucks, such as the Odyssey and the MDX, will be more fuel efficient with diesels," he explained.
The key challenge of such an introduction is the development of an exhaust treatment system that can meet all US emissions standards.
There are two sets of emission standards at work in the US: those set by the EPA, and those set by California (California's emission control work pre-dates the EPA). Each state has the option of enacting the more stringent California standards or defaulting to the Federal. No new diesel passenger vehicle currently meets the more stringent California standards; therefore you cannot currently buy a new diesel in any state that has adopted those standards.
(The good news is that the two sets of standards are converging, with the coming EPA Tier 2 Bin 5 standard mapping to the California LEV II standards.)
For automakers, a "50-state" diesel would thus currently have to be designed to meet the California emissions standards. While two automakers DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen--do currently sell diesels in only the EPA-regulated states, others such as BMW are holding off entering the US market with a diesel until they can deliver a 50-state solution.
Earlier this year, DaimlerChrysler announced the first 50-state diesel with the coming introduction later this year of the E320 BLUETEC, a car with a new emissions control system that meets the tough converged standards.
Hondas verbal commitment to the complete diesel market in the US means that the automaker has a Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions solution under development. In fact, the company was just awarded a US patent on such a system.
Unlike the approach taken by DaimlerChrysler with BLUETEC, Honda has patented a plasma-assisted catalytic system a multi-phase system combining a small electric plasma reactor and two catalytic conversion units that promise the requisite reductions in oxides of nitrogen necessary to meet the emissions standards.
A number of automakers and researchers have explored this approach over the past ten years. The design promises a more fuel-efficient means to lower emissions than a more conventional adsorber approach, and doesn't require the additional infrastructure of a urea-injection approach.
However, the engineering behind such a system to develop the right catalytic units, to solve the problem of generating and maintaining the electricity required for the plasma--to package it in such as way to work within vehicle form factors, to make it cost-effective and to deliver the required low emissions is not trivial.
If Honda has figured out how to do all that, and can deliver the requisite low-emissions diesels into the US, we may start thinking of Honda for its diesels rather than its hybrids
posted by Car Boys Media @ 1:58 PM
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