Quote:
Originally Posted by turbovr41991
I am not saying the EPA does not care about the environment, but they also have another agenda or people to answer to… Big oil companies and the auto manufacturers. They choose the method of worked best for them. Why base it on engine size? If you put a big engine in a small car, you suddenly are immune to most restrictions? It just seems silly. Rate them on function, rate them on the number of passengers it can hold, etc etc… But restricting lean burn was a joke. Chevys corvette had trouble passing EPA, but they worked with each other so the cars could be produced. Under light to moderate acceleration when you try to shift from 1st to 2nd it will not let you. A light in the dash flashes “1st to 4th.” So to pass epa restrictions they installed a servo that blocks you from shifting into second gear at lower speeds. How silly is that. I am just saying a lot more effort goes into selling high dollar gas guzzling cars than it does to develop efficient cars that use little to no fuel at all.
|
I think you could have an mandate to improve emissions. So a carmaker has to pass your mandate of improving emissions, sometimes those old pushrod engines designed in the '60's just can't do it. So call this a compromise.
Emissions are very very complex. I know the name of this forum is ecomodder and many here are trying different ways to burn less fuel. It is still a balancing act and a lot of the advice here produces significantly more emissions, decreases the safety and causes hazards to other road users. P&G is a good example releasing about twice the pollutants with maybe 5% less consumption?
The small picture is how much fuel was burned going from A to B. The big picture is how waste was emitted per day for everyone. Sometimes larger engines do emit less, sometimes smaller ones emit more. The idea here is a good one but its easy to get lost in the complexities.
When you look at the efficiency of most 2010+ models you see a significant increase. All of what EPA does may not be perfect but you can largely thank them for that.
-Michael