Quote:
Originally Posted by tekcajwolley
But to your point, there are smog legal vehicles in state that are even more gross polluters. It’s all political. This car, even at the gross polluter it is, emits less mass than many others. Think about it.
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Local air pollution is a result of the emission equipment and tuning of an engine. You cannot know how much NOx your car emits without putting it in a certified emissions lab. Some really fuel efficient vehicles can put out NOx levels that are many multiples of some very inefficient vehicles. Some 125cc scooters produce WAY more local pollution than a F250 truck.
CARB (and EPA) have been steadily reducing the allowed local pollution from vehicles for the last 50 years. However, vehicles are only required to meet the rules that applied with the vehicle was sold not the most current rules. That is not politics - it is the reality that it isn't practical to retrofit emission systems on old vehicles every few years. (Image if people had to get a new catalytic converter and engine mapping every 5 years)
The reality is the vehicle fleet gets steadily cleaner as old vehicles get scrapped and replaced with new ones that are cleaner.
The exception to the no retroactive rule is with on-highway medium and heavy duty engines. In 2022 California stopped renewing registrations for diesels older than 2010. (Which is when SCR was introduced to limit NOx emissions)
I do thing about emissions quite a bit. Today I was reviewing my employers engine product plan between now and 2030 and how we will meet CARB 2024 and 2027.