Emissions Standards - "Good For Fuel Efficiency," Consumption Data Says

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by Duffman

Like I said earlier though, most of the basic tech and theory was available a long time ago, its largely more implemented now though because we have better manufacturing tools to implement it.

I had a materials professor a few years ago that said something interesting..... He said that ~80% of the steels used in cars today hadn't even been invented 5 years prior... Now, I haven't checked on how valid that actual numbers are - but he did write the textbook we were using

Originally Posted by Duffman

edit: I forgot to add as well, changes in fuel formulation have also had a big effect on the cleanliness of cars, and that’s really an external to the idea you are putting forward.

I totally never considered that.... I wonder if there's a time line of fuel formulation standards somewhere... I agree it could very well have a big effect - but I'm trying to make sure claims are substantiated.

[Duffman]

I don’t know about his claim, they still use cheap steel, but HSLA really is just our same basic steels with less impurities to make them better. Personally I feel it is the manufacturers ability to mold intricate plastic shapes now, CNC equipment is a dime a dozen in the manufacturing sector, we can do things with cylinder heads now that had to be hand ported before. The repeatability from part to part would be inconceivable 25 years ago. This gives designers the ability to better optimize their designs. This has really been possible for 100 years but you were buying a hand crafted Ferrari to get it.

As to the fuels, it might be hard to pin down but the big leaps are easily visible; Lead removed in 1975. The switch from 5000+ ppm S to LSD to ULSD. The adoption of oxygenated gasolines. Adoption of top tier gasoline helps an engine maintain its ability to meet emissions standards.