Emission law 'won't increase fuel bills'
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• Truck operators should not face higher fuel bills because of emission legislation, says Mike Monaghan, technical director of Ricardo Consulting Engineers. Euro-3 engines "may not suffer from a significant degradation in fuel consumption while fleets may not see any real increase at all".
By 2000 he predicts that heavy truck diesel engines will be charge-cooled and use high pressure electronically controlled unit injectors giving pressures up to 2,000bar.
Full electronic management will be needed to give the necessary retardation at rated speeds and maximum torque. Compression ratio will be around 17:1 for a two-litre per cylinder engine, says Monaghan, not least to control light hydrocarbons and smoke on starting.
Truck manufacturers now appear to be favouring variable vane turbocharging rather than exhaust gas recirculation in order to control emissions.
Oxidation catalyst may not be necessary for Euro-3, but Monaghan believes that they might be adopted to give a margin of safety on top of emission reductions within the combustion chamber.