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The new Ford Transit and Ford Transit Custom are the number 1 an

Add Ford to the companies switching to a cleaner method of treating diesel engine frazzle to reduce emissions. Ford, similar VW Group and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen will switch to selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to reduce NOx emissions. SCR is more costly, simply information technology'due south also by and large considered more effective than lean NOx traps (LNT).

LNT applied science is what Volkswagen used on its cars that were caught cheating on diesel emissions. The problem, however, wasn't LNT existence a less effective form of pollution command, only rather that VW was switching off the emissions gear except when the automobile detected information technology was being emissions-tested.

SCRGraphic-dieselforum

Typical Selective Cataytic Reduction (Diesel Technology Forum)

EcoBlue diesel engine goes into Ford Transit van first

The new Transit: EcoBlue EngineThe debut engine will exist Ford'due south four-cylinder, turbocharged EcoBlue, going into Ford Transit vans used by a wide range of delivery services, tradespeople, and shuttle services. The two.2-liter engine is rated from 100 to 240 European horsepower.

"Ford's EcoBoost created a new standard for petrol [gasoline] engines – smaller, more than efficient with surprising functioning. That same obsession to innovate for the customer is behind our new Ford EcoBlue diesel engine range," said Jim Farley, Ford of Europe chairman and CEO. "This new engine lifts fuel efficiency and reduces CO2 by over x per cent in Transit."

Ford says EcoBlue engines will also work their way into rider cars too, starting with a 1.v-liter version. What's less articulate is if Ford plans to bring the engine to the US. Currently in the US, diesel fuel engines are used only on Ford pickup trucks, but not sedans or SUVs. Ford instead has been focusing on hybrids and EVs.

Why the switch to SCR

2016 Ford Focus SE

Selective catalytic reduction is more sophisticated and reduces emissions past a larger amount. But information technology besides calls for injecting tiny amounts of a liquid urea solution into the exhaust stream. It's also called diesel exhaust fluid or AdBlue, blueish existence a term used in conjunction with diesel fuel engines (but not related to Bluetooth). It'southward pointed out the diesel exhaust fluid needs refilling, only that's a non-issue for all the simply worst procrastinators: On many vehicles the DEF tank is good for 10,000 miles of treatment, and a alarm light goes on several fill-ups or hundreds of miles in advance. The cost has likewise come down to as niggling as $3 a gallon. Some automakers and dealers recommend using their own diesel exhaust, which can sell for more than $10 a gallon, simply DEF is generally regarded every bit a generic production.

The Frost and Sullivan consultancy says SCR penetration is currently less than ten% in Europe and won't accomplish 1-third until after 2020, according to industry publication Automotive News. SCR volition well-nigh probable go on the vehicles that have the hardest fourth dimension coming together current emissions regulations.

Volkswagen has said it volition shift its diesels in Europe likewise equally the U.s. to SCR technology as presently as possible. The 11 one thousand thousand VW diesels caught upwardly in the emissions flap were LNT systems, only as we mentioned above, it didn't really matter what technology VW was using because the but time it was used was when it was on a exam bed. PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, a major actor in Europe but not here, began converting its LNT diesel fuel vehicles to SCR three years ago.

In Europe, new vehicles looking to be certified volition demand to laissez passer an over-the-road emissions examination likewise as the current in-the-lab testing. This applies to cars the manufacturers certify, not the cars once they're sold and out on the road. It has been suggested that random testing of moving vehicles would exist more than constructive because a handful of vehicles, the gross polluters, are responsible for at least half the vehicular pollution. In some cases, such tests could exist run remotely, significant with a sensor that measures a vehicle's exhaust from 50 or 100 feet away. Apparent gross polluters could be pulled over for more accurate tests.

For at present, those are just proposals, not something the average commuter has to worry about. But it'south useful in carrying a dialogue about the value of lab tests versus real world tests, and whether information technology'south possible to lower emissions with less-strict limits scrupulously applied.