178-678: The Volkswagen emissions scandal , sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate , began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Volkswagen Group . The agency had found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing , which caused
356-596: A Colorado mine, and accidentally released over three million gallons of waste water into Cement Creek and the Animas River . In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization , cited research linking glyphosate , an ingredient of the weed killer Roundup manufactured by the chemical company Monsanto , to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma . In March 2017,
534-414: A carcinogen or "probable carcinogen" and is known to increase the risk of heart and respiratory diseases. In principle, a diesel engine does not require any sort of electrical system. However, most modern diesel engines are equipped with an electrical fuel pump, and an electronic engine control unit. However, there is no high-voltage electrical ignition system present in a diesel engine. This eliminates
712-480: A common-rail fuel injection system. This system allows for higher-precision fuel delivery using electronically controlled fuel injectors and higher injection pressure, theoretically leading to better fuel atomization , better air/fuel ratio control, and by extension, better control of emissions . Volkswagen described the diesel engines as being as clean as or cleaner than US and Californian requirements , while providing good fuel economy and performance. Due to
890-752: A dynamometer using the FTP-75 test schedule. These criteria very closely match the EPA's required emissions testing protocol which allowed the vehicle to comply with emissions regulations by properly activating all emissions control during testing. The EPA's NOV alleged that under normal driving conditions, the software suppressed the emissions controls, allowing better fuel economy, at the expense of emitting up to 40 times more nitrogen oxides than allowed by law. In February 2017, Der Spiegel reported that in February 2015, ex Israeli diplomat Avi Primor had shown Ferdinand Piëch ,
1068-463: A "forbidden purpose". On 4 January 2016, the US Department of Justice filed a complaint in a federal court against VW, alleging that the respective 3.0-litre diesel engines meet the legal emission requirements in only a "temperature conditioning" mode that is automatically switched on during testing conditions, while at "all other times, including during normal vehicle operation, the vehicles operate in
1246-857: A 'normal mode' that permits NO x emissions of up to nine times the federal standard". The complaint covers around 85,000 3.0 litre diesel vehicles sold in the United States since 2009, including the Volkswagen Touareg , Porsche Cayenne , Audi A6 Quattro, Audi A7 Quattro, Audi A8 , Audi A8L, Audi Q5 , and Audi Q7 models. *Initial Modification **Subsequent Modification On 29 September 2015, Volkswagen announced plans to refit up to 11 million affected vehicles, fitted with Volkswagen's EA 189 diesel engines, including 5 million at Volkswagen brand, 2.1 million at Audi, 1.2 million at Škoda and 1.8 million light commercial vehicles. SEAT said that 700,000 of its diesel models were affected. In Europe alone,
1424-570: A 15-year cut of 32%, or 789 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. In 2019 it was voided and replaced by the Affordable Clean Energy rule under the Trump administration, and in 2022 its constitutionality was ruled out by the Supreme Court. In August 2015, the 2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill occurred when EPA contractors examined the level of pollutants such as lead and arsenic in
1602-454: A Mercedes as well, but could not obtain one. They used a portable emissions measurement system , making it possible to collect real world driving emissions data, for comparison with laboratory dynamometer testing. The three vehicles were all certified at a California Air Resources Board facility before the tests as falling below the emissions limits when using the standard laboratory testing protocols. They put 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) on
1780-568: A US$ 70,000 grant for a study where they had to test US-spec diesel vehicles with two different emission reduction technologies: lean NO x trap (LNT) and selective catalyst reduction (SCR). John German, co-lead of the US branch of ICCT, said the idea for this "very ordinary" test came from Peter Mock, managing director ICCT in Europe, and they chose to put US vehicles through on-the-road tests because their emissions regulations are more stringent than those in
1958-448: A diesel engine drops at lower loads, however, it does not drop quite as fast as the Otto (spark ignition) engine's. Diesel engines are combustion engines and, therefore, emit combustion products in their exhaust gas . Due to incomplete combustion, diesel engine exhaust gases include carbon monoxide , hydrocarbons , particulate matter , and nitrogen oxides pollutants. About 90 per cent of
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#17328474985292136-495: A dramatic move to the right, President Ronald Reagan in 1981 appointed Anne Gorsuch as EPA administrator. Gorsuch based her administration of EPA on the New Federalism approach of downsizing federal agencies by delegating their functions and services to the individual states. She believed that EPA was over-regulating business and that the agency was too large and not cost-effective. During her 22 months as agency head, she cut
2314-516: A few degrees releasing the pressure and is controlled by a mechanical governor, consisting of weights rotating at engine speed constrained by springs and a lever. The injectors are held open by the fuel pressure. On high-speed engines the plunger pumps are together in one unit. The length of fuel lines from the pump to each injector is normally the same for each cylinder in order to obtain the same pressure delay. Direct injected diesel engines usually use orifice-type fuel injectors. Electronic control of
2492-407: A finite area, and the net output of work during a cycle is positive. The fuel efficiency of diesel engines is better than most other types of combustion engines, due to their high compression ratio, high air–fuel equivalence ratio (λ) , and the lack of intake air restrictions (i.e. throttle valves). Theoretically, the highest possible efficiency for a diesel engine is 75%. However, in practice
2670-713: A formal recall ; in the UK, for example, the company will simply offer to repair the cars free of charge; a recall is required only "when a defect is identified that... could result in serious injury". As the rules violation involved enabling emission controls during testing, but turning it off under normal conditions to improve performance or fuel mileage, it has been speculated that the software update might make cars perform less efficiently and impair fuel economy ; according to VW, however, its proposed solutions will be designed to achieve legal EU emissions compliance without impairing engine performance or consumption. As of September 2015 it
2848-452: A fuel consumption of 519 g·kW ·h . However, despite proving the concept, the engine caused problems, and Diesel could not achieve any substantial progress. Therefore, Krupp considered rescinding the contract they had made with Diesel. Diesel was forced to improve the design of his engine and rushed to construct a third prototype engine. Between 8 November and 20 December 1895, the second prototype had successfully covered over 111 hours on
3026-409: A full set of valves, two-stroke diesel engines have simple intake ports, and exhaust ports (or exhaust valves). When the piston approaches bottom dead centre, both the intake and the exhaust ports are "open", which means that there is atmospheric pressure inside the cylinder. Therefore, some sort of pump is required to blow the air into the cylinder and the combustion gasses into the exhaust. This process
3204-592: A joint House–Senate colloquium was convened by the chairmen of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Senator Henry M. Jackson , and the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, Representative George P. Miller , to discuss the need for and means of implementing a national environmental policy. Congress enacted the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and the law
3382-403: A low-pressure loop at the bottom of the diagram. At 1 it is assumed that the exhaust and induction strokes have been completed, and the cylinder is again filled with air. The piston-cylinder system absorbs energy between 1 and 2 – this is the work needed to compress the air in the cylinder, and is provided by mechanical kinetic energy stored in the flywheel of the engine. Work output is done by
3560-532: A more efficient replacement for stationary steam engines . Since the 1910s, they have been used in submarines and ships. Use in locomotives , buses, trucks, heavy equipment , agricultural equipment and electricity generation plants followed later. In the 1930s, they slowly began to be used in some automobiles . Since the 1970s energy crisis , demand for higher fuel efficiency has resulted in most major automakers, at some point, offering diesel-powered models, even in very small cars. According to Konrad Reif (2012),
3738-587: A national outcry and criminal charges against major steel companies. The US Justice Department in late 1970 began pollution control litigation in cooperation with the new EPA. Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, better known as the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA established a national framework for addressing water quality, including mandatory pollution control standards, to be implemented by
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#17328474985293916-678: A notable exception being the EMD 567 , 645 , and 710 engines, which are all two-stroke. The power output of medium-speed diesel engines can be as high as 21,870 kW, with the effective efficiency being around 47-48% (1982). Most larger medium-speed engines are started with compressed air direct on pistons, using an air distributor, as opposed to a pneumatic starting motor acting on the flywheel, which tends to be used for smaller engines. Medium-speed engines intended for marine applications are usually used to power ( ro-ro ) ferries, passenger ships or small freight ships. Using medium-speed engines reduces
4094-557: A penalty. Nature reported in 2015 that 20 percent of European city dwellers were exposed to unhealthy levels of nitrogen dioxide, and that in London, where diesel road traffic was responsible for 40 percent of NO x emissions, 3,000 deaths per year could be attributed to air pollution. A Channel 4 documentary in January 2015 referred to the UK government moving to a CO 2 emission band system for road tax, which favoured diesel power, as
4272-526: A petroleum engine with glow-tube ignition in the early 1890s; he claimed against his own better judgement that his glow-tube ignition engine worked the same way Diesel's engine did. His claims were unfounded and he lost a patent lawsuit against Diesel. Other engines, such as the Akroyd engine and the Brayton engine , also use an operating cycle that is different from the diesel engine cycle. Friedrich Sass says that
4450-415: A poorer power-to-mass ratio than an equivalent petrol engine. The lower engine speeds (RPM) of typical diesel engines results in a lower power output. Also, the mass of a diesel engine is typically higher, since the higher operating pressure inside the combustion chamber increases the internal forces, which requires stronger (and therefore heavier) parts to withstand these forces. The distinctive noise of
4628-503: A public record, making it controversial and difficult to rescind. So they did not open it; rather, they called Johnson and asked him to take back the draft. Johnson rescinded the draft; in July 2008, he issued a new version which did not state that global warming was danger to public welfare. Burnett resigned in protest. In April 2008, the Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of
4806-420: A recall of 482,000 vehicles. A Notice of Violation is a notification to the recipient that the EPA believes it has committed violations and is not a final determination of liability. Volkswagen's "defeat device" is specially-written engine-management-unit firmware that detects "the position of the steering wheel, vehicle speed, the duration of the engine's operation, and barometric pressure" when positioned on
4984-461: A recall plan to KBA before the end of October for 2.0-litre cars, and end of November for 1.2 and 1.6-litre cars. If KBA approves a plan, Volkswagen can then start handling the cars. The German authorities require that Volkswagen remove the software and that Volkswagen ensures that emission rules are fulfilled. Media estimates that the KBA procedure sets a precedent for how authorities in other countries handle
5162-408: A regular trunk-piston. Two-stroke engines have a limited rotational frequency and their charge exchange is more difficult, which means that they are usually bigger than four-stroke engines and used to directly power a ship's propeller. Four-stroke engines on ships are usually used to power an electric generator. An electric motor powers the propeller. Both types are usually very undersquare , meaning
5340-614: A report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) in October 2014, which stated there was a "real world nitrogen oxides compliance issue" with diesel passenger cars. The UK's DEFRA research indicated a significant reduction in NO x and particulate matter from 1983 to 2014. Respirable suspended particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres – also known as PM 10 (including diesel particulates) – halved since 1996 despite
5518-577: A second term. As a condition for accepting his appointment, Ruckleshaus obtained autonomy from the White House in appointing his senior management team. He then appointed experienced competent professionals to the top management positions, and worked to restore public confidence in the agency. Lee M. Thomas succeeded Ruckelshaus as administrator in 1985. In 1986 Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act , which authorized
Volkswagen emissions scandal - Misplaced Pages Continue
5696-685: A senior official at the Environmental Protection Agency had worked to quash a review of Roundup's main ingredient, glyphosate, that was to have been conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services ." The records show that Monsanto was able to prepare "a public relations assault" on the finding after they were alerted to the determination by Jess Rowland , the head of the EPA's cancer assessment review committee at that time, months in advance. Emails also showed that Rowland "had promised to beat back an effort by
5874-435: A simple mechanical injection system since exact injection timing is not as critical. Most modern automotive engines are DI which have the benefits of greater efficiency and easier starting; however, IDI engines can still be found in the many ATV and small diesel applications. Indirect injected diesel engines use pintle-type fuel injectors. Early diesel engines injected fuel with the assistance of compressed air, which atomised
6052-533: A single orifice injector. The pre-chamber has the disadvantage of lowering efficiency due to increased heat loss to the engine's cooling system, restricting the combustion burn, thus reducing the efficiency by 5–10%. IDI engines are also more difficult to start and usually require the use of glow plugs. IDI engines may be cheaper to build but generally require a higher compression ratio than the DI counterpart. IDI also makes it easier to produce smooth, quieter running engines with
6230-527: A single speed for long periods. Two-stroke engines use a combustion cycle which is completed in two strokes instead of four strokes. Filling the cylinder with air and compressing it takes place in one stroke, and the power and exhaust strokes are combined. The compression in a two-stroke diesel engine is similar to the compression that takes place in a four-stroke diesel engine: As the piston passes through bottom centre and starts upward, compression commences, culminating in fuel injection and ignition. Instead of
6408-426: A small chamber called a swirl chamber, precombustion chamber, pre chamber or ante-chamber, which is connected to the cylinder by a narrow air passage. Generally the goal of the pre chamber is to create increased turbulence for better air / fuel mixing. This system also allows for a smoother, quieter running engine, and because fuel mixing is assisted by turbulence, injector pressures can be lower. Most IDI systems use
6586-516: A source of radio frequency emissions (which can interfere with navigation and communication equipment), which is why only diesel-powered vehicles are allowed in some parts of the American National Radio Quiet Zone . To control the torque output at any given time (i.e. when the driver of a car adjusts the accelerator pedal ), a governor adjusts the amount of fuel injected into the engine. Mechanical governors have been used in
6764-400: A spark plug ( compression ignition rather than spark ignition ). In the diesel engine, only air is initially introduced into the combustion chamber. The air is then compressed with a compression ratio typically between 15:1 and 23:1. This high compression causes the temperature of the air to rise. At about the top of the compression stroke, fuel is injected directly into the compressed air in
6942-417: A swirl chamber or pre-chamber are called indirect injection (IDI) engines. Most direct injection diesel engines have a combustion cup in the top of the piston where the fuel is sprayed. Many different methods of injection can be used. Usually, an engine with helix-controlled mechanic direct injection has either an inline or a distributor injection pump. For each engine cylinder, the corresponding plunger in
7120-582: A system called ROVER, designed to test a car's emissions on the road. The project was shut down in 2001, despite preliminary tests indicating gaps between emissions from lab tests and real world tests of about 10 to 20 percent. In 2011, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre published a report which found the average on-road NO x emission of all tested diesel vehicles to be 0.93 ± 0.39 g/km, and that of tested Euro 5 diesel vehicles to be 0.62 ± 0.19 g/km. Those numbers substantially exceeded
7298-513: A total of 8 million vehicles are affected. In Germany, 2.8 million vehicles will have to be recalled, followed by the UK, with 1.2 million. In France, 984,064 vehicles were affected, in Austria around 360,000, while in the Czech Republic 148,000 vehicles were involved (of which 101,000 were Škodas ). In Portugal, Volkswagen said it had sold 94,400 vehicles with the software. The repair may not require
Volkswagen emissions scandal - Misplaced Pages Continue
7476-568: A total of fourteen states had joined the suit—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the EPA regulations violated the Clean Air Act. In response, EPA announced plans to propose such standards to replace the vacated Clean Air Mercury Rule, and did so on March 16, 2011. In July 2005 there was a delay in the issuance of an EPA report showing that auto companies were using loopholes to produce less fuel-efficient cars. The report
7654-422: A two-stroke ship diesel engine has a single-stage turbocharger with a turbine that has an axial inflow and a radial outflow. In general, there are three types of scavenging possible: Crossflow scavenging is incomplete and limits the stroke, yet some manufacturers used it. Reverse flow scavenging is a very simple way of scavenging, and it was popular amongst manufacturers until the early 1980s. Uniflow scavenging
7832-414: A wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts. The agency's budgeted employee level in 2023 is 16,204.1 full-time equivalent (FTE). More than half of EPA's employees are engineers, scientists, and environmental protection specialists; other employees include legal, public affairs, financial, and information technologists. Beginning in the late 1950s and through
8010-461: Is a combustion engine that is more efficient than a diesel engine, but due to its mass and dimensions, is unsuitable for many vehicles, including watercraft and some aircraft . The world's largest diesel engines put in service are 14-cylinder, two-stroke marine diesel engines; they produce a peak power of almost 100 MW each. Diesel engines may be designed with either two-stroke or four-stroke combustion cycles . They were originally used as
8188-423: Is a simplified and idealised representation of the events involved in a diesel engine cycle, arranged to illustrate the similarity with a Carnot cycle . Starting at 1, the piston is at bottom dead centre and both valves are closed at the start of the compression stroke; the cylinder contains air at atmospheric pressure. Between 1 and 2 the air is compressed adiabatically – that is without heat transfer to or from
8366-431: Is also avoided compared with non-direct-injection gasoline engines, as unburned fuel is not present during valve overlap, and therefore no fuel goes directly from the intake/injection to the exhaust. Low-speed diesel engines (as used in ships and other applications where overall engine weight is relatively unimportant) can reach effective efficiencies of up to 55%. The combined cycle gas turbine (Brayton and Rankine cycle)
8544-444: Is among the most stringent in the world. For comparison, the contemporary European standards known as Euro 5 (2008 "EU5 compliant", 2009–2014 models) and Euro 6 (2015 models) only limit nitrogen oxide emissions to 0.18 grams per kilometre (0.29 g/mi) and 0.08 grams per kilometre (0.13 g/mi) respectively. Defeat devices are forbidden in the EU. The use of a defeat device is subject to
8722-455: Is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order . The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its administrator , who
8900-552: Is appointed by the president and approved by the Senate . The current administrator is Michael S. Regan . The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank . The EPA has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. There are regional offices for each of the agency's ten regions, as well as 27 laboratories around the country. The agency conducts environmental assessment , research, and education. It has
9078-403: Is approximately 5 MW. Medium-speed engines are used in large electrical generators, railway diesel locomotives , ship propulsion and mechanical drive applications such as large compressors or pumps. Medium speed diesel engines operate on either diesel fuel or heavy fuel oil by direct injection in the same manner as low-speed engines. Usually, they are four-stroke engines with trunk pistons;
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#17328474985299256-429: Is called scavenging . The pressure required is approximately 10-30 kPa. Due to the lack of discrete exhaust and intake strokes, all two-stroke diesel engines use a scavenge blower or some form of compressor to charge the cylinders with air and assist in scavenging. Roots-type superchargers were used for ship engines until the mid-1950s, however since 1955 they have been widely replaced by turbochargers. Usually,
9434-492: Is controlled by manipulating the air-fuel ratio (λ) ; instead of throttling the intake air, the diesel engine relies on altering the amount of fuel that is injected, and thus the air-fuel ratio is usually high. The diesel engine has the highest thermal efficiency (see engine efficiency ) of any practical internal or external combustion engine due to its very high expansion ratio and inherent lean burn, which enables heat dissipation by excess air. A small efficiency loss
9612-404: Is done on the system to which the engine is connected. During this expansion phase the volume of the gas rises, and its temperature and pressure both fall. At 4 the exhaust valve opens, and the pressure falls abruptly to atmospheric (approximately). This is unresisted expansion and no useful work is done by it. Ideally the adiabatic expansion should continue, extending the line 3–4 to the right until
9790-413: Is inducted into the chamber during the intake stroke, and compressed during the compression stroke. This increases air temperature inside the cylinder so that atomised diesel fuel injected into the combustion chamber ignites. With the fuel being injected into the air just before combustion, the dispersion of fuel is uneven; this is called a heterogeneous air-fuel mixture. The torque a diesel engine produces
9968-464: Is more complicated to make but allows the highest fuel efficiency; since the early 1980s, manufacturers such as MAN and Sulzer have switched to this system. It is standard for modern marine two-stroke diesel engines. So-called dual-fuel diesel engines or gas diesel engines burn two different types of fuel simultaneously , for instance, a gaseous fuel and diesel engine fuel. The diesel engine fuel auto-ignites due to compression ignition, and then ignites
10146-544: Is necessary to protect the engine against damage and to ensure safe vehicle operation (EC, 2007). These exceptions leave room for interpretation and provide scope, together with the currently applied test procedure, for tailoring the emissions performance [...]. The European Commission and European governments could not agree upon who was responsible for taking action. In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport received
10324-457: Is problematic from the perspective of emissions legislation, because it may enable the use of defeat devices that activate, modulate, delay, or deactivate emissions control systems with the purpose of either enhancing the effectiveness of these systems during emissions testing or reducing the effectiveness of these systems under normal vehicle operation and use. While the use of defeat devices is generally prohibited, exceptions exist in cases where it
10502-588: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In September 2015, the EPA announced that Volkswagen had violated the Clean Air Act by installing unlawful software into their diesel vehicles. Regulators in multiple countries began to investigate the automaker, and its stock price fell in value by a third in the days immediately after the news. Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned, and
10680-519: The Council on Environmental Quality and Atomic Energy Commission . Upon its creation, EPA inherited 84 sites spread across 26 states, of which 42 sites were laboratories. The EPA consolidated these laboratories into 22 sites. In its first year, the EPA had a budget of $ 1.4 billion and 5,800 employees. At its start, the EPA was primarily a technical assistance agency that set goals and standards. Soon, new acts and amendments passed by Congress gave
10858-632: The EA 189 engine. This caused the engine to emit NO x levels above limits in daily operation, but comply with US NO x standards when being tested, constituting a defeat device . In 2015 the news magazine Der Spiegel reported that at least 30 people at management level in Volkswagen knew about the deceit for years, which Volkswagen denied in 2015. Starting in the 2009 model year , Volkswagen Group began migrating its light-duty passenger vehicle's turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to
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#173284749852911036-504: The EU average for diesel cars at the time accounted for half of newly registered cars. However, air pollution and overall emissions are more difficult to control in diesel engines compared to gasoline engines, and the use of diesel auto engines in the U.S. is now largely relegated to larger on-road and off-road vehicles . Though aviation has traditionally avoided using diesel engines, aircraft diesel engines have become increasingly available in
11214-556: The US Congress that it could take years to repair all the cars, especially the older models, due to the required complex hardware and software changes. He said that the fixes would likely preserve fuel economy ratings but, "there might be a slight impact on performance". On 12 October 2015, Paul Willis, Volkswagen UK managing director, told the Commons Transport Select Committee that about 400,000 Volkswagen cars in
11392-694: The United Kingdom , and the United States for "Method of and Apparatus for Converting Heat into Work". In 1894 and 1895, he filed patents and addenda in various countries for his engine; the first patents were issued in Spain (No. 16,654), France (No. 243,531) and Belgium (No. 113,139) in December 1894, and in Germany (No. 86,633) in 1895 and the United States (No. 608,845) in 1898. Diesel
11570-595: The West Virginia University Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions (WVU CAFEE) to test on-road emissions of diesel cars sold in the U.S. Researchers at WVU CAFEE, who conducted live road tests in California using a Japanese on-board emission testing system, detected additional nitrogen oxide ( NO x ) emissions from two out of three tested vehicles, both made by Volkswagen. In May 2014, ICCT published WVU CAFEE's findings and reported them to
11748-578: The "great car con", with Barry Gardiner MP, former member of the Blair government, stating that the policy, which lowered CO 2 emissions yet increased NO x pollution, was a mistake. In 1998, a Swedish researcher criticized the New European Driving Cycle standard for allowing large emission differences between test and reality. The Washington Post also reported that in the late 1990s, EPA engineers at Virginia Testing Laboratory had built
11926-576: The 1960s, Congress reacted to increasing public concern about the impact that human activity could have on the environment. Senator James E. Murray introduced a bill, the Resources and Conservation Act (RCA) of 1959, in the 86th Congress . The bill would have established a Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President , declared a national environmental policy, and required
12104-498: The 2009 through 2016 model years. Following notice of violations and potential criminal sanctions, Volkswagen later agreed to a legal settlement and paid billions of US dollars in criminal penalties, and was required to initiate a vehicle buyback program and modify the engines of the vehicles to reduce illegal air emissions. In August 2015, the EPA finalized the Clean Power Plan to regulate emissions from power plants, projecting
12282-416: The 21st century. Since the late 1990s, for various reasons—including the diesel's inherent advantages over gasoline engines, but also for recent issues peculiar to aviation—development and production of diesel engines for aircraft has surged, with over 5,000 such engines delivered worldwide between 2002 and 2018, particularly for light airplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles . In 1878, Rudolf Diesel , who
12460-450: The Carnot cycle. Diesel was also introduced to a fire piston , a traditional fire starter using rapid adiabatic compression principles which Linde had acquired from Southeast Asia . After several years of working on his ideas, Diesel published them in 1893 in the essay Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Motor . Diesel was heavily criticised for his essay, but only a few found
12638-442: The Department of Health and Human Services to conduct its own review." On February 17, 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator. The Democratic Party saw the appointment as a controversial move, as Pruitt had spent most of his career challenging environmental regulations and policies. He did not have previous experience in the environmental protection field and had received financial support from
12816-658: The EPA threatened to withhold approval for the company's 2016 Volkswagen and Audi diesel models. I am shocked by the events of the past few days. I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part. Martin Winterkorn, — Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resignation statement, 23 September 2015. Volkswagen's CEO Martin Winterkorn said: "I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken
12994-568: The EPA to gather data on toxic chemicals and share this information with the public. EPA also researched the implications of stratospheric ozone depletion. Under Administrator Thomas, EPA joined with several international organizations to perform a risk assessment of stratospheric ozone, which helped provide motivation for the Montreal Protocol, which was agreed to in August 1987. In 1988, during his first presidential campaign, George H. W. Bush
13172-501: The EPA was working on its own standards, but the move has been widely considered an attempt to shield the auto industry from environmental regulation by setting lower standards at the federal level, which would then preempt state laws. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger , along with governors from 13 other states, stated that the EPA's actions ignored federal law, and that existing California standards (adopted by many states in addition to California) were almost twice as effective as
13350-448: The EPA. The EPA's inspector general had determined that the EPA's regulation of mercury emissions did not follow the Clean Air Act, and that the regulations were influenced by top political appointees. The EPA had suppressed a study it commissioned by Harvard University which contradicted its position on mercury controls. The suit alleged that the EPA's rule exempting coal-fired power plants from "maximum available control technology"
13528-456: The European Union. The ICCT expected the cars to pass, and thought they would be able to use the results to demonstrate to Europeans that it was possible to run diesel cars with cleaner emissions. In early 2013, researchers at WVU CAFEE began testing emissions from the three diesel cars: a Volkswagen Passat , a Volkswagen Jetta , and a BMW X5 , on the road in California. They wanted to test
13706-585: The Federal Water Quality Administration, which had previously been transferred from PHS to the Department of the Interior in 1966. A few functions from other agencies were also incorporated into EPA: the formerly independent Federal Radiation Council was merged into it; pesticides programs were transferred from the Department of the Interior, Food and Drug Administration , and Agricultural Research Service ; and some functions were transferred from
13884-509: The Jetta and X5. For their final test, they wanted to put even more mileage on the Passat and drove it from Los Angeles to Seattle and back again, virtually the entire West Coast of the United States , over 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi). The BMW was "at or below the standard ... with exception of rural-up/downhill driving conditions". But the researchers found that under real-world driving conditions
14062-413: The Jetta exceeded US emissions limits "by a factor of 15 to 35" while the Passat exceeded the limit "by a factor of 5 to 20". The emissions far exceeded legal limits set by both European and US standards. One of the testers said, "... we did so much testing that we couldn't repeatedly be doing the same mistake again and again." John German said the deceit required more effort than merely adding some code to
14240-489: The Trump administration attempted to revoke a waiver issued to the state which allowed more stringent standards for auto and truck emissions than the federal standards. Diesel engine The diesel engine , named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel , is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression ; thus,
14418-498: The UK will need fuel injectors altered as well as a software fix. The vehicles requiring the hardware fix are the 1.6 litre diesel models. The 1.2 litre and 2.0 litre diesel models will require only a software fix. On the same day, Volkswagen announced it would overhaul its entire diesel strategy, saying that in Europe and North America it will switch "as soon as possible" to the use of selective catalytic reduction technology to improve diesel emissions. It also announced plans to accelerate
14596-554: The US EPA Tier 2 / Bin 5 emissions standard or the California LEV-II ULEV standard. Either standard requires that nitrogen oxide emissions not exceed 0.043 grams per kilometre (0.07 g/mi) for engines at full useful life which is defined as either 190,000 kilometres (120,000 mi) or 240,000 kilometres (150,000 mi) depending on the vehicle and optional certification choices. This standard for nitrogen oxide emissions
14774-482: The US population. The law required EPA to enforce the standards with the cooperation of state agencies. In October 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which, like FIFRA, related to the manufacture, labeling and usage of commercial products rather than pollution. This act gave the EPA the authority to gather information on chemicals and require producers to test them, gave it
14952-709: The United States and Europe have implemented increasingly stringent NO x emission standards for passenger cars since the early 2000s. To deal with this problem, in 2005 Volkswagen licensed Mercedes ' urea-based selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system called BlueTec for future diesel engine development. While effective at reducing NO x , an SCR system like Bluetec was expensive, high-maintenance and required more space than other methods, making it unsuitable for Volkswagen's compact cars such as Golf or Jetta . Some managers at Volkswagen rejected BlueTec, and preferred to develop their own inexpensive " lean NO x trap " system. In 2007, Volkswagen canceled
15130-1081: The United States, Hering Schuppener in Germany, Finsbury in Britain), in addition to its usual US-retained firm Edelman. To further help deal with the scandal, Volkswagen hired ex-FBI director Louis Freeh , alongside former German constitutional judge Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt previously employed by Daimler , and as of 2016 on Volkswagen's board as its director of integrity and legal affairs. On 3 November 2015, Volkswagen revealed that its internal investigation found that CO 2 emissions and fuel consumption figures were also affected by "irregularities". These new issues, first estimated to cost up to €2 billion to repair, involved mainly diesel, but also some petrol models, with initial estimates suggesting that approximately 800,000 vehicles equipped with 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0 litre motors from VW, Skoda , Audi and SEAT might be affected. On 9 December 2015, Volkswagen revised these estimates, saying that only around 36,000 vehicles are affected by
15308-453: The United States. The scandal raised awareness over the higher levels of pollution emitted by all diesel-powered vehicles from a wide range of car makers, which under real-world driving conditions exceeded legal emission limits. A study conducted by ICCT and ADAC showed the biggest deviations from Volvo , Renault , Jeep , Hyundai , Citroën and Fiat , resulting in investigations opening into other diesel emissions scandals . A discussion
15486-514: The United States. In January 2017, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to criminal charges and signed an agreed Statement of Facts, which set out how the company's management asked engineers to develop the defeat devices , because its diesel models could not pass US emissions tests without them, and deliberately sought to conceal their use. In April 2017, a US federal judge ordered Volkswagen to pay a $ 2.8 billion criminal fine for "rigging diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on government emissions tests". Winterkorn
15664-558: The Volkswagen chairman of the board at the time, a document in which US agencies warned CEO Martin Winterkorn early about the manipulation. During this meeting at the end of February 2015, Primor introduced Piëch to his friend Yuval Diskin , who after retiring from directing the Israeli secret service of the Interior Shin Bet , had founded a cybersecurity company. Shin Bet apparently knew about
15842-697: The ability to regulate chemical production and use (with specific mention of PCBs ), and required the agency to create the National Inventory listing of chemicals. Congress also enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in 1976, significantly amending the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 . It tasked the EPA with setting national goals for waste disposal, conserving energy and natural resources, reducing waste, and ensuring environmentally sound management of waste. Accordingly,
16020-432: The affected 1.2-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines needed only a software update. As of November 2015, the KBA had approved the fixes with the first recalls likely to begin in January 2016. According to VW, the measures aimed to achieve legal EU emissions compliance without impairing engine output, fuel consumption, or performance. The simple fixes with inexpensive parts and software were then possible though not available when
16198-399: The agency developed regulations for solid and hazardous waste that were to be implemented in collaboration with states. President Jimmy Carter appointed Douglas M. Costle as EPA administrator in 1977. To manage the agency's expanding legal mandates and workload, by the end of 1979 the budget grew to $ 5.4 billion and the workforce size increased to 13,000. In 1980, following
16376-594: The agency in partnership with the states. Congress amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) in 1972, requiring EPA to measure every pesticide's risks against its potential benefits. In 1973 President Nixon appointed Russell E. Train , to be the next EPA Administrator. In 1974 Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act , requiring EPA to develop mandatory federal standards for all public water systems , which serve 90% of
16554-447: The agency its regulatory authority. A major expansion of the Clean Air Act was approved in December 1970. EPA staff recall that in the early days there was "an enormous sense of purpose and excitement" and the expectation that "there was this agency which was going to do something about a problem that clearly was on the minds of a lot of people in this country," leading to tens of thousands of resumes from those eager to participate in
16732-579: The agency's Scientific Integrity Official, Francesca Grifo , from testifying at a House committee hearing. EPA offered to send a different representative in place of Grifo and accused the committee of "dictating to the agency who they believe was qualified to speak." The hearing was to discuss the importance of allowing federal scientists and other employees to speak freely when and to whom they want to about their research without having to worry about any political consequences. In September 2019 air pollution standards in California were once again under attack, as
16910-634: The agency. Assistant Administrator Rita Lavelle was fired by Reagan in February 1983 because of her mismanagement of the Superfund program. Gorsuch had increasing confrontations with Congress over Superfund and other programs, including her refusal to submit subpoenaed documents. Gorsuch was cited for contempt of Congress and the White House directed EPA to submit the documents to Congress. Gorsuch and most of her senior staff resigned in March 1983. Reagan then appointed William Ruckelshaus as EPA Administrator for
17088-400: The amount of fuel injected into the engine. Due to the amount of air being constant (for a given RPM) while the amount of fuel varies, very high ("lean") air-fuel ratios are used in situations where minimal torque output is required. This differs from a petrol engine, where a throttle is used to also reduce the amount of intake air as part of regulating the engine's torque output. Controlling
17266-539: The beginning of October 2015, Volkswagen suggested to let car owners decide whether to take their cars for rectification. However, the German Federal Motor Transport Authority ( Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt , or KBA) views the software as illegal, and has ordered a full recall of all affected cars in Germany. Volkswagen then decided to recall around 8.5 million cars in Europe, about a third of all its car deliveries since 2009. KBA requires Volkswagen to send
17444-470: The bore is smaller than the stroke. Low-speed diesel engines (as used in ships and other applications where overall engine weight is relatively unimportant) often have an effective efficiency of up to 55%. Like medium-speed engines, low-speed engines are started with compressed air, and they use heavy oil as their primary fuel. Four-stroke engines use the combustion cycle described earlier. Most smaller diesels, for vehicular use, for instance, typically use
17622-419: The budget of the EPA by 22%, reduced the number of cases filed against polluters, relaxed Clean Air Act regulations, and facilitated the spraying of restricted-use pesticides. She cut the total number of agency employees, and hired staff from the industries they were supposed to be regulating. Environmentalists contended that her policies were designed to placate polluters, and accused her of trying to dismantle
17800-483: The car's computer identified it was undergoing a test. Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 TDI Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI On 18 September 2015, the US EPA served a Notice of Violation (NOV) of the Clean Air Act on Volkswagen Group alleging that Volkswagen and Audi automobiles equipped with 2-litre TDI diesel engines, and sold in the US between 2009 and 2015, had an emissions-compliance "defeat device" installed, and ordered
17978-479: The cars' contribution to global warming. On 20 November 2015, the EPA said Volkswagen officials told the agency that all 3.0-litre TDI diesel engines sold in the US from 2009 through 2015 were also fitted with emissions-cheating software, in the form of "alternate exhaust control devices". These are prohibited in the United States; however, the software is legal in Europe. Volkswagen acknowledges these devices' existence, but maintains that they were not installed with
18156-452: The case. On 18 November 2015, Autoblog reported that the KBA was reviewing a Volkswagen fix for the affected 1.6 diesel engine. On 25 November 2015, Volkswagen said the fix involved a minor hardware modification to the car's air intake system, alongside a software update. This low-cost solution contradicted earlier speculation regarding the possible fitting of new injection nozzles and catalytic converters. In December 2015, Volkswagen said that
18334-459: The censorship of environmental reports . President Obama appointed Gina McCarthy as EPA administrator in 2013. In 2014, the EPA published its "Tier 3" standards for cars, trucks and other motor vehicles, which tightened air pollution emission requirements and lowered the sulfur content in gasoline. In 2015, the EPA discovered extensive violations by Volkswagen Group in its manufacture of Volkswagen and Audi diesel engine cars, for
18512-403: The combination of pesticide programs from the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of the Interior . After conducting hearings during that summer, the House and Senate approved the proposal. The EPA was created 90 days before it had to operate, and officially opened its doors on December 2, 1970. The agency's first administrator, William Ruckelshaus , took
18690-448: The combustion chamber, the droplets continue to vaporise from their surfaces and burn, getting smaller, until all the fuel in the droplets has been burnt. Combustion occurs at a substantially constant pressure during the initial part of the power stroke. The start of vaporisation causes a delay before ignition and the characteristic diesel knocking sound as the vapour reaches ignition temperature and causes an abrupt increase in pressure above
18868-418: The combustion chamber. This may be into a (typically toroidal ) void in the top of the piston or a pre-chamber depending upon the design of the engine. The fuel injector ensures that the fuel is broken down into small droplets, and that the fuel is distributed evenly. The heat of the compressed air vaporises fuel from the surface of the droplets. The vapour is then ignited by the heat from the compressed air in
19046-487: The company had been deceiving regulators. A CARB official was standing next to Grundler at the time. Formal acknowledgement of the deception was made by Volkswagen executives in Germany and the United States to EPA and California officials during a 3 September conference call, during which Volkswagen executives discussed written materials provided to the participants demonstrating how Volkswagen's diesel engine software circumvented US emissions tests. That admission came after
19224-425: The compressed gas. Combustion and heating occur between 2 and 3. In this interval the pressure remains constant since the piston descends, and the volume increases; the temperature rises as a consequence of the energy of combustion. At 3 fuel injection and combustion are complete, and the cylinder contains gas at a higher temperature than at 2. Between 3 and 4 this hot gas expands, again approximately adiabatically. Work
19402-452: The compression ratio in a spark-ignition engine where fuel and air are mixed before entry to the cylinder is limited by the need to prevent pre-ignition , which would cause engine damage. Since only air is compressed in a diesel engine, and fuel is not introduced into the cylinder until shortly before top dead centre ( TDC ), premature detonation is not a problem and compression ratios are much higher. The pressure–volume diagram (pV) diagram
19580-473: The compression required for his cycle: By June 1893, Diesel had realised his original cycle would not work, and he adopted the constant pressure cycle. Diesel describes the cycle in his 1895 patent application. Notice that there is no longer a mention of compression temperatures exceeding the temperature of combustion. Now it is simply stated that the compression must be sufficient to trigger ignition. In 1892, Diesel received patents in Germany , Switzerland ,
19758-416: The concept of air-blast injection from George B. Brayton , albeit that Diesel substantially improved the system. On 17 February 1894, the redesigned engine ran for 88 revolutions – one minute; with this news, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg's stock rose by 30%, indicative of the tremendous anticipated demands for a more efficient engine. On 26 June 1895, the engine achieved an effective efficiency of 16.6% and had
19936-424: The cost of smaller ships and increases their transport capacity. In addition to that, a single ship can use two smaller engines instead of one big engine, which increases the ship's safety. Low-speed diesel engines are usually very large in size and mostly used to power ships . There are two different types of low-speed engines that are commonly used: Two-stroke engines with a crosshead, and four-stroke engines with
20114-478: The defeat device, but they reported their findings in a study they presented to the EPA and CARB in May 2014. In May 2014 Colorado's RapidScreen real-world emissions test data reinforced the suspected abnormally high emissions levels. After a year-long investigation, an international team of investigators identified the defeat device as a piece of code labelled "acoustic condition" which activated emissions-curbing systems when
20292-428: The development of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, as well as petrol, instead of diesel engines for smaller cars. On 12–13 October 2015, Volkswagen Group vehicle drivers in the UK started receiving notification letters, to "rectify the issue". Volkswagen later announced a timeline for UK diesel recalls, citing March 2016 for 2.0-litre engines, June 2016 for 1.2-litre engines, and October 2016 for 1.6-litre engines. At
20470-598: The diesel engine is Diesel's "very own work" and that any "Diesel myth" is " falsification of history ". Diesel sought out firms and factories that would build his engine. With the help of Moritz Schröter and Max Gutermuth [ de ] , he succeeded in convincing both Krupp in Essen and the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg . Contracts were signed in April 1893, and in early summer 1893, Diesel's first prototype engine
20648-449: The diesel engine is called a compression-ignition engine (CI engine). This contrasts with engines using spark plug -ignition of the air-fuel mixture, such as a petrol engine ( gasoline engine) or a gas engine (using a gaseous fuel like natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas ). Diesel engines work by compressing only air, or air combined with residual combustion gases from the exhaust (known as exhaust gas recirculation , "EGR"). Air
20826-484: The discovery of many abandoned or mismanaged hazardous waste sites such as Love Canal , Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act , nicknamed "Superfund." The new law authorized EPA to cast a wider net for parties responsible for sites contaminated by previous hazardous waste disposal and established a funding mechanism for assessment and cleanup. In
21004-417: The efficiency is much lower, with efficiencies of up to 43% for passenger car engines, up to 45% for large truck and bus engines, and up to 55% for large two-stroke marine engines. The average efficiency over a motor vehicle driving cycle is lower than the diesel engine's peak efficiency (for example, a 37% average efficiency for an engine with a peak efficiency of 44%). That is because the fuel efficiency of
21182-469: The engine software, as the code would also have to be validated. The US test results confirmed the ICCT's findings in Europe. ICCT also purchased data from two other sources. The new road testing data and the purchased data were generated using Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) developed by multiple individuals in the mid-late 1990s and published in May 2014. The West Virginia scientists did not identify
21360-474: The engines were developed, because engine technology understanding and intake flow simulation capabilities had matured in the meantime, to address the burning of diesel and air mixtures via intake flow shaping. As of December 2015, due to stricter environmental legislation, fixes for US vehicles were expected to take longer to produce and be more technically complex. United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA )
21538-408: The environment – by the rising piston. (This is only approximately true since there will be some heat exchange with the cylinder walls .) During this compression, the volume is reduced, the pressure and temperature both rise. At or slightly before 2 (TDC) fuel is injected and burns in the compressed hot air. Chemical energy is released and this constitutes an injection of thermal energy (heat) into
21716-420: The environment. The "detailed statement" would ultimately be referred to as an environmental impact statement (EIS). On July 9, 1970, Nixon proposed an executive reorganization that consolidated many environmental responsibilities of the federal government under one agency, a new Environmental Protection Agency. This proposal included merging pollution control programs from a number of departments, such as
21894-542: The fossil fuel industry. In 2017, the Presidency of Donald Trump proposed a 31% cut to the EPA's budget to $ 5.7 billion from $ 8.1 billion and to eliminate a quarter of the agency jobs. However, this cut was not approved by Congress. Pruitt resigned from the position on July 5, 2018, citing "unrelenting attacks" due to ongoing ethics controversies. President Trump appointed Andrew R. Wheeler as EPA Administrator in 2019. On July 17, 2019, EPA management prohibited
22072-463: The four-stroke cycle. This is due to several factors, such as the two-stroke design's narrow powerband which is not particularly suitable for automotive use and the necessity for complicated and expensive built-in lubrication systems and scavenging measures. The cost effectiveness (and proportion of added weight) of these technologies has less of an impact on larger, more expensive engines, while engines intended for shipping or stationary use can be run at
22250-612: The fuel and forced it into the engine through a nozzle (a similar principle to an aerosol spray). The nozzle opening was closed by a pin valve actuated by the camshaft . Although the engine was also required to drive an air compressor used for air-blast injection, the efficiency was nonetheless better than other combustion engines of the time. However the system was heavy and it was slow to react to changing torque demands, making it unsuitable for road vehicles. A unit injector system, also known as "Pumpe-Düse" ( pump-nozzle in German) combines
22428-697: The fuel injection transformed the direct injection engine by allowing much greater control over the combustion. Common rail (CR) direct injection systems do not have the fuel metering, pressure-raising and delivery functions in a single unit, as in the case of a Bosch distributor-type pump, for example. A high-pressure pump supplies the CR. The requirements of each cylinder injector are supplied from this common high pressure reservoir of fuel. An Electronic Diesel Control (EDC) controls both rail pressure and injections depending on engine operating conditions. The injectors of older CR systems have solenoid -driven plungers for lifting
22606-405: The fuel pump measures out the correct amount of fuel and determines the timing of each injection. These engines use injectors that are very precise spring-loaded valves that open and close at a specific fuel pressure. Separate high-pressure fuel lines connect the fuel pump with each cylinder. Fuel volume for each single combustion is controlled by a slanted groove in the plunger which rotates only
22784-461: The gaseous fuel. Such engines do not require any type of spark ignition and operate similar to regular diesel engines. The fuel is injected at high pressure into either the combustion chamber , "swirl chamber" or "pre-chamber," unlike petrol engines where the fuel is often added in the inlet manifold or carburetor . Engines where the fuel is injected into the main combustion chamber are called direct injection (DI) engines, while those which use
22962-476: The good fuel economy provided by its diesel fleet, in 2014 Volkswagen was registered with a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 34 mpg ‑US (6.9 L/100 km; 41 mpg ‑imp ). The low emissions levels of Volkswagen vehicles tested with the defeat device in operation enabled the company to receive green car subsidies and tax exemptions in the US. The Volkswagen and Audi cars identified as violators had been certified to meet either
23140-451: The head of brand development Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Audi research and development head Ulrich Hackenberg, and Porsche research and development head Wolfgang Hatz were suspended. Volkswagen announced plans in April 2016 to spend €16.2 billion ( US$ 18.32 billion at April 2016 exchange rates) in relation to the scandal, and agreed in June 2016 to pay up to $ 14.7 billion to settle civil charges in
23318-462: The impression projected to outsiders did not reflect the reality. In reality, the system failed to combine lower fuel consumption with compliant NO x emissions, and Volkswagen chose around 2006 to program the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to switch from lower fuel consumption and high NO x emissions to low-emission compliant mode when it detected an emissions test, particularly for
23496-424: The increased number and size of diesel cars in the UK. In late 2012, the independent body International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) was seeking proposals from research facilities to study on-road emissions of so-called "clean diesel" cars sold in the US. Researchers at West Virginia University 's Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions (WVU CAFEE) submitted a proposal to ICCT, and were awarded
23674-419: The injection needle, whilst newer CR injectors use plungers driven by piezoelectric actuators that have less moving mass and therefore allow even more injections in a very short period of time. Early common rail system were controlled by mechanical means. The injection pressure of modern CR systems ranges from 140 MPa to 270 MPa. An indirect diesel injection system (IDI) engine delivers fuel into
23852-553: The injector and fuel pump into a single component, which is positioned above each cylinder. This eliminates the high-pressure fuel lines and achieves a more consistent injection. Under full load, the injection pressure can reach up to 220 MPa. Unit injectors are operated by a cam and the quantity of fuel injected is controlled either mechanically (by a rack or lever) or electronically. Due to increased performance requirements, unit injectors have been largely replaced by common rail injection systems. The average diesel engine has
24030-419: The irregularities, while also affirming that it had found no evidence of unlawful changing of CO 2 emissions data. The news prompted a 7.3 percent increase in Volkswagen preference shares on the same day. In November 2016, California regulators claimed to have discovered software installed on some Audi models that allowed the manufacturer to cheat CO 2 emissions during standard testing, thereby also masking
24208-449: The licensing deal for BlueTec and announced that it would use its own pollution control technology. Volkswagen chose the "lean NO x trap" system for its turbo-diesel Golf and Jetta models, but the solution did not work well as it required a fuel-rich exhaust gas in the purification process and fuel economy suffered as a result. Nonetheless, the company promoted the technological miracle of fast, cheap, and green diesel vehicles – but
24386-476: The media did", and expressed concerns over "why the board wasn't informed earlier about the problems when they were known about over a year ago in the United States". Volkswagen announced that 11 million cars were involved in the falsified emission reports, and that over seven billion dollars would be earmarked to deal with the costs of rectifying the software at the heart of the pollution statements. The newly appointed CEO of Volkswagen Mathias Müller stated that
24564-506: The mighty effort to clean up America's environment. When EPA first began operation, members of the private sector felt strongly that the environmental protection movement was a passing fad. Ruckelshaus stated that he felt pressure to show a public which was deeply skeptical about government's effectiveness, that EPA could respond effectively to widespread concerns about pollution. The burning Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1969 led to
24742-476: The mistake that he made; his rational heat motor was supposed to utilise a constant temperature cycle (with isothermal compression) that would require a much higher level of compression than that needed for compression ignition. Diesel's idea was to compress the air so tightly that the temperature of the air would exceed that of combustion. However, such an engine could never perform any usable work. In his 1892 US patent (granted in 1895) #542846, Diesel describes
24920-504: The nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in other fields of science. About 40% of the scientists reported that the interference had been more prevalent in the last five years than in previous years. President Barack Obama appointed Lisa P. Jackson as EPA administrator in 2009. In 2010 it
25098-815: The number of waste sites that are remediated in a given year. (In 2021 Congress reauthorized an excise tax on chemical manufacturers. ) Major legislative updates during the Clinton Administration were the Food Quality Protection Act and the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. President George W. Bush appointed Christine Todd Whitman as EPA administrator in 2001. Whitman was succeeded by Mike Leavitt in 2003 and Stephen L. Johnson in 2005. In March 2005 nine states (California, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Mexico and Vermont) sued
25276-596: The oath of office on December 4, 1970. EPA's primary predecessor was the former Environmental Health Divisions of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), and its creation caused one of a series of reorganizations of PHS that occurred during 1966–1973. From PHS, EPA absorbed the entire National Air Pollution Control Administration, as well as the Environmental Control Administration's Bureau of Solid Waste Management, Bureau of Water Hygiene, and part of its Bureau of Radiological Health. It also absorbed
25454-552: The passage of the Superfund law in 1980, an excise tax had been levied on the chemical and petroleum industries, to support the cleanup trust fund. Congressional authorization of the tax was due to expire in 1995. Although Browner and the Clinton Administration supported continuation of the tax, Congress declined to reauthorize it. Subsequently, the Superfund program was supported only by annual appropriations, greatly reducing
25632-534: The past, however electronic governors are more common on modern engines. Mechanical governors are usually driven by the engine's accessory belt or a gear-drive system and use a combination of springs and weights to control fuel delivery relative to both load and speed. Electronically governed engines use an electronic control unit (ECU) or electronic control module (ECM) to control the fuel delivery. The ECM/ECU uses various sensors (such as engine speed signal, intake manifold pressure and fuel temperature) to determine
25810-477: The piston (not shown on the P-V indicator diagram). When combustion is complete the combustion gases expand as the piston descends further; the high pressure in the cylinder drives the piston downward, supplying power to the crankshaft. As well as the high level of compression allowing combustion to take place without a separate ignition system, a high compression ratio greatly increases the engine's efficiency. Increasing
25988-403: The piston-cylinder combination between 2 and 4. The difference between these two increments of work is the indicated work output per cycle, and is represented by the area enclosed by the pV loop. The adiabatic expansion is in a higher pressure range than that of the compression because the gas in the cylinder is hotter during expansion than during compression. It is for this reason that the loop has
26166-417: The pollutants can be removed from the exhaust gas using exhaust gas treatment technology. Road vehicle diesel engines have no sulfur dioxide emissions, because motor vehicle diesel fuel has been sulfur-free since 2003. Helmut Tschöke argues that particulate matter emitted from motor vehicles has negative impacts on human health. The particulate matter in diesel exhaust emissions is sometimes classified as
26344-417: The preparation of an annual environmental report. The conservation movement was weak at the time and the bill did not pass Congress. The 1962 publication of Silent Spring , a best-selling book by Rachel Carson , alerted the public about the detrimental effects on animals and humans of the indiscriminate use of pesticide chemicals. In the years following, Congress discussed possible solutions. In 1968,
26522-419: The presiding judge in a litigation brought about by people who claim to have developed glyphosate-related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma opened Monsanto emails and other documents related to the case, including email exchanges between the company and federal regulators. According to The New York Times , the "records suggested that Monsanto had ghostwritten research that was later attributed to academics and indicated that
26700-408: The pressure falls to that of the surrounding air, but the loss of efficiency caused by this unresisted expansion is justified by the practical difficulties involved in recovering it (the engine would have to be much larger). After the opening of the exhaust valve, the exhaust stroke follows, but this (and the following induction stroke) are not shown on the diagram. If shown, they would be represented by
26878-442: The proposed federal standards. It was reported that Johnson ignored his own staff in making this decision. In 2007 it was reported that EPA research was suppressed by career managers. Supervisors at EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment required several paragraphs to be deleted from a peer-reviewed journal article about EPA's integrated risk information system , which led two co-authors to have their names removed from
27056-419: The public welfare—a decision that would trigger the first national mandatory global-warming regulations. Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett e-mailed the draft to the White House. White House aides—who had long resisted mandatory regulations as a way to address climate change—knew the gist of what Johnson's finding would be, Burnett said. They also knew that once they opened the attachment, it would become
27234-414: The publication, and the corresponding author, Ching-Hung Hsu, to leave EPA "because of the draconian restrictions placed on publishing". The 2007 report stated that EPA subjected employees who author scientific papers to prior restraint , even if those papers are written on personal time. In December 2007 EPA administrator Johnson approved a draft of a document that declared that climate change imperiled
27412-428: The respective Euro 3–5 emission limit. In 2013, the research center then warned: Sensors and electronic components in modern light-duty vehicles are capable of 'detecting' the start of an emissions test in the laboratory (e.g., based on acceleration sensors or not-driven/not-rotating wheels). Some vehicle functions may only be operational in the laboratory, if a predefined test mode is activated. Detecting emissions tests
27590-438: The responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws , in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions , and other measures. It delegates some permitting, monitoring, and enforcement responsibility to U.S. states and the federally recognized tribes . The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in
27768-405: The same day it was reported that besides the internal investigation of the incidents, the supervisory board of Volkswagen had hired American law firm Jones Day to carry out an independent investigation. Computerworld suggested that a software audit trail and test logs were ways to investigate what took place when. In February 2016 Volkswagen also contracted three public relations firms (Kekst in
27946-434: The scandal early. Primor confirmed that the meeting took place, but both Primor and Diskin denied tipping off Piech. In early March 2017, Piech asked Winterkorn whether there had been a warning by US agencies, which Winterkorn denied. According to the EPA, Volkswagen had insisted for a year before the outbreak of the scandal that discrepancies were mere technical glitches. Volkswagen fully acknowledged that they had manipulated
28124-779: The software was activated in only a part of those 11 million cars, which has yet to be determined. The German tabloid Bild claimed that top management had been aware of the software's use to manipulate exhaust settings as early as 2007. Bosch provided the software for testing purposes and warned Volkswagen that it would be illegal to use the software to avoid emissions compliance during normal driving. Der Spiegel followed Bild with an article dated 30 September 2015 to state that some groups of people were aware of this in 2005 or 2006. Süddeutsche Zeitung had similarly reported, that Heinz-Jakob Neusser, one of Volkswagen's top executives, had ignored at least one engineer's warnings over "possibly illegal" practices in 2011. On 28 September 2015, it
28302-489: The test bench. In the January 1896 report, this was considered a success. In February 1896, Diesel considered supercharging the third prototype. Imanuel Lauster , who was ordered to draw the third prototype " Motor 250/400 ", had finished the drawings by 30 April 1896. During summer that year the engine was built, it was completed on 6 October 1896. Tests were conducted until early 1897. First public tests began on 1 February 1897. Moritz Schröter 's test on 17 February 1897
28480-890: The timing of the start of injection of fuel into the cylinder is similar to controlling the ignition timing in a petrol engine. It is therefore a key factor in controlling the power output, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. There are several different ways of categorising diesel engines, as outlined in the following sections. Günter Mau categorises diesel engines by their rotational speeds into three groups: High-speed engines are used to power trucks (lorries), buses , tractors , cars , yachts , compressors , pumps and small electrical generators . As of 2018, most high-speed engines have direct injection . Many modern engines, particularly in on-highway applications, have common rail direct injection . On bigger ships, high-speed diesel engines are often used for powering electric generators. The highest power output of high-speed diesel engines
28658-463: The trust of our customers and the public." Winterkorn was in charge at Volkswagen from the start of 2008 to September 2015. He attributed the admitted wrongdoing to "the terrible mistakes of a few people". Winterkorn initially resisted calls to step down from his leadership role at VW, but then resigned as CEO on 23 September 2015. Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn was more direct, saying, "We've totally screwed up." Horn added, "Our company
28836-556: The vehicle emission tests only after being confronted with evidence regarding the "defeat device". The first sign that Volkswagen was ready to come clean reportedly occurred on 21 August 2015 at a conference on green transportation in Pacific Grove, California , where an unnamed company representative approached Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, and surprised him by informally admitting that
29014-400: The vehicles' NO x output to meet US standards during regulatory testing. However, the vehicles emitted up to 40 times more NO x in real-world driving. Volkswagen deployed this software in about 11 million cars worldwide, including 500,000 in the United States, in model years 2009 through 2015. In 2013, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) commissioned
29192-524: Was a student at the "Polytechnikum" in Munich , attended the lectures of Carl von Linde . Linde explained that steam engines are capable of converting just 6–10% of the heat energy into work, but that the Carnot cycle allows conversion of much more of the heat energy into work by means of isothermal change in condition. According to Diesel, this ignited the idea of creating a highly efficient engine that could work on
29370-488: Was attacked and criticised over several years. Critics claimed that Diesel never invented a new motor and that the invention of the diesel engine is fraud. Otto Köhler and Emil Capitaine [ de ] were two of the most prominent critics of Diesel's time. Köhler had published an essay in 1887, in which he describes an engine similar to the engine Diesel describes in his 1893 essay. Köhler figured that such an engine could not perform any work. Emil Capitaine had built
29548-608: Was based on ideas that had been discussed in the 1959 and subsequent hearings. The Richard Nixon administration made the environment a policy priority in 1969-1971 and created two new agencies, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and EPA. Nixon signed NEPA into law on January 1, 1970. The law established the CEQ in the Executive Office of the President. NEPA required that a detailed statement of environmental impacts be prepared for all major federal actions significantly affecting
29726-472: Was built in Augsburg . On 10 August 1893, the first ignition took place, the fuel used was petrol. In winter 1893/1894, Diesel redesigned the existing engine, and by 18 January 1894, his mechanics had converted it into the second prototype. During January that year, an air-blast injection system was added to the engine's cylinder head and tested. Friedrich Sass argues that, it can be presumed that Diesel copied
29904-520: Was charged in the United States with fraud and conspiracy on 3 May 2018. As of 1 June 2020, the scandal had cost VW $ 33.3 billion in fines, penalties, financial settlements and buyback costs. Various government and civil actions are currently ongoing in the U.S., as well as the European Union, where most of the affected vehicles are located; while they remain legal to drive there, consumers groups and governments seek to make sure Volkswagen has compensated these owners appropriately as they had to do in
30082-529: Was dishonest with the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board and with all of you." Olaf Lies, a Volkswagen board member and economy minister of Lower Saxony, later told the BBC that the people "who allowed this to happen, or who made the decision to install this software" acted criminally, and must be held personally accountable. He also said the board found out about the problems only "shortly before
30260-500: Was illegal, and additionally charged that the EPA's system of cap-and-trade to lower average mercury levels would allow power plants to forego reducing mercury emissions, which they objected would lead to dangerous local hotspots of mercury contamination even if average levels declined. Several states also began to enact their own mercury emission regulations. Illinois's proposed rule would have reduced mercury emissions from power plants by an average of 90% by 2009. In 2008—by which point
30438-592: Was reflected in the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act and in new approaches by the agency, such as a greater emphasis on watershed -based approaches in Clean Water Act programs. In 1992 EPA and the Department of Energy launched the Energy Star program, a voluntary program that fosters energy efficiency. Carol Browner was appointed EPA administrator by President Bill Clinton and served from 1993 to 2001. Major projects during Browner's term included: Since
30616-419: Was reported that Volkswagen had suspended Heinz-Jakob Neusser, head of brand development at its core Volkswagen brand, Ulrich Hackenberg, the head of research and development at its brand Audi who oversees technical development across the Volkswagen group, and Wolfgang Hatz, research and development chief at its sports-car brand Porsche who also heads engine and transmissions development of the Volkswagen group. On
30794-489: Was reported that a $ 3 million mapping study on sea level rise was suppressed by EPA management during both the Bush and Obama administrations, and managers changed a key interagency report to reflect the removal of the maps. Between 2011 and 2012, some EPA employees reported difficulty in conducting and reporting the results of studies on hydraulic fracturing due to industry and governmental pressure, and were concerned about
30972-589: Was sparked on the topic of software-controlled machinery being generally prone to cheating, and a way out would be to open source the software for public scrutiny. In general, diesel engines have better fuel efficiency and less carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission than petrol engines , but they emit 20 times more nitrogen oxide ( NO x ) unless somehow treated. Three-way catalytic converters , which have been very effective at reducing NO x in petrol engine exhaust, do not function well for them. As NO x are harmful air pollutants , regulators in
31150-536: Was supposed to be released the day before a controversial energy bill was passed and would have provided backup for those opposed to it, but the EPA delayed its release at the last minute. EPA initiated its voluntary WaterSense program in 2006 to encourage water efficiency through the use of a special label on consumer products. In 2007 the state of California sued the EPA for its refusal to allow California and 16 other states to raise fuel economy standards for new cars. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson claimed that
31328-424: Was the main test of Diesel's engine. The engine was rated 13.1 kW with a specific fuel consumption of 324 g·kW ·h , resulting in an effective efficiency of 26.2%. By 1898, Diesel had become a millionaire. The characteristics of a diesel engine are The diesel internal combustion engine differs from the gasoline powered Otto cycle by using highly compressed hot air to ignite the fuel rather than using
31506-431: Was unclear whether the repair would include hardware modifications, such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR) upgrades. The recall was scheduled to start in January 2016, with all affected cars projected to be fixed by the end of the year. The company also announced a review of all of its brands and models, including its supercar marque Bugatti . On 8 October 2015, Volkswagen US CEO Michael Horn said in testimony before
31684-544: Was vocal about environmental issues. Following his election victory, he appointed William K. Reilly , an environmentalist, as EPA Administrator in 1989. Under Reilly's leadership, the EPA implemented voluntary programs and initiated the development of a "cluster rule" for multimedia regulation of the pulp and paper industry. At the time, there was increasing awareness that some environmental issues were regional or localized in nature, and were more appropriately addressed with sub-national approaches and solutions. This understanding
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