Search Results

Fuel consumption is already one of the parameters taken into account for the final ranking of some competitions organized by the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA). Pollutant emissions, such as CO, HC and NOx, could also be taken into consideration in the near future. In occasion of a competition organized by the FIA in the framework of the “Alternative Energies Cup” championship, several vehicles were equipped for demonstration and scientific purpose with portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) in order to measure the gaseous emissions during the competition. The competition took place at the Autodromo Nazionale of Monza on the same track used for the Formula 1 Grand Prix as well. For this competition the track was divided into three sections simulating respectively the typical speeds and driving patterns on urban roads, on extra-urban roads and on motorways.

Gas-operated vehicles powered by natural gas (NG) or other gaseous fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), are seen as a possible option for curbing CO₂ emissions, fuel consumption and operating costs of goods and passenger transport. Initiatives have been adopted by various public organizations in Europe and abroad in order to introduce gas-fueled vehicles in their fleets or use retrofit fueling systems in existing ones. In this study a retrofit dual fuel (diesel-gas) fuelling system was investigated as a potential candidate technology for city bus fleets. The system is marketed under the commercial name d-gid. It is a platform developed by the company Ecomotive Solutions for the control and management of a diesel engine fuelled with a mixture of gaseous fuels. In order to assess its environmental and cost effectiveness the system was tested on a Volvo city bus. The tests were performed on an HDV chassis dyno under various driving conditions.

The increasing urbanization level of many countries around the globe has led to a rapid increase of mobility demand in cities. Although public transport may play an important role, there are still many people relying on private vehicles, and, especially in urban areas, motorcycles and scooters can combine handling and flexibility with lower cost of operation compared to passenger cars. However, in spite of their lower fuel demand, they might significantly contribute to air pollution, lagging behind cars in terms of emission performances. The aim of this paper is to provide the scientific community with the results of an exploratory test campaign on four different motorcycles, converted from gasoline to CNG by means of an after-market conversion kit. A fifth motorcycle, similarly converted from gasoline to LPG, was also tested. These vehicles are powered by 4-strokes engines with a displacement ranging from 50 to 250 cm3 and a power ranging from 3.0 to 16.5 kW.