After the diesel summit did not commit car manufacturers to any retrofits, drivers must now take action themselves if they want to avoid driving bans. This brings retrofit systems into focus. However, they easily cost 2000 euros, but turn a euro 4 diesel into a clean euro 6.
automotive supplier twintec has developed a retrofittable emission control system that allows even euro 4 diesels to meet the strict euro 6 standards.
The retrofit kit costs between 1500 and 2000 euros for cars.
This is how twintec’s exhaust gas cleaning system works: since it does not interfere with the car’s electronics, it is relatively easy to install as an additional feature.
diesel driving bans are getting closer and closer, because in many cities the magic limit of 40 micrograms of nox per cubic meter is exceeded too often. at the diesel summit, to which chancellor angela merkel had invited, the previously approved one billion euro was once again put in the shop window.
However, it has not been decided to make it mandatory for manufacturers to retrofit old diesels. And the brainstorming session did not produce anything more than the idea of converting buses to electric drive. For the time being, this cannot be done on a large scale anyway. German companies like daimler have only presented prototypes of electric buses, but have not yet entered mass production.
It would be worthwhile to electrify the vehicles that are in use practically around the clock and achieve mileages of more than 100 kilometers per hour.000 per year. At least volvo is already experimenting with electric buses in practice, for example in hamburg and Gothenburg. And volvo has even presented a double-decker with electric drive for london.
Job search for engineers
Euro 5 diesels can be retrofitted to euro 6
The federal government was also unable to agree on a premium for retrofitting older diesel vehicles with modern cleaning systems. Vehicle owners must now pay for these themselves if they want to limit the loss in value of their cars and avoid being affected by driving bans.
And this is how it could pay to upgrade older diesels (euro 4, euro 5) to euro 6. What manufacturers can’t do or don’t want to do is made possible by the automotive supplier twintec near bonn, a company that belongs to the swiss baumot group. It solves a problem for vehicles on the road without a catalytic converter or with a bluetec or comparable system that renders nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas harmless.
The former emits the corrosive gases in the same quantity as they are produced in the engine. The latter only crack the nitrogen oxides if the exhaust gases reach a temperature of at least 250 degrees celsius. This takes a few minutes after a cold start. And during the journey, the temperature sometimes drops below this level if the engine is not being asked to produce enough power.
At least 250 degrees are necessary
This is because the exhaust gas purification system sprays uric acid (adblue) in liquid form into the exhaust gas stream. Only when this evaporates from 250 degrees to ammonia does the destruction of the nitrogen oxides begin. The twintec solution includes a generator in which the uric acid is vaporized. Only in this form does it enter the exhaust gas stream.
During a cold start, a heating coil with a power of 400 watts is switched on, which vaporizes the uric acid after just 30 seconds. When the engine is running at normal power, a bypass through which hot exhaust gases flow keeps the generator at operating temperature. If the power drops, the electric heater kicks in again.
Fuel consumption hardly increases
In the summer, the trade journal auto motor und sport measured the emissions of two euro 5 Passat models, one of which was in its original condition and the other retrofitted with the bnox exhaust system from twintec. The latter’s emissions of 49 milligrams of nox per kilometer were lower than even the best euro 6 vehicles. At 431 milligrams per kilometer, the original Passat emitted almost ten times as much.
At six liters per 100 kilometers, the retrofitted vehicle needed only 0.2 liters more than the passat in its original state. ADAC measurements showed that nitrogen oxide emissions can be reduced by up to 60 percent. Depending on the model, the retrofit costs between 1500 and 2000 euros a price that diesel drivers will have to pay themselves.
Still at the research stage is a new type of catalytic converter from the Julich research center that ensures clean exhaust gases even without additives such as urea and even at lower temperatures. Read here how it works.