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Motorbikes '16 times worse than cars for pollution'
Motorbikes are churning out more pollution than cars, even though they make up only a small fraction of vehicles on the roads, according to a report.
Tests on a selection of modern motorbikes and private cars revealed that rather than being more environmentally-friendly, motorbikes emit 16 times the amount of hydrocarbons, including greenhouse gases, three times the carbon monoxide and a "disproportionately high" amount of other pollutants, compared to cars.
Ana-Marija Vasic at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, who led the research, said the need to legislate on emissions from motorbikes has been overlooked because there are so few on the roads.
The oversight has lead to a paucity of research into ways of making their engines run more cleanly.
In Britain, there are 1,060,000 motorbikes on the road but more than 25m private cars.
Dr Vasic's tests showed that, especially in urban traffic, when motorcyclists frequently accelerated quickly, motorbike engines burned fuel inefficiently, giving a sharp peak in emissions. The yearly hydrocarbon emissions of the average two-wheeler in urban traffic measured up to 49 times higher than that of the average car, according to the study, due to be published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
"The importance of [motorbike] emissions has been underestimated in legislation, giving manufacturers little motivation to improve after treatment systems," said Dr Vasic.
The tests were carried out on a variety of Yamaha, Piaggio and Honda 50cc scooters and Suzuki, Honda and BMW motorbikes with engine sizes ranging from 800cc to 1150cc.
ACEM Response:
Today’s motorcycles compare favourably on many environmental parameters ACEM welcomes a study which just states the obvious and only confirms what the Industry has been asking for long now: the necessity for fiscal incentives to speed up fleet renewal.
Looking in a mirror over a past picture does not fill out the debate. It just proves the relevance of the Motorcycle Industry’s arguments calling for fiscal incentives in order to speed up the PTW park’s replacement. Instead, looking ahead, ACEM regrets that the Swiss study did not consider neither the impact of Euro 3 stage - to be implemented in one week (1-01-2006) - nor the directive in preparation that will cover, amongst others, the respect of the emissions limit values during the useful life of the product (the so-called “durability requirements”) and evaporative emissions limit values.
Motorcycle manufacturers have already made tremendous progress in shorter time than car manufacturers have.
They keep working everyday on improving the environmental standards of their products.
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Reacting to the EMPA announced report declaring that motorcycles were polluting “16 times more than cars”, Motorcycle manufacturers have several comments to make regarding Mrs. Vasic and Mr. Weilenmann’s investigation and reserve the right to comment in more details once the study conclusions are available to them:
The investigation compares Euro 0 bikes versus Euro 3 cars
As is the case in many national studies – often said to be based on “real use” conditions - the Swiss investigation unfairly compare Euro0/1 bikes versus Euro 3 cars. Euro 3 bikes are already available on the market and have considerable lower emission limits.
The study uses inappropriate test cycles.
The test cycles that were used do not correctly reflect actual operating conditions for motorcycles.
Swiss Federal Laboratories study does not take into account recent and forthcoming legislation.
From next January 1st, (2006) all new type-approved motorcycles will fulfil Euro 3 limit values.
The emission reduction process is ongoing and further improvements are expected: in 2006; a new EU draft directive will be issued in 2006 with a set of complementary measures:
- Emissions control equipment durability test: for the respect of the limit values along a minimum mileage;
- Limits for evaporative emissions: for the control of gasoline evaporation from the tank and the intake system;
- Moped Euro3: for the measurement of all the driving phases;
- CO2/ Fuel consumption measurement: for a better information of the consumer;
- Introduction of WMTC: for a more accurate representation of the driving conditions.
In addition, ACEM would also like to remind that:
Motorcycle manufacturers have already achieved enormous progress, and in a shorter time than car manufacturers have.
The reduction process started in 1992 for automobiles and seven years later for motorcycles. The gap time between Euro 1 and Euro 3 stages represents 8 years for car manufacturers and only 6,5 years for motorcycles manufacturers.
Despite this challenging reduced time period, ACEM members managed to reduce by minus 94 % carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions, and minus 50 % nitrogen (NOx) emissions.
This reduction emissions process has been supported by a series of important innovations for the sector: two way oxidation catalyst, secondary air injection, 3 way catalyst with oxygen sensor control, electronic engine management, and fuel injection.
Rather than looking in a mirror over a past picture, research institutes should rather look ahead.
So did LAT3. According to this independent expert, PTW exhaust emissions show a good and very often better trend by the horizon 2012 compared to the overall emissions of road transports.
Things have moved on and the best way forward is to speed up the park’s replacement.
Motorcycle manufacturers are definitely committed to environmental issues, as shown by the enormous progress achieved, and so in a shorter time than car manufacturers have.
They keep working everyday on improving the environmental standards of their products. The early introduced models already in compliance with Euro 3 limit values are only one example. However, all environmental progress that have or could still be made will be affected by the natural low speed of the park renewal. Incentives will play a major role in the improvement of the motorcycle emissions.
PTWs have major positive advantages compared to other motorised vehicles.
One should also bear in mind the low contribution of PTWs as regards to climate change, with fewer emissions of greenhouse gases. This also applies for fuel, with a lower consumption of PTWs.
Contact: Aline Delhaye - Tel: +32 475 789 143
ACEM - www.acembike.org
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