Bosch Makes vehicles cleaner, greener

MANILA, Philippines - The race to produce the world’s first commercially viable electric vehicle, which responsibility rests upon the current generation, has sparked significant interest worldwide as an estimated 20 percent of CO₂ emissions are produced by public and commercial vehicles.

It is a clear technological challenge that demands a firm response in order to curb the onset of climate change.

Perhaps a cinematic glimpse into the future holds the key? Since the introduction of motion pictures, film producers have romanticized the concept of the flying car. From space oddities and popular sci-fi flicks of the 1960s to Back to the Future’s time-traveling DeLorean, moviegoers the world over marveled at the sensational flying automobile. Director Robert Zemeckis even included an on-board device called “Mr. Fusion” in the Back to the Future sequel, which converts solid waste into spontaneous energy for the flying DeLorean. Even George Jetson’s flying craft doesn’t seem to need refueling, thus Hanna-Barbera’s alludes to “cold fusion” and a carbon-free society.

With a growing vehicle population the world over, it is now a matter of time that technology should find a solution to address the equally growing demand for energy and fossil fuels. This is the challenge that Bosch faces up to.

Cleaner combustion engines

While the company is presently engaged in developing lithium ion batteries for automotive applications — and as it estimates over 500,000 electric vehicles sold worldwide by 2015 — it remains focused on increasing the efficiency of the internal-combustion engine, which will remain the dominant technology over the next 20 years.

And by no small measure, Bosch Clean Diesel has enabled vehicle manufacturers to meet even more stringent emission standards from developed countries.

In 2009, Makati City rolled out e-jeeps on its streets, which is a move meant to address the problem of emissions — and clearly, a bold statement for the country to embrace the concept of “going green.”

But what about the thousands of other jeepneys plying the country’s thoroughfares? What about the trucks that transport goods to and from the marketplace?

“Our challenge is to ensure a sustainable mobility,” said Klaus Landhaeusser, external affairs manager of Bosch Diesel Systems in Singapore. “This means that while we improve mobility, we should also reduce the local and global environmental impacts that come with mobility such as global warming and CO₂ emissions.”

Diesel on Philippine roads

There are currently more than six million registered vehicles in the country among which some two million run on diesel engines. Bosch estimates that 65 percent of the country’s diesel vehicles run on Bosch diesel components.

While a testament to the company’s expertise in the fields of internal combustion, engine management and exhaust-gas treatment, statistics also underline the company’s responsibility to ensure that these engines run well.

“As both economic and social sustainability criteria need to be met, the Bosch Group is working on future automotive solutions that are environmentally sustainable,” said Landhaeusser who has over 10 years of collective experience in automotive research, vehicle diagnostics and diesel systems.

While climate change risks grow, it is critical for governments to take decisive action in ensuring the quality of air that its people would breathe.

The Philippine government, for instance, has enacted the Clean Air Act into law — a landmark legislation to put in place a comprehensive air quality management policy and program for the Philippines.

But the Clean Air Law, while realizing improvements in the country’s air quality, has yet to fully address a significant source of the air pollution problem: the transportation sector, whose usage of fossil fuels brings about the pollutants that cause health problems.

As new and cleaner technologies are found to be effective, it is important for governments to find ways to use these to ensure air quality.

Benefits of diesel

Bosch has further established its competence in energy efficiency when it introduced the first Commonrail Diesel Injectors that provide cleaner and more efficient combustion to a car’s fuel.

Since then, Bosch has produced more than 33 million commonrail systems. It also developed Piezo — high-pressure injectors that brought the first-ever victory for a diesel-powered car in the history of LeMans.

Contrary to public perception, the latest diesel engines are cleaner and consume some 30 percent less fuel than the equivalent generation of gasoline direct injection engines. Bosch engineers anticipate a further 10 percent reduction by 2012.

According to studies by the ADAC, the German automobile association, at an annual mileage of 20,000 kilometers in Europe (10,000 kilometers for the Philippines), 89 percent of diesel-powered vehicles are more economical than their gasoline equivalents.

Thus, it is important for Filipino motorists to invest in quality car parts and observe proper vehicle service intervals, most especially for commercial vehicles.

Crediting the lower fuel consumption of diesel engines, this translates into an estimated 25 percent less CO₂ emitted compared to traditional gasoline engines.

Benchmarking the EU’s target for CO₂ emissions (130 g/km CO₂ by 2015), vehicle manufacturers will only be able to achieve this if diesel-powered cars maintain — or even increase — their current share of around 50 percent of all newly registered cars in the EU.

In the Philippines, Bosch provides some of the cleanest technologies available for local vehicles. The local subsidiary Robert Bosch Inc. fostered a technical partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which runs certificate courses for auto mechanics and educates them on the use of cleaner technologies.

This technical partnership aims to benefit the Philippine transportation sector and the general motoring public.