A dirty job meeting clean standard

Yesterday’s announcement of clean car actions raises potential for Kiwis having to reconsider allegiance to vehicles they love the most.

Diesel utes are No.1 with Kiwis …. but they’re not going to make the clean air cut.

 BASICALLY, we don't like our 'greens' and consume too many meaty products. 

That’s the national new vehicle buying pattern in a nutshell.

Sports utilities, crossovers and, in particular, one tonne utilities. These are the vehicles we love the most; to the point where they cumulatively outsell conventional cars and the Ford Ranger has become the country’s best-selling model.

Great stuff. Just one wee catch. It’s always been common knowledge that, were New Zealand ever to get its act together and implement some kind of emissions regulation, then the vehicles Kiwi love most would get us into trouble.

CO2 emissions from new passenger and light vehicles have been declining. However, our national average is well above where the Government has now decided it needs to be; mainly because we’ve been making too many dirty decisions. 

Core to announcement yesterday of a Clean Air Standard is intention to reach a CO2 target of 102g/km by 2025.

Easy-peasy? The current NZ average for cars and SUVs is 161g; overall, the fleet is around 171g – an improvement on a year ago, if only by 3g. And today’s average is still below is still slightly below the target the European Union set for its territory in 2003.

So, yeah, the challenge is to achieve a reduction of almost 40 percent from the current new-vehicle average. Utes, which are particular grubs, and vans must hit 132g in the same timeframe.

There’s no time to waste. The Government intends to pass the law this year and enact the standard in 2022, with the first charges being levied on any who miss their annually reducing targets from 2023. 

It’s not as if we didn’t know this day was coming. Fact is, NZ is just catching up to a world trend, which in a way is going to be helpful.

Vehicle makers are already being compelled the same targets in much larger, more crucial markets; their reaction to that challenge means they are already making products that are in step with the NZ intention. We will get many of those vehicles.

The European Union mandate on makers selling in its territory to meet an even higher standard, a fleet-wide average of 95g/km, and Japan’s mandate for a 104g/km standard, are especially compelling. Vehicles tailored to meet or exceed those expectations will also come here.

The NZ model is not too different from the EU’s. Vehicle suppliers will have different targets to meet, and will only have to ensure that the average efficiency of the cars imported in any given year meets the standard. This means higher-emission vehicles can still be imported but will have to be offset by cleaner vehicles.

Failure to comply will be penalised, as in the EU, but not to anything like the same extreme. In the EU, fines can be large enough to bring a brand to its knees. Here a penalty will be applied from 2023 of $50 per gram of CO2 above the target for new vehicle imports or $25 per gram above the target for used vehicle imports - but it is applied across the fleet.

If you decided, today, to investigate which vehicles on sale at this very moment were already meeting that new cut-off … well, the shortlist would be very short indeed.

even acknowledged thrift-meisters such as the top-selling Suzuki Swift are challenged to meet the 105g/km standard. The hybrid version, above, does with a count of 94g/km but conventionally-powered editions do not.

Forget conventional internal combustion-engined cars; even especially thrifty types struggle to be that clean.

You need to go hybrid, though even then it’s not a given. Toyota's Prius, Yaris, C-HR and Corolla petrol-electric models are all under the 105g/km. The Camry hybrid and the hot-selling RAV4 hybrid are on the wrong side of the fence.

The models that will make more of a difference are will be used by brands that can achieve them to lower their fleet averages are, of course, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and fully electric vehicles.

This has been shown in the EU, where makers were generally starting from a base of 120g/km.

These are vehicles that, of course, many big players are now making in greater volumes. Ironically, some have been hard to secure for NZ because their makers are prioritising places where they have to represent electric fare or face fines – this is why VW Group product has been restricted, or completely held back, from NZ introduction. Europe’s biggest maker is focussing, out of necessity, on keeping those cars in EU markets. The NZ decision could well be a very useful tool for the brands’ NZ agent to now argue for prioritisation. 

In the here and now, the current hybrid and plug in hybrid fare that meets or improves on the standard comprise seven BMWs, two Hyundais, two Kias, a Range Rover, two Lexus models, four Mercedes, a MINI, a Mitsubishi, a Peugeot, two Porsches, six Toyotas and four Volvos.

In addition, 14 fully electric passenger models avail here, from Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Mercedes, MG, MINI, Nissan, Renault and Tesla. One or two examples of the Volkswagen e-Golf might also be unspoken for, though car is not out of production and supply has ended.

The probability of seeing more electrics, PHEVs and hybrids is high – being, then, it already was anyway because, well, you might recall the motoring world is going that way regardless of how much you love your V8s.

Of course, not all brands have the luxury of being about to take the electric path. Subaru and Suzuki are barely in the game, with just mild hybrid options. No ute here yet has any kind of battery-assisted drivetrain, though a hybrid Toyota Hilux is promised and Mitsubishi has hinted at a battery-assisted powertrain for Triton. Look at Isuzu: It makes a ute and a spin-off SUV. Both rely purely on a diesel engine whose emissions are well about the new mandate.

plug-in hybrid and fully electric technology is an obvious solution to achieving or surpassing the new standard. Many brands are one step ahead … the PHEV Ford Transit is among models intended for NZ introduction.

What habits might we have to change or even quit? A year ago I wrote a backgrounder for a national publication that aimed to give insight into the vehicles that might well become problematic were our country to ever consider the CO2 issue.

That piece pointed out how our huge move toward ute ownership has been detrimental to bringing emissions down. It pointed out, for instance, that a the start of 2020, the Ford Ranger, which at that point had dominated ute sales for five years (and would do the same last year), was both a relative saint and a sinner, in that one engine it ran - the 2.2-litre four-cylinder biturbo, emitted a category best 177g/km - whereas the other, the five-cylinder 3.2-litre single turbo it launched with, evidenced a near class-worst 234.

America's big lugger RAM was also in the black. It’s XL-sized products delivered a 283.8g/km average outcome.

One solace for ute faithful now, as then, is that makes reserved for rich listers top the scale of shame. In the data used for last year’s story, Aston Martin achieved an average of 265.1 g/km, Bentley 274.7, Ferrari 279.8, Lamborghini 305.2 and McLaren 257.3. Rolls-Royce was the worst emitter, with an average of 343.3g/km.

Notwithstanding that some of those makes are now fast-tracking into an electric age, it’s probable more of those cars are going to come under the spotlight. Some might be withdrawn, others will asuuredly become even more expensive as penalties are passed on to the customer.

Defender’s fours hit for six?

They knew the plug-in hybrid petrol drivetrain was coming - the shock news for Land Rover’s distributor in respect to the Defender is hearing the four-cylinder diesels that launched here less than two months are set to be retired soon.

 MORE information about the plug-in hybrid powertrain for the Land Rover Defender has come out, along with shock news – for the local distributor - that the four-cylinder diesels driving the model at present seem for the chop. 

In expressing thought about both, Jaguar Land Rover New Zealand’s top man says while the P400e (above), which blends 44km of pure-electric range with punchy 300kW petrol-fired performance, looks tasty, so much will come to price.

As for the apparent determination to axe the diesels that were front and centre at the national media event for Defender, staged just seven weeks ago? 

Well, that’s come as a shock to general manager Steve Kenchington and he’s been eager to get more information from JLR in the United Kingdom, which appeared to indicate this change in an overnight global release.

If that decision is valid, it’s not clear how much longer this market will be served by the D200 and D240 units that contain in all the launch derivatives.

What is known is that a six-cylinder diesel engine will be introduced in March of 2021. The national franchise already knew that this powerplant would arrive in top line D300 format. It’s the news, broken last night, of less powerful D200 and D250 variants of this unit that has come out of left field. Supposedly, these usurp the D200 four and D240.

Kenchington says there was no indication, when the car hit the market in July, that the four-cylinder option was set to disappear. As of today, he’s still not sure it will. Certainly, the reports have come as a complete surprise.

“It’s a real bombshell. I’m scratching my head on it to be honest. We actually haven’t had any formal notification that the four-cylinders are off the table for us.”

He thinks it all comes back to JLR’s focus on economies of scale and achieving less complexity. 

Defender has been selling brilliantly since release – demand is actually ahead of expectation and the likelihood is at least 350 units being ordered by next March, the end of the local arm’s financial year and just nine months away, when 300 were forecast for the entire calendar year.

He doesn’t think knowledge now that an under-bonnet change is going to diminish enthusiasm for the current engines. 

“If anything, it could be quite the contrary.”

Meantime, the idea of taking a PHEV alongside the current sole petrol choice, a 298kW three-litre six-cylinder (P400) that has 48-volt mild hybrid electrification.

As expected, the drivetrain is from the Range Rover Sport PHEV – so a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine mated to an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery. The combined output of the two systems is 296kW and 650Nm, enough to help the Defender crack the 0-100kmh sprint in 5.6 seconds. It can also tow a trailer up to 3000kg in weight.

It can cover up to 44km on pure-electric power alone and, as electric drive is sent to all four wheels, there’s opportunity for zero-emission off-road driving.

The optimal fuel burn average - under the WLTP testing regime - is just 3.3L/100km, which is the same level as claimed for Toyota’s most efficient car, the Yaris Hybrid, while emitting just 74g/km of CO2. Topping up the battery using a 50kW fast charger, meanwhile, takes just 30 minutes for an 80 percent charge, or two hours using a 7.4kW wallbox home charger.

The diesel drive unwraps in an interesting manner. That the entry six-cylinder will continue with D200 badging might confuse, but has a logic, as it creates identical power as is generated by the current 2.0-litre, 147kW – even though torque lifts, from 430Nm to 500Nm. 

Retiring the D240 designation for D250 is logical, too, as it has 184kW, a 7kW lift, and a than the D240 delivers. Torque climbs to 570Nm.

The top state of tune from the six-cylinder in its flagship D300 tune, meantime, is 221kW and 650Nm. 

The big plus for the six-cylinder is enhanced efficiency, but more in terms of emissions - thanks to 48-volt mild hybrid tech, the D200 and D250 emit 250 g/km.

The story is different in respect to economy. Whereas the four-cylinders’ achieve optimals of 7.6 litres per 100km and 7.7L/100km, the D200 and D250 both average 8.7L/100km. The sixes are sharper in the sprint, though, with ability to hit 100kmh in 10.2 seconds (D200), 8.3s (D250), and 6.7s for the D300.

The new diesels also introduce Intelligent All-Wheel Drive to the Land Rover family: this allows up to 100 percent of engine torque to be diverted to either the front or rear axle if required.

Those engines avail in the current 110 and the incoming shorter 90 body styles, whereas the P400e is available only in the 110 wheelbase, with five or six-seat layouts. The PHEVs also come standard with air suspension and 20-inch alloy wheels.

In some markets, Land Rover has also introduced a new X-Dynamic trim that features a satin black finish for the front and rear bash plates, grille bars, recovery loops and alloy wheels. They also take illuminated tread plates and seats finished in hard-wearing Robustek fabric.

Land Rover has also released more detail on its commercial Defenders, named Hard Top, which maintain only the front seats and convert the remaining cabin space as a fully flat load floor and have a load area partition.

Covid-19: How to alleviate DPF concerns

The coronavirus lockdown is forcing people to drive their cars less. Will this cause a problem for some diesel vehicles?

TAKING a sensible approach will likely be enough to keep diesel vehicles being troubled by the limitations of the Covid-19 lockdown. 

That’s the opinion of experts whose opinion has been sought in respect to overseas’ reports raising concern about how some models’ exhaust limiting technology might perform when motorists can only drive infrequently, and for short distances.

Their thoughts are in respect to particulate filters, which are installed into the exhaust system and designed to capture diesel particulate matter or soot to keep these from entering the environment, where they can be potentially harmful.

The technology has been common for 20 years and since 2009, and the introduction of the Euro 5 emissions standard, has been fitted to all new cars with diesel engines.

 Though now being superseded by a more efficient system that involves injecting liquid urea – commercially called AdBlue – the setup remains common on many utilities and sports utilities sold in NZ.

One of the inevitable effects of NZ being placed on lockdown due to the coronavirus is that we’re all driving our cars less.

The catch with DPFs – one avoided by AdBlue-involved engines - is that they only have a limited capacity and at some point the excess soot needs to be burned off.

In order to do that, the vehicle might require being for around 15-20 minutes at 2500rpm or higher. This process is known as DPF regeneration and is vital. Cleanly burning off the excess soot reduces harmful emissions and helps to prevent the tell-tale black smoke you used to see from diesels, particularly when accelerating.

 Recently an expert group in the United Kingdom, the Independent Garage Association, warned that if people are only using their diesel cars for short journeys during the lockdown, their DPFs might not be able to regenerate.

The organisation has advised owners of modern diesel cars to avoid using them for trips of less than 30kms in order to avoid clogging up the DPF.

Does that advice also hold firm in New Zealand?

Experts who discussed this with MotoringNZ.com said in theory it might. Certainly, they said, the industry accepts that short journeys at low speeds are the prime cause of blocked filters.

But they also agreed that some commonsense usage might also keep issues at bay.

One valuable tip: Avoid driving a diesel consistently at low speed and never allowing it to get up to temperature.

Also, if an engine enters in a DPF regeneration phase – which should be obvious, as the engine note will change, a cooling fan might activate, idle speed will increase, the automatic stop/start might deactivate and you might smell a hot, acrid exhaust aroma – then allow it to fulfil this.

It’ll do this by one of two ways. Passive regeneration is probably not as easily entertained unless you’re driving on essential services, as this occurs when the car is running at speed on long journeys which allows the exhaust temperature to increase to a higher level and cleanly burn off the excess soot in the filter.

Active regeneration means extra fuel is injected automatically, as part of the vehicle's ECU, when a filter reaches a predetermined limit (to raise the temperature of the exhaust and burn off soot.Again, though, it asks for the car to be driven a distance: If the journey is too short, as the regeneration process may not complete fully. Either way, check your handbook.

If that doesn’t happen? Well, when a DPF has built up too much soot and hasn’t been able to burn it off, a warning light will come on. If this happens, you need to avoid using the vehicle until it can be cleared.

It may be possible for a mechanic to use specialist equipment to carry out a forced DPF regeneration, which is the ideal outcome.

If drivers ignore the warning light and carry on using their car with a full DPF, they risk blocking the DPF altogether, in which case the car will enter limp-home mode and a whole new filter may be required. You don’t want that: DPFs can cost between $5000 and $9000.

As said, this is only as issue for DPFs that use the high-heat process to eradicate soot build up. Those that adopt the ADBlue technology – and that includes almost all vehicles designed to meet the latest European Union emissions standard – still run DPFs.

However, the injection of Adblue - a non-flammable, high purity urea solution - just ahead of the catalytic converter makes a world of difference. This reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 90 percent so makes for much lower residual soot.

AdBlue is held in a separate tank – it should not be pre-mixed into the fuel – and the reservoir access is often right alongside the fuel filler and has a blue cap.