Rafael Seidl envisioned a Fiat 500 with a turbocharged parallel twin engine running on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and a cone ring CVT.
Well, sorta… Excellent choice for a body… How about a Subaru Turbocharged Boxer Diesel engine, which can run biodiesel, plus an AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) as the drive train?
Now the question is how many grams of CO2 per km? And could the amount be halved? CNG as a fuel drops a Prius below 80g/km emissions, but that has electric drive, which those with allegiance to the ICE paradigm tend to belittle. On the other hand, natural gas is quickly rising in price because of scarcity.
Among superminis, the car to beat in sales has been the Volkswagen Golf. Between 1974 and 2005 Volkswagen built more than 22 million. At the Frankfurt IAA Volkswagen unveiled a “New Small Family” concept car and, a month later, displayed a second variant at the Tokyo Motor Show. Supposedly, choices in propulsion will include diesel, petrol and diesel. Its small size seems to mark it as competition to the Smart fortwo.
Bio-gas is potentially a partial solution, especially when an optimized manure process is employed. Optimization of liquid manure is when some use is found for the waste, i.e., anaerobic digestion, rather than the methane being released into the atmosphere and the manure waste dumped into the watershed, something which feedlot operators see as a taxpayer problem, not theirs.
Biodiesel is unlikely to be able to meet more stringent requirements for low carbon fuel, except only if 100% recycled plant oil, a.k.a., WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) is used. Nevertheless, PSA Peugeot Citroen has demonstrated on the EU combined cycle that their new 308 hybrid HDi can get 69mpg (US) while only generating 90g/km of CO2. Oh, wait, that choice is electric drive, too.
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Seidl envisioned a Fiat 500 running on CNG, like a special Toyota Prius or commercially available Honda Civic GX. With more information and upon further reflection, this blog accepted the validity of his suggestion, particularly given that methane is a more potent GHG emission than carbon dioxide and bio-CNG represents a useful re-direction.
Seidl also imagined this NGV (Natural Gas Vehicle) using a turbocharged parallel twin engine, a.k.a. a Flat-4. Come to find out, the CNG-powered, American Roadster, introduced by John S. Greene, uses what Sam Abuelsamid describes as “an air-cooled four cylinder boxer engine that looks vaguely familiar to the ones that used to power a certain German small car.”
Fifty-eight journalist from twenty-two countries around Europe have voted the Fiat 500 as “European Car of the Year 2008″ According to Xavier Navarro, the diesel version includes as a standard a Diesel Particullate Filter; and, all engines available for the Fiat 500 satisfy Euro V standards.
Since Fiat has developed a downsized engine (with Stop-Start System) that, according to Green Car Congress, runs on a Hydrogen-CNG Blend Fuel for a Panda Aria concept car, it defintely would seem possible that a Fiat 500 could become CNG or HCNG powered, improving the emissions profile of this popular, new, European, passenger car even more.
Subaru’s 2.0L turbodiesel boxer – 110kW / 147hp
Fuji Heavy displayed the Subaru Turbocharged Boxer Diesel engine, which can run biodiesel, at the 2007 Frankfurt International Motor Show. It is the world’s first horizontally-opposed diesel engine. The engine is rated at 110kW(147hp) and 350Nm(258Ft/lb) with a displacement of only 2.0 liters. The variable vane, common rail, turbodiesel boxer engine has been slated to be installed in either the European-spec Subaru Legacy or Outback wagon.
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[...] This is the cached version of http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2574 We are neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content. Could a new crop of diesel superminis manage Euro 6? [...]
[...] However, an ideal choice recently envisioned by frequent (and knowledgeable) GCC commentator Rafael Seidl was a Fiat 500 with a turbocharged parallel twin engine running on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and [...]
[...] instance, an ideal choice, previously envisioned by frequent (and knowledgeable) GCC commentator Rafael Seidl was a Fiat 500 with a turbocharged parallel twin engine running on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and [...]