A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal is based, in part, on statistical data that tells the agency motorcycles are a major contributor to air pollution. Sounds to me like someone there is “cooking the books”, or forgot to divide by two, or something like that. The ever-watchful AMA has addressed safety and maintenance issues for the owner, and pricing from the manufacturers to pay for the rise in costs for producing the motorcycles that would conform to the proposed standards.
Coming up in 2004, the reigns on emissions will again tighten for motorcycles sold in California. 2004 California standards will become the national standard in 2006. Two-stroke trail bikes and ATVs (but not “competition” machinery) will go the way of the dinosaur in 2006 with these regulations in place.
Current regulations allow 5.0 grams of hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide, and 12 grams of carbon monoxide to be produced per kilometer traveled. 2004 California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards will see the figure for hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides reduced to 1.4 grams per kilometer traveled, while the carbon monoxide emissions will remain at 12 grams. 2008 CARB standards will see hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide emissions levels reduced further, down to .8 grams per kilometer traveled. The standard for carbon monoxide emission level will remain at 12 grams per kilometer.
Since some of the street motorcycles sold recently already meet the 2008 CARB standards, what is the big deal? There may not be a big deal come 2008, but here are some things to consider that could be the veritable “fly in the ointment”, things that could point towards a future big deal. A couple examples of motorcycles available right now that meet the ’08 standards are the Honda Gold Wing and Interceptor 800. I know there are others from other manufacturers that meet the same requirements, but these two models come to mind immediately. While these two bikes perform very well, they are not the white-hot performers that the CBR 954RR and GSX-R1000R are. What will it take to bring these open-class superbikes into compliance with ’08 standards? What will happen to performance and drivability? Manufacturers will have to invest more money in the development of emissions technology and prices will go up, but how much will depend on the cost to the company investing the time and money.
Many of the motorcycles we ride now are fuel-injected, and while they are an improvement in many ways over their carbureted predecessors, they still have room to improve when you consider the fuel injection systems on four-wheelers these days. The bikes have fuel maps stored in the memory of the “black box” that also contains the ignition curve, etc. These fuel maps are higher technology replacements for the pilot, main jets and carburetor needles. The map more precisely meters the fuel for a given condition, but possesses only a very limited capacity, if any at all, to adjust itself when conditions such as air temperature, air density or elevation change. Cars have much more sophisticated closed-loop systems that adjust themselves many times per second, based on data sent to the computer by a number of sensors. The more strict emissions regulations may force manufacturers to adopt and develop closed-loop systems to meet them. If so, the price of the bike is sure to reflect the higher technology.
Present emissions technology for motorcycles has largely consisted of the use of charcoal canisters, routing the crankcase breather to the airbox, fuel injection, catalytic converters, and the air injection systems that introduce fresh air just downstream of the exhaust valve. Improvements beyond these basic techniques could be based on technology that is patented by one manufacturer, and therefore unavailable to another manufacturer. Think about the implications of that.
In any event, future emissions technology will make maintenance by the owner more difficult, if not damn near impossible, with the added complexity of hoses and wires snaking throughout the engine area. Changing spark plugs on some bikes is enough of a challenge now. The integration of all the emissions systems will likely make modifications like fitting an aftermarket exhaust system, or power commander-like devices, a more tricky affair, with error lights blinking messages to the owner like a Morse code messenger, telling them they’ve tampered with something they shouldn’t have.
Want to check out the document that the EPA has put together for the new emissions proposal? The AMA has posted the relevant portions of the report on their website. Go to http://www.amadirectlink.com. To see the entire document, go to the “Right To Ride” section of the site.
Do you have something to say to the rule makers about this? You can send comments via e-mail to: mcnprm@epa.gov
