FUEL QUALITY, VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY AND THEIR INTERACTIONS

This report reviews the complex interactions between fuels, vehicle technology, test cycles and reference fuels with regard to their relative influences on vehicle emissions, fuel consumption, carbon dioxide, durability and customer acceptance. Implications for the refining industry and trends in vehicle technology are also discussed as these are fundamental for a cost effective approach to contribute to meeting air quality standards. The study concludes that effects of fuel changes alone on emissions and performance are relatively small, but benefits arise when they are used to enable new technologies. Therefore, fuels and engines need to be developed together as a common system. Such developments have to be assessed in view of their global impact on a cradle to grave basis. To produce sufficient quantities of fuel, flexibility of the refineries has to be ensured by specifying fuel properties only where a clear link to vehicle performance or emissions is proven. Harmonising fuel specifications can only go in parallel with emissions limits, vehicle technology and test cycles.