12-04-2008, 05:04 AM
billb wrote:
gasoline sales are increasing in Europe and emmission controls (diesel) similar to those in this country are slowly being adopted ther (in Europe), too.
I really don't think some of those living in air quality sensitive areas on the West coast would appreciate waking up to the stench of diesel every morning (as with many other countries).
In Europe, diesels do not generally have a "stench." This may have been true 40-50 years ago but even then i don't really recall diesels smelling worse than petrol vehicles. Afiak the typical European diesel has <6ppm sulphur whereas there was a point where US diesel had 200ppm. That could well give a stench. European diesels would not survive with that amount of sulphur (more precisely all the emission control stop would be destroyed). The availability of diesel with low sulphur is the controlling factor for diesel vehicle sales. No manaufacturer is going to launch a vehicle in the knowledge that in a few years it will not meet any emission control requirements mainly because the fuel that will allow it to meet the requirements is not available.