Partial Zero-Emission Vehicles

[Lefty48197]

I'm sorry I didn't post this yesterday, because it's nowhere to be found on the USA Today website archives today. The story appeared on page 1A of the 9/16/2003 issue of USA Today. It was titled, "One of these cars is an environmentalists dream".

"Imagine a car that pollutes so little, the exhaust is cleaner than the air you breathe in many cities, so nearly free of pollution that it's immeasurable by normal means.
Now imagine that instead of a science fiction machine, it looks and drives like any other car, is priced about the same and uses the same unleaded gasoline you've been buying at the corner station.
Ford and Toyota begin selling such cars nationwide next month, the first time that the super clean models will be available in showrooms in all states. The automakers are sweetening the package by swallowing the cost of making the vehicles nearly pollution-free.
Seven car companies have begun selling such low polluting cars in California, where they are called PZEV's, for partial zero-emission vehicles <snip>

Ford's 2004 nationwide PZEV Focus starts at $14,915. That's $115 more than a similarly equipped standard-emissions Ford...

...Ford says the PZEV Focus puts out a pound of smog producing pollutants in 15,000 miles on California gas, roughly two pounds on typical U.S. fuel. A non-PZEV Focus would put out 10.7 pounds in 15,000 miles, Ford calculates."

[bahrbearian]

1. What about MPG?

[Lefty48197]

2. The article didn't say what the MPG for the Ford vehicle was

but they did say it has a 2.3 liter engine. I think it's pretty safe to assume that it gets similar gas mileage to the standard version.
The article also mentioned Toyota's 2004 Prius which is a PZEV gas-electric hybrid which is forecast to get 55 mpg.
The Ford PZEV attains it's clean air rating with three methods.
1) It's engine was redesigned for extra clean combustion, precisely monitored by super-power engine computer.
2)Super-dense catalytic converter material with more surface area to absorb pollutants.
3)A steel fuel tank that doesn' leak fuel vapors as standard plastic tanks do.

PZEV's need California low sulfur gas for lowest emissions but run on any US gas.

[Bamboo]

3. Wagging AIBO tail optional.

The Prius has a fuel tank with a bladder inside,it expands and contracts so there is no empty airspace to hold gasoline.That vapor escapes during refueling and causes smog.Some states mandate vapor recovery nozzles but this method is another way to do the job,the tank material can be steel or plastic.This could be option on all vehicles Toyota and Ford make since race cars use fuel bladders so technology is not new.I like options which leave out the dealership,they could just add a line to sticker which says "adolescent testing of boundaries --- $1279.00"

[midnight armadillo]

4. Motor trend article on the same

http://www.motortrend.com/features/news/112_news66/index.html

It goes into some detail of how to achieve PZEV status. This could be done on all new cars...