Happy 20th anniversary, European Catalysts!
Believe it or not, catalysts were not mandatory in European gasoline-powered cars until 1988. The reason behind that was that the fuel consumption of European cars, noticeably lower than their American counterparts, was considered less of a harm. Then there is the EU (formerly EC) rule of making all decisions unanimously, which with France and Italy on one side and Germany on the other didn't make the process easy. We're seeing a rehash of this in the current discussion on CO2 limits. Compared to the US Clean Air Act from 1970, it seems Europeans arrived late to the game. Back in 1985, European cars over 2 liters had to use unleaded gasoline and were fitted with catalytic converter. The rule was extended to all gasoline cars in 1993.
[Source: Le Blog Auto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DasBoese 12:51PM (11/21/2008)
Don't forget that, while catalytic converters weren't mandatory, there was still emission legislation, and usually better enforced than in the US. Most engines used in european cars were clean-burning enough to get emission levels up to Euro1, even without a catalytic converter.
It's kinda the same with diesel engines and particulate filters. The legislation to make particulate filters mandatory was largely backed by automakers whose diesel engines required particulate filters to pass emission levels, and as such would have had an economic disadvantage against those manufacturers who managed emissions by optimising the combustion process alone.
I'm kinda against this sort of legislation (in case you couldn't tell ;P). IMO it would be perfectly fine to just set emission limits and let manufacturers worry about how to achieve them.
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