In this interview Dr. Markus Heyn, president of the Diesel Systems division of Robert Bosch GmbH, explains why diesel passenger cars are about to
conquer the North American market and why electric drives for diesel trucks is an exciting prospect.
Question: Dr. Heyn, while everybody is talking about electric motors and hybrid cars, the diesel engine refuses to die out. Why is this?
Answer: Quite simply because diesel keeps the world moving and will continue to do so for many decades to come: In passenger cars, diesel
drive is the key to reaching ambitious emission targets, such as the EU’s aim to reduce fleet emissions to 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer by 2020.
The diesel engine also offers the ideal combination of fuel economy and driving pleasure, particularly appreciated by business travelers and
commuters, which is why it is beginning to experience the same popularity among drivers overseas as it has traditionally enjoyed in Europe. Take the USA, for example: Here, Bosch considers a 10-percent market share for diesel in the light vehicle segment to be a realistic target for 2018. By
2017, the number of diesel vehicle models available on the North American market will be not far short of 60. And if we look at the development
activities of the European carmakers, diesel and hybrid technologies are not mutually exclusive. Currently available diesel hybrids such as the
Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 or the Volvo V60 prove this point.
Question: Most people automatically associate diesel vehicles with black smoke and choking exhaust fumes. This stands in stark contrast to the Bosch concept of Clean Diesel. Can you please explain the difference?
Answer: The image of sooty exhaust fumes is a throwback to memories of the 1980s. Clean Diesel relates to the modern generation of vehicles available on the market today. Compared with the diesel engines of the early 1990s, their modern equivalents produce 96 percent lower untreated NOx emissions and 98 percent lower particle emissions than their ancestors. This result is attributable to advanced fuel injection systems with multiple valves and to advanced exhaust treatment systems. The Bosch Denoxtronic system enables even the heaviest diesel trucks to be equipped with engines that comply with tomorrow’s demanding emission standards such as Euro 6. And diesel engines for passenger cars are now so much quieter that they are barely indistinguishable from gasoline engines in terms of noise levels. Added to which, the CO2 emissions of advanced diesel engines are up to 25 percent lower than those of comparable gasoline engines.
Question: At the same time, the number of vehicles on the road in Germany is constantly going up – especially utility vehicles, which almost exclusively run on diesel. There are already more than 2.6 million trucks registered in Germany, a figure that is set to increase. What technical advances can we expect here?
Answer: Trucks running on diesel keep the world moving – for instance delivering the majority of the goods that you order via the internet. Diesel
trucks also transport daily supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables and meat to stores throughout the country. This can be done at low cost, because
modern diesel engines for trucks are very fuel-efficient. To reduce fuel consumption even further, we have to look at the whole diesel drive train.
Anyone who wants to improve the efficiency of diesel engines in trucks must ensure that all systems, including fuel injection, exhaust turbocharger, exhaust gas recirculation, and last but not least exhaust treatment, are perfectly matched.
Question: From what you say, it sounds as though there’s no alternative to diesel for trucks. Not even with alternative drive concepts?
Answer: Of course, alternative drive concepts are an exciting topic that also applies to heavy commercial vehicles. The strengths of the electrified
drive are utilized in trucks. It permits fuel savings of six percent over and above those offered by the diesel engine in long-distance transportation,
and even up to 20 percent in local distribution. This in turn reduces CO2 emissions by an equivalent amount. Alongside electrification, we are also
driving forward the development of natural gas drives for trucks. Bosch already has a monovalent Natural Gas System in series production. At the
same time we are developing injection technology for dual-fuel systems that allow trucks to run on either diesel or natural gas as required. A truck
equipped with this type of system can be used in regions where the gas infrastructure is limited. So as you can see, we are working on ways of
enabling alternative drives to be used in diesel trucks as well as cars.
Question: Natural gas, electrification – it sounds as if there are numerous alternative approaches to be going on with. Do you think diesel engines will still exist 100 years from now?
Answer: 100 years is a long time – but as Rudolf Diesel once said: “My engine is continuing to make great progress”. His words are our inspiration, and we are continuing to develop the diesel engine still further. Be it as I have described by optimizing the workings of the engine itself, for
instance by increasing the pressure to achieve even better combustion, or by combining a diesel drive system with electric components and/or a
natural gas drive. So my answer is yes: we will still be driving diesel in the decades to come.
Videos including statements of Dr. Markus Heyn:
http://videoportal.bosch-presse.de/en/kategorien/_/dieselsysteme
