The Volkswagen Group is continuing to work assiduously on the environmental compatibility of conventional drive systems. The company has now decided upon wide-scale use of particulate filters for petrol engines, so-called ‘gasoline particulate filters (GPF)’. From 2017, all Group direct injection TSI and TFSI engines will be fitted step-by-step with petrol particulate filters. Emissions of fine soot particles will be reduced in this way by up to 90 per cent.
By 2022, the number of Volkswagen Group vehicles being equipped with this technology annually could reach seven million. The process is starting in June 2017 with the 1.4-litre TSI engine in the new Volkswagen Tiguan and the 2.0 TFSI in the Audi A5. Implementation will then follow in further models and engine generations.
Particulate filters for diesel engines are already proven and established. The gasoline particulate filter will now reduce the particulate emissions of direct injection petrol engines by up to 90 per cent. Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, Head of Group Research and Development: “Following increases in efficiency and lower CO₂ output, we are now bringing about a sustained reduction in the emission levels of our modern petrol engines by fitting particulate filters as standard.”
Despite the outlay for complex exhaust gas treatment systems for new models, Volkswagen is determined to reduce its diesel vehicles’ pollutant emissions as well. Eichhorn: “In the future, all models will be equipped with the latest and most efficient SCR catalytic converter technology.”
Using comparative measurements, independent testing bodies have established that both modern EU 6 diesel engines and petrol engines from the Volkswagen Group are already the cleanest on the market. In its EQUA Air Quality Index, for example, London-based Emission Analytics looked at the world’s 440 most popular models and ranked the Volkswagen Group as the top performer by some margin.
The company ranked first in three categories: EU 6 petrol engine, EU 5 petrol engine and EU 6 hybrid vehicles. The best six EU 6 diesel vehicles also come from Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda; among the EU 5 diesels tested, a total of five models in the top 10, including the top two from Audi and Skoda, are also from the Volkswagen Group.
