Bosch To Push For More Cars To Have Start/Stop Ignitions

“Bosch is at the forefront of developing technologies to make petrol and diesel engines more efficient and less polluting”, said Peter Fouquet, President of Bosch in the UK. “Start/Stop is one exemplary fuel saving technology that further reduces CO2 emissions”. The system works by automatically switching off a vehicle’s engine when it comes to a stop, for example at traffic lights. When the clutch is depressed, or the foot is taken off the brake pedal for an automatic transmission, the engine restarts seamlessly in a fraction of a second.
“A Start/Stop system can reduce a vehicle’s CO2 emissions by 8 percent in average city driving, and up to 15 percent in dense city traffic. In addition, the technology also reduces noise pollution”, Fouquet said. “The benefit can be further improved when a Bosch ultra-efficient alternator is added.”
The impact of a high proliferation of Start/Stop in the city of London where traffic volumes are large would be dramatic. The latest figures from Transport for London indicate that cars and vans in London emit around 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. If all cars and vans in London were equipped with Start/Stop technology, the reduction in CO2 emissions would therefore be in the region of 500,000 tonnes.
Bosch has already delivered Start/Stop technology for more than two million cars and vans. The company has predicted that half of all new vehicles sold in Europe will have a Start/Stop by 2013. Imagine if the same applies in Kuala lumpur and Bangkok where the need for better air quality is needed now. However are our AFTA and local car manufacturers willing to bring up the quality and features of their products to have this and many more necessary features available to the average car buyer?