[RavenAvi]

The German auto giant, Mercedes-Benz, has announced it's plans to widely use particulate filters on it's petrol-powered vehicles.

(Source)

The company has been conducting extensive tests using particulate filters with newly developed piezo injectors on it's S500 sedan for more than two years and the testing has produced positive environmental results. This has made the company stake it's claim for being the first automaker to widely implement particulate filters in petrol cars, and equip more models in the S-Class range with particulate filters.

Declining to specify which particular variants of the S-Class will be equipped with particulate filters, the auto major hinted that the change will be implemented during the "next model upgrade", which indicates that the facelifted 2017 S-Class will be it's first model to use this environment-friendly feature when it is unveiled.

(Source)

The company has also announced an investment of approximately 3 billion Euros on new engine technology, which includes development of a new, cleaner diesel engine family which complies with the stricter emission norms by the European Union which will kick in from September 2017.

With its completely newly developed family of diesel engines, Mercedes-Benz is the first manufacturer to put diesel vehicles on the market that already fulfill the stricter emission limits planned for the EU as of September 2017.

This has been achieved through an integrated technology approach, which includes new stepped combustion chambers and further developed exhaust-gas recirculation. The new engine design also allows all components for exhaust-gas recirculation to be positioned directly on the engine, instead of under the car floor as hitherto. This significantly enhances the system’s overall effectiveness – largely independently of ambient temperatures and driving style.

The market launch of the completely newly developed four-cylinder diesel engine OM 654 is in the new E-Class. The E 220 d now consumes as little as 3.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (combined according to the NEDC currently prescribed for all manufacturers), although the engine is more powerful than its predecessor (143 kW/195 hp compared with 125 kW/170 hp). This corresponds with CO2 emissions of 102 grams per kilometer.

Thanks to a large number of development advances, diesel engines' emissions of particulate matter have been continually reduced in recent years. Also many of the modern Mercedes-Benz gasoline engines already emit lower levels of particulate matter than the limits to be introduced in the future. This is achieved by means of modifications within the engines as well as through the application of piezo injectors.

For the further improvement of environmental compatibility, Mercedes-Benz plans the large-scale use of particulate filters also for gasoline engines – the first manufacturer to do so.

After more than two years of positive field tests with the Mercedes-Benz S 500, additional versions of the S-Class with gasoline engines are to be equipped with this new technology with the next model upgrade. That will be followed by gradual implementation in further new models, model upgrades and new engine generations. After that, particulate filters will also be applied in the current model ranges.

Official Press Release

[GTO]

Super move . Will make a big difference on the 6 & 8-cylinder engines. Perfectly timed too. While the world is taking VW's case for diesels, Mercedes can come forward and say 'forget diesels, even our petrols run cleaner than the competition'.

When it comes to safety & technology, no car maker has the kind of commitment that Mercedes has, consistently over the years. Just hope the long-term reliability of their cars has improved.