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Microcap & Penny Stocks : BAAT - world records for electric vehicles with zinc-air -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ken Carter who wrote (833)	2/5/1998 10:58:00 PM
From: Gutterball	Respond to of 6464

This is in USA Today: All big automakers to offer cleaner cars WASHINGTON - Honda and Nissan said Thursday they would join the four other major automakers in producing gasoline-powered autos nationally that drastically cut polluting emissions. The six automakers, which include the domestic Big Three, dominate the market with about 91% of new sales for cars and light trucks. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota said Wednesday that beginning with new 1999 models this fall, autos sold in 12 states from Virginia to Maine will produce far less pollution. The cleaner cars will be sold mostly in the Northeast states first and would be sold nationwide beginning with 2001 models, automakers said. "Honda believes the program is in the nation's best interest," Tadao Kobayashi, American Honda Motor's executive vice president, said in a letter to EPA head Carol Browner. Nissan also has opted into the program, said spokesman Fred Standish. The EPA estimates the cars and light trucks - including sport utilities, pickups and minivans - will have 70% less smog-causing nitrogen oxide and 50% less hydrocarbons. Cultivating its environment-friendly corporate image, Honda is already marketing 1998 Accords and Civics that meet the new, cleaner standard. It is the only company currently doing so nationally. Honda projects that some 65% of those cars sold will have the lower emissions, said spokesman Jeffrey Smith. Ford Motor will be second with its decision to sell the technology nationally on all its sport utility vehicle models and Windstar minivans this fall, starting with the 1999 model year. The agreement has the blessing of environmentalists. "What I hope it means is that the Big Three have recognized that they can make cleaner cars, make money, fight off the competition and look good doing it," said Daniel Becker, an energy specialist at the Sierra Club. The manufacturers notified the Environmental Protection Agency that they would produce the less-polluting vehicles nationwide even though four Northeast states - Massachusetts, New York, Maine and Vermont - have demanded more stringent emission standards along the lines of what is required already in California. EPA spokeswoman Martha Casey said officials estimate the cost per car will be about $95, although some automakers said the cost might be a bit higher. The automakers are lowering emissions through the use of advanced electronic engine controls and improved catalytic converters. The catalytic converters are in the tail pipe, as close as possible to the engine. With them, emissions flow from the engine's combustion chamber and over precious metals, such as platinum and palladium, that chemically react with the gases to filter them. The electronic controls involve the use of sensors placed in the exhaust stream. The sensors continually monitor the air-to-fuel ratio in the combustion chamber and adjust their intake to maintain an optimum ratio of 14.7 parts air for every one part fuel. If that formula is maintained, the best check is kept on the output of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, engineers say. The manufacturers wanted all 49 states, other than California, to agree to a single standard to avoid a patchwork of state requirements that would make compliance more costly. But they have agreed to go forward anyway with the "national low-emission vehicle," or N-lev. The four states that had refused to join the agreement want standards along the lines of those in California, meaning in part that automakers must sell "ultra-low-emissions vehicles" or U-levs. The key difference between U-levs and those in the agreement is that U-levs must cut hydrocarbon emissions roughly in half again. New York and Massachusetts also demanded that 2% of the vehicles sold this year be electric, or zero-emissions vehicles. That requirement has been fought by automakers and is in the courts. California had that requirement but has since dropped it.