Google FinancePosted on 09/28/2015 8:55:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The weekend break has not helped Volkswagen.
Shares in the troubled German carmaker are crashing again, down 8.5% at 12.50 a.m. BST (7.50 a.m. ET).Google Finance
Volkswagen shares have been diving since it emerged that software in the company's cars was juicing the numbers on diesel emissions.
On Monday, news broke that the scandal was even worse than first thought — over 2 million Audi cars are fitted with the same emissions-cheating software as Volkswagen's cars. Audi is owned by Volkswagen and produces higher-end cars.
Bloomberg is also reporting that Volkswagen executives in Germany were directly involved in the faking of emissions, and former CEO Martin Winterkorn is facing an investigation by German prosecutors.
Earlier on Monday, the Financial Times warned the scandal could be "worse than Enron." Volkswagen named Porsche CEO Matthias Müller as its new boss late on Friday — he's got an unenviable job.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“It’s quite possible that the “tuner” manufacturers already have the VW “cheat” code (and more) ready to apply, should any “post-recall” TDI owners wish restore their car’s former economy and/or performance.”
Not ‘quite possible’ but instead ‘most certainly and more.’
I bought one of these VWs just eleven days before the news of the scandal hit. I intend to take the insignia off, and drive it into the ground. If forced to modify the ECU, it will be at VW’s cost.
Aftermarket sources will abound, to restore the factory program, or even a better one.
Seems like just a few months ago, there was talk about the EPA targeting some of the automotive tuner - programmer companies. I’m not sure how immediate a threat that might be, but it may be a case where you shouldn’t wait too long to buy that piece of gear.
“Seems like just a few months ago, there was talk about the EPA targeting some of the automotive tuner - programmer companies. I’m not sure how immediate a threat that might be, but it may be a case where you shouldn’t wait too long to buy that piece of gear.”
I believe the tuner industry is too large, too diverse, too international for US or states to “shut it down.”
On Sept. 7th I acquired a nearly new vehicle with under 15,000 miles. A TDi from VW’s “Certified Previously Owned” program. It will be under original-extended warranty until Dec. 2017, plus any other original warranties.
I expect VW will offer a “fix” before Dec. 2017 arrives. However I believe I will need a “smog check” in Dec. 2016 for California purposes.
Sooner or later the “fix” will come along, and it will likely “re-flash” the ECU, which means change the engine “mapping.”
The tuners will offer returns to factory, or even better for performance etc. They already do offer improved performance, presumably degrading emissions controls while doing so.
I already have an excellent VW-Audi repair shop, so I will check with them for advice.
Agree!
I’m with u on shooting the EPA !!’
Modern diesel engines used on diesel-electric locomotives and oceangoing ships have very sophisticated systems to remove the diesel particulates and reduce the NOx output using various forms of selective catalytic reduction (SCR). You see them on BMW and Mercedes-Benz turbodiesel automobiles, and they are very expensive to implement (it costs about US$2,500 to US$5,000 per car). At those prices, it'll be actually be cheaper to build a true gas-electric hybrid, as Toyota has shown with the standard Prius (circa US$22,000 to US$32,000 depending on options).
I do know that VW and Mercedes-Benz have sold gas-electric hybrids in the US market. It's likely that both companies may push for more gas-electric hybrids sold in the US market until HCCI engine technology is ready a few years from now.
I was really hoping that Hydrogen internal combustion engines took off. Ford, Mazda and BMW were working on them for a while, but they all seem to have gone off in a different direction, now.
Can you imagine what millions of hydrogen-fueled cars in a major metropolitan area could do to the local weather with a massive increase in water vapor in the air?
I have yet to see an SCR equipped locomotive come through. They do exist, but they are few and far inbetween.
The answer for the railroads is to offset high NOx producers with “credits” from low NOx producers.
Anyway, our main concern is with particulate emissions, which is a sign of poor efficiency, not to mention setting wayside fires by blowing sparks of burning carbon out of the stack.
Thermal efficiency of a diesel engine is diametrically opposed to NOx emissions. Diesels need high compression and combustion temps to wring as much power out a pound of fuel as possible.
They have quite different-looking cooling radiators from previous Evolution ES44DC locomotives from the pictures I've seen. And they are supposed to have the very latest emission control systems (certainly a state-of-the-art DPF).
The railroad that I work for has the GE tier 4 ES44AC locomotives running freight now, most of them coming out of the new texas plant.
Plus, some of of the older ES44AC’s in our fleet are being refitted with the tier 4 EVO common rail FI engines.
As an aside, the transition from Erie, PA. to Texas seems to have caused some build reliability issues. We’ve been keeping the local GE service rep busy lately with warranty claims.
Yeah, it’s kind of hard to get a 2 stroke engine to pass emissions. EMD did manage a tier 3 certification though. I seen a few prototype locomotives that had a 710-12 engine with the EGR system on them, but they were only rated at 3300HP. The railroad wasn’t really interested in those.
As far as 265H engine goes, EMD may have to go back to them. The SD90MAC’s they put those in originally were a pain to work on though.
Now, they have a rebuilt SD90 with a Cummins engine and 4200HP on tap to consider. We currently have a bunch of SD90’s that are sitting in storage that would be good candidates for this rebuild.
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