Robert Bienenfeld，美國(guó)本田汽車(chē)公司環(huán)境與能源戰(zhàn)略部的助理副總裁Robert Bienenfeld，在SAE 2014全球汽車(chē)年會(huì)的“由法規(guī)驅(qū)動(dòng)的動(dòng)力系統(tǒng)變革”分論壇上發(fā)表了講話。
乘用車(chē)和商用車(chē)行業(yè)正在努力達(dá)到政府關(guān)于排放和燃油經(jīng)濟(jì)性的要求，同時(shí)消除一些意想不到的潛在問(wèn)題。
分別由美國(guó)國(guó)家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）、美國(guó)國(guó)家環(huán)境保護(hù)局（EPA）、美國(guó)加州空氣資源局（CARB）制定的企業(yè)平均燃油經(jīng)濟(jì)性（CAFE）、溫室氣體排放和零排放車(chē)輛的相關(guān)規(guī)定，讓工程師和產(chǎn)品規(guī)劃人員異常忙碌。
“政府能夠通過(guò)稅收和激勵(lì)機(jī)制影響消費(fèi)者的行為，同時(shí)也能夠通過(guò)法律法規(guī)和激勵(lì)機(jī)制來(lái)改變汽車(chē)制造商的做法”，美國(guó)豐田汽車(chē)公司環(huán)境與能源戰(zhàn)略部的助理副總裁Robert Bienenfeld，在于美國(guó)底特律舉行的SAE 2014全球汽車(chē)年會(huì)上的“由法規(guī)驅(qū)動(dòng)的動(dòng)力系統(tǒng)變革”分論壇上對(duì)觀眾這樣說(shuō)道。
Bienenfeld是SAE 2014全球汽車(chē)年會(huì)在科博中心（Cobo Center）舉辦的“由法規(guī)驅(qū)動(dòng)的動(dòng)力系統(tǒng)變革”圓桌會(huì)議的嘉賓之一，此會(huì)議屬于年會(huì)上舉辦的AVL系列技術(shù)論壇（AVL Technology Leadership Center）中第二天的活動(dòng)。
“我們希望看到,無(wú)論是對(duì)消費(fèi)者還是對(duì)汽車(chē)制造商，亦或是對(duì)整個(gè)社會(huì)，法規(guī)都是公平的，也就是說(shuō)法規(guī)應(yīng)該在不造成不良后果的情況下,實(shí)現(xiàn)人們所期望的社會(huì)效益”，Bienenfeld說(shuō)。
Bienenfeld認(rèn)為，針對(duì)乘用車(chē)制定的燃油經(jīng)濟(jì)性法規(guī)是公平的，“他們使用戶能夠自由選擇想要的車(chē)，汽車(chē)制造商也可以在各自的細(xì)分市場(chǎng)進(jìn)行競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。這些法規(guī)對(duì)所使用的不同技術(shù)一視同仁。在這個(gè)相對(duì)公平的競(jìng)技場(chǎng)上，有幾十種不同的技術(shù)相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，涌現(xiàn)出巨大的創(chuàng)新力。”
但當(dāng)提到針對(duì)皮卡的燃油經(jīng)濟(jì)性規(guī)定時(shí)，Bienenfeld的評(píng)價(jià)就顯得不那么順耳了：“我們看到針對(duì)卡車(chē)的規(guī)定是不平衡的——對(duì)小卡車(chē)更嚴(yán)格，對(duì)大卡車(chē)更寬松。這是一種很明顯的傾向。我認(rèn)為，法規(guī)應(yīng)該一視同仁，但事實(shí)卻并非如此——至少未來(lái)五年不是。這造成的結(jié)果是大卡車(chē)享有補(bǔ)貼，但汽車(chē)和小卡車(chē)沒(méi)有，這對(duì)OEM的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)來(lái)說(shuō)不是件好事。坦白講，這對(duì)消費(fèi)者也沒(méi)什么好處。”
在問(wèn)答環(huán)節(jié)，美國(guó)環(huán)保局交通和空氣質(zhì)量辦公室主任Christopher Grundler就被提問(wèn)，要求他就管理的公平性做出評(píng)價(jià)。
“Robert（Bienenfeld）和我就對(duì)卡車(chē)管理的公平性這個(gè)問(wèn)題至少已經(jīng)爭(zhēng)論了三年了”，他說(shuō)，“當(dāng)然，怎么看待公平和人們所處的立場(chǎng)有關(guān)。坦白講，在我們共同制定了這些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)之后，我們很確信，大型卡車(chē)的制造商將無(wú)法跟上乘用車(chē)進(jìn)步的腳步”。
“所以我們對(duì)前幾年的政策進(jìn)行了調(diào)整，來(lái)回應(yīng)他們提出的數(shù)據(jù)和觀點(diǎn)。那么這樣做是否是不公平的呢？對(duì)本田這種不生產(chǎn)大卡車(chē)的公司來(lái)說(shuō)顯然不太有利。但是對(duì)于那些生產(chǎn)大卡車(chē)的公司來(lái)說(shuō)，我們不做這個(gè)改變，他們才會(huì)認(rèn)為是不公平的。”
本田生產(chǎn)的唯一的全尺寸皮卡車(chē)型將于2014年年中停產(chǎn)。全新的Ridgeline皮卡將在兩年內(nèi)上市。
由在本田美國(guó)阿拉巴馬有限公司生產(chǎn)的全尺寸皮卡Ridgeline將于2014年年中停產(chǎn)。全新的Ridgeline皮卡將在兩年內(nèi)上市。
另一項(xiàng)影響乘用車(chē)的規(guī)定是，要求汽車(chē)制造商提供一定數(shù)量的零排放汽車(chē)（ZEV）（通過(guò)插電式混合動(dòng)力車(chē)，電池動(dòng)力車(chē)或燃料電池車(chē)來(lái)完成），使其達(dá)到銷(xiāo)售額的一定百分比。除了加州以外，這項(xiàng)有關(guān)ZEV的要求已經(jīng)被紐約州、新澤西州、佛蒙特州、馬里蘭州、馬薩諸塞州、俄勒岡州、康涅狄格州、羅德島和緬因州所采納。
Bienenfeld 說(shuō)：“這10個(gè)州的銷(xiāo)售額占美國(guó)總銷(xiāo)售量的30%以上。對(duì)于某些公司，這個(gè)比例可以達(dá)到40%，甚至超過(guò)50%”
Bienenfeld認(rèn)為應(yīng)該重新思考生產(chǎn)ZEV的比重，因?yàn)樗c插電式混合動(dòng)力車(chē)（PHEV）有關(guān)。“市場(chǎng)上現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有一些PHEV了，我們可以看到，它們每年在電動(dòng)模式下行駛的里程數(shù)比你想像的更多。”比南菲爾德之前在接受《汽車(chē)工程》訪問(wèn)時(shí)說(shuō)。
政府法規(guī)也在悄然改變著商用車(chē)的生產(chǎn)開(kāi)發(fā)的整體情況，從重型皮卡、垃圾車(chē)，到校車(chē)和拖拉機(jī)拖車(chē)都是如此。
康明斯公司發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)工程業(yè)務(wù)部副總裁Jennifer Rumsey說(shuō)：“從今年開(kāi)始，美國(guó)有史以來(lái)第一次將商用車(chē)也列入了溫室氣體排放的監(jiān)管范圍。”
法規(guī)的第一個(gè)階段將不同應(yīng)用中的共同組件發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)和整車(chē)進(jìn)行了區(qū)別對(duì)待。 “這樣來(lái)監(jiān)管一個(gè)復(fù)雜的行業(yè)相對(duì)來(lái)說(shuō)比較簡(jiǎn)單而有效，而且我們已經(jīng)開(kāi)始看到這樣做的好處了。” Rumsey說(shuō)。
2014年2月宣布的法規(guī)的第二階段“旨在推動(dòng)更深入、更顯著的進(jìn)步”， Rumsey補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，“在第二階段必須關(guān)注到第一階段所沒(méi)有涉及到的技術(shù)，比如變速箱和拖車(chē)的相關(guān)技術(shù)，并且要考慮如何充分利用整合這些組件所帶來(lái)的優(yōu)勢(shì)”。
作者: Kami Buchholz
Robert Bienenfeld, Assistant Vice President, Environmental and Energy Strategy at American Honda Motor Co., Inc., speaks during the "Regulatory Driven Impacts On Powertrain" session at SAE 2014 World Congress.
The passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle industries are working to meet government regulations for emissions and fuel economy while ironing out potential unintended issues.
CAFE (corporate average fuel economy), greenhouse gas emissions, and zero-emission-vehicles mandates from NHTSA (U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), the U.S. EPA, and CARB (California Air Resources Board), respectively, are keeping engineers and product planners busy.
“Government can affect what consumers do with taxes and incentives, and government can affect what automakers do with rules, regulations, and incentives,” Robert Bienenfeld, Assistant Vice President, Environmental and Energy Strategy at American Honda Motor Co., Inc., intoned to an SAE 2014 World Congress audience in Detroit.
Bienenfeld was one of the panelists participating on the "Regulatory Driven Impacts On Powertrain" program in the AVL-sponsored ballroom at Cobo Center on day two of World Congress activities.
“We would all like to see that regulations be fair amongst consumers and that they be fair amongst automakers and be fair to society, meaning the rules should achieve the desired social benefits without unintended consequences,” Bienenfeld said.
Fuel-economy regulations for passenger cars are fair, according to Bienenfeld: “They allow customers to choose the cars freely, and automakers can compete within their segments. The regulations are indifferent as to what technologies we apply. And there’s an enormous amount of innovation with literally dozens of technologies competing on a relatively fair battlefield.”
But Bienenfeld’s words were less flattering when he gave his evaluation of fuel-economy mandates on pickup trucks: “What we see is that trucks have slanted regulations—more stringency for smaller trucks and less stringency for larger trucks. That’s a given. But the line should be parallel, and it’s not—at least for the next five years. As a result, it looks like large trucks are subsidized by cars and smaller trucks, which is not good for OEM competition. And frankly, it’s not the best deal for consumers either."
Christopher Grundler, Director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was asked to comment on mandate fairness during the audience question-and-answer session.
“Robert and I have been arguing about this for at least three years now—this fairness question with respect to trucks," he said. "Of course, fairness is dependent on where one sits. The honest answer is that the manufacturers of large trucks were pretty convincing at the end of our collaboration of creating these standards that they would not be able to meet the same pace of improvement as passenger cars.
“So we changed the slope in the early years to respond to the data and the arguments they presented. So is that unfair? Obviously unfair to Honda, which doesn’t make those large trucks. For the people who do make those large trucks, they thought it would be unfair if we didn’t make this change.”
Production of Honda’s only full-size pickup model ends in mid-2014. An all-new Ridgeline pickup truck will reach the marketplace in less than two years.
Current production of the Honda Ridgeline ends in mid-2014. The full-size pickup (Ridgeline Sport shown) is built exclusively by Honda Manufacturing of Alabama LLC in Lincoln, AL. An all-new Ridgeline will be in the marketplace in less than two years.
Another regulation affecting passenger vehicles requires automakers to deliver a certain number of ZEV credits (via some portion of plug-in hybrid vehicles, battery-electric vehicles, or fuel-cell vehicles) as a percentage of sales. In addition to California, the ZEV mandate has been adopted by the states of New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine.
“And those 10 states count for more than 30% of U.S. sales. For some companies that can be as much as 40% or even 50% of sales,” said Bienenfeld.
A re-thinking of the ZEV credits as it relates to PHEVs is needed, according to Bienenfeld. “Now that there have been some (PHEVs) in the market, we can see that plug-in hybrid vehicles deliver a lot more annual electric miles than you would think,” Bienenfeld told Automotive Engineering magazine.
Government regulations are also changing the product-development landscape for commercial vehicles, which range from heavy-duty pick-up trucks, garbage trucks, and school buses to tractor-trailers.
Said Jennifer Rumsey, Cummins Inc.’s Vice President of Engineering - Engine Business: “Starting this year for the first time ever in the U.S., commercial vehicles are regulated for greenhouse gas emissions.”
Phase one of the regulation treats the engine, which is a common component across many of the different applications, and the vehicle itself separately. “It’s a relatively simple and effective way of regulating a complicated industry, and it’s already providing benefits,” said Rumsey.
Announced in February 2014, phase two of the regulation “is intended to drive further and more significant advancements,” said Rumsey, adding, “It must address additional technologies that aren’t included in phase one, like transmissions and trailers, and consider how to capture adequately the benefits of integrating these components together.”
Author: Kami Buchholz
