Honda Touts New Gas Engine as Clean

Honda Motor Co. on Monday said it has developed a gasoline engine that releases next to no pollution, an invention that one analyst said could “drive a stake through the heart of the electric vehicle.”

The engine cuts emissions with two catalytic converters--one positioned near the exhaust manifold and another under the floor, said Honda, which announced the engine on the eve of this week’s Tokyo Motor Show.

During tests, the engine cut emissions of carbon monoxide, non-methane organic gases and nitrogen oxide to 10% of the world’s most stringent standards--those of California, Honda said.

The devices trap more pollutants in all three steps of engine operation--cold start, warmup and normal operation, the company said.

Honda is calling the technology a Zero-Level Emission Vehicle, although it is actually not zero emission like electric cars, which emit no pollution.

“In the long term this offers the greatest potential impact toward air quality and improving gasoline engine vehicles,” said Ben Knight, Honda vice president for research and development.

No decision has been made on when Honda will begin selling vehicles with the new engines or on how much they will cost to produce, Honda said. Knight said it could be several years before a decision is made.

The auto maker said it still needs to reduce the cost of manufacturing the engine and confirm the system’s long-term durability.

“A car equipped with this engine could drive through a high smog area and the smog-producing emissions coming out of the tailpipe would actually be lower than they are in the surrounding air,” said Nobuhiko Kawamoto, Honda’s president and chief executive.

The test used a 100,000-mile catalyst and low-sulfur, reformulated gasoline currently available only in California, Honda said. The prototype engine is based on the 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder engine of the 1998 Honda Accord.

Analyst George Peterson, president of AutoPacific Inc. in Santa Ana, said the engine could “drive a stake through the heart of the electric vehicle.”

But, he added, Honda would first have to convince the California Air Resources Board that the new engine can meet the state’s standard for ultra-low emissions vehicles.