BMW ULEV and other ULEV cars

[Eug]

My Toyota Prius is a SULEV (the only gas powered one I think) and the Honda Insight is a ULEV, but that's because of a pretty radical design.

My friend is getting a BMW 325 which is a ULEV - it seems that it's getting a lot easier these days to build a ULEV with a conventional engine.

Is there a list somewhere of LEV, ULEV, and SULEV cars?

 

[BigSmooth]

Actually, the Nissan Sentra CA is a fully gas-powered SULEV vehicle. It has zero evaporative emissions. Unfortunately, it uses low-sulfur fuel which can only be found in California at this time.

 

[BigSmooth]

Here's a small list, BTW.

Here's some more lists, these are by class.

 

[Vegito]

the newer accord made the sulev.. unless they're lying to me

 

[BigSmooth]

Yes, the 4-cylinder Accord with automatic did make SULEV status.

 

[NuclearNed]

A few weeks ago I read on CNN (I think) that BMW has a hydrogen powered car that they are testing in Europe. The article seemed to indicate that this vehicle had as much power as a full-sized American gas hog. And the good news is that hydrogen is plentiful and burns cleanly (only byproduct is water vapor).

 

[Eug]

Cool, I didn't realize there were so many ULEV cars around and I didn't know the Accord made it to SULEV. I didn't see the BMW though.

BTW, there are hydrogen fuel cell buses already in use in Vancouver. Kewl.

 

[BigSmooth]

NuclearNed, actually many companies including Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and others are working on developing fuel-cell (hydrogen-powered) cars. There are even drivable concept vehicles.

Unfortunately, pure hydrogen is not readily available at this time plus the fuel-cell powerplants are still very expensive to produce. But once those costs come down and a disribution system of hydrogen is created, fuel-cell cars might well be very common in the future.

 

[NuclearNed]

The car I read about from BMW didn't use fuel cells (I could be wrong about this; it was several weeks ago that I read it). It actually uses a liquid hydrogen. The article told about the technology needed to keep hydrogen compressed and cold enough to be used in this state. If I can find the article I'll link it.

Ah, yes... Here it is.

 

[BigSmooth]

You're right, here's a link to a video.

 

[spamboy]

almost all hondas have been ULEV or better for years now. BMW is finally getting their act together.