Vehicle Preheating Device Warms Car, Saves Fuel and Reduces Pollution

FENTON, Mich.--Nov. 1, 20056, 2005--E-Wire--Every year in North America there is an increase in the number of vehicles that sit stationary with the motor idling. Factors that have led to this increase include more vehicles in use, more passenger vehicles using remote start devices and more trucks idling while making deliveries, all a result of a growing economy.

A direct outcome of unnecessary idling is wasted consumption of fuel and the release of additional harmful emissions into the atmosphere. By 2010, conservative calculations show the use of remote starters in passenger vehicles alone is expected to annually add 1.2 million tons of CO2 emissions into the air while wasting an additional 132 million gallons of fuel. Add in the other idling sources and the problem only gets worse.

A primary reason excessive idling occurs is simply the result of drivers and operators demanding increased comfort: creating and maintaining a warm vehicle interior in cold weather. The situation is worsened by the low public awareness not only of the practice's undesirable environmental effects but also of the fact that in many states and municipalities unnecessary idling is illegal.

When a vehicle is idling in park there is no load on the engine as there would be when driving, so from a cold start, exhaust temperatures remain low. Catalytic converters have long been a mainstay on vehicles to better clean exhaust gases, but they do not begin to operate until the exhaust temperature rises to reach the point to "light" the catalyst. Therefore, an idling engine at cold start creates more cold-start emissions for a longer period than one that is pre-warmed, started and driven away from standstill.

For instance, at idle, it takes a 5.4-liter gasoline engine about 15 to 20 minutes to start producing significant warm air in the interior at cold ambient. Over the 30-minute idle cycle, which is required to bring the vehicle interior to full temperature, that engine consumes almost one-third of a gallon of fuel.

A device that many North American commercial truck owners have adopted (and many automobile owners in Europe as well) is the Fuel Operated Heater (FOH). The Webasto FOH, or BlueHeat(R), is the best known and most efficient solution to date used to remotely create and maintain a warm vehicle cabin without idling the engine and is available for light-duty applications. Independent of the vehicle engine, the system heats the vehicle's coolant and circulates it to the vehicle's regular heater system to pre-heat the passenger cabin, simultaneously defrosting windows. It burns eight times less fuel that an idling engine would, simultaneously emitting only 1/20th of the emissions and producing heat significantly faster.

Webasto Product North America, Inc., based in Fenton, Michigan, provides products for the light vehicle, heavy-duty truck, bus, military, off-highway and marine markets. For additional information visit www.webasto.us or call (800) 215-7010.