4 ms·
Somewhat off topic, but I’ve been wondering: has anyone noticed that areas with a lot of scooters and motorcycles have particularly bad air? Like, Victorian Eng
by throwaway1851 4y ago
Somewhat off topic, but I’ve been wondering: has anyone noticed that areas with a lot of scooters and motorcycles have particularly bad air? Like, Victorian England bad. Some European cities are much worse than an LA freeway during rush hour, and that seems odd to me.
Is it a design constraint, or are scooters just not subject to the same emissions regs?
- fy20 4y agoI think it's that the requirements not being as strict as cars, hence motorcycles not having the same emissions control systems. A lot of bikes on the road today still use carburettors, which we replaced in cars because fuel injection is more efficient and burns cleaner.
- chiph 4y agoA lot of them are 2-stroke engines, which burn a mixture of gasoline and oil. Usually badly tuned with poor fuel/air metering. They pollute like crazy. The US EPA has not yet banned 2-strokes, but emissions on them have been tightened, and there are different allowances[0] for 2-stroke engines with aftertreatment technology vs. without. 2-strokes are commonly used in lawn equipment, chain-saws, snow blowers, jet-skis, etc. And famously in the East German Trabant 601 automobile (called "little stinker" by the West Germans) [0] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-U/part-1054#p-1054.245(c) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-U...
- iancmceachern 4y agoAlso in a lot of older trucks and busses https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Diesel_Series_71 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Diesel_Series_71
- Schroedingersat 4y agoIt's a combination of looser regs, older equipment, more ways to find loopholes (no use measuring emissions at 5500rpm if the motorbike revs to 12k when taking off from the lights), and a culture of modifying exhaust/intake systems