Reg Modlin, DaimlerChrysler director, environmental affairs: “What we need is an increase in market awareness for reasonable uses of energy. [We need to] present alternatives to that marketplace that will include lifestyle interests. Education of the marketplace is the single most important thing we can do.”

Boesel: “Couldn’t there have been a balance of regulations that allow the state to take advantage of diesel?”

Moulton: “They’ve set a very high bar; let’s get the new vehicles to a very clean level. The problem as we see is not new vehicles, but old ones. Now that they’ve just about got there, let’s raise the bar to zero emissions.”

Boesel: “Is SCR what we’re talking about for meeting emissions?”

Bharat Balasudramanian, Mercedes vice president engineering technologies: “When we talk of Bluetec, we talk of a bundle of pre-treatment and after-treatment measures. First, improving raw emissions through various measures, such as piezo injectors, and turbocharging. The second part is ‘oxy’ cats and particulate filters to treat NOx and particulate matter. The third part is NOx storage catalysts, with full SCR [selective catalytic reduction] with urea injection.”

Ulrich Dohle, Bosch president of diesel systems: “We’ve proven the technology in use. We started to supply the first SCR systems in fleet vehicles to Japan . Now they are in Europe .”

Boesel: “How do the regulators know the SCR system is working?”

Dohle: “NOx sensors, which could be used for a closed-loop control loop. There are different possibilities, of course. You use a formula. I think the technology is here to do that.”

Boesel: “Does the EPA show a willingness to accept SCR?”

Modlin: “The EPA and the industry are discussing SCR. The challenges are, ‘Where does the customer get this stuff?’ Second is, ‘How does the regulator have confidence that the vehicle will always have the right concentration, quantity and quality of redactor and what happens when it runs out?’ In some people’s minds are safety, and at the end of the day we will resolve this. The discussion is very much alive. The EPA is very engaged, they are not pushing back.”

Boesel: “We heard from Dr. [Robert] Sawyer [CARB chairman] about the relationship between diesel particulates and cancer. If we get to the point where they meet Tier 2 standards, will this air toxic issue be effectively dealt with?”

Tom Cackette, California Air Resources Board chief deputy executive officer: “There is a lot of focus on the cancer risk. Particulates cause heart failure, 2900 deaths in California last year. Only ten percent is due to cancers, the rest is because peoples’ bodies that have undue loading due to particulates. The incidence of cancer is very low, and the technology being used on these prototypes basically takes care of most of the particulate problem. It oxidizes the volatile toxins, and the particulate filters take care of all the soluble sizes and the number of particles, and it’s kind of a silver bullet technology that takes care of a number of issues.”

Roland J. Hwang, Natural Resources Defense Council vehicles policy director: “The level II NOx standards, taken together with other strategies, is it going to protect public health?”

Dohle: “If you have the equipment on the vehicle, then the emissions are lower than the particulate emissions of a gas vehicle.”

Boesel: “Regarding the South Coast Air Quality Management District, are we going to deal with the issue with new vehicles going forward or is the problem continued use of used vehicles?”

Dohle: “This particulate filter you can only equip new vehicles with it. There are systems to retrofit such used vehicles, but the efficiency is much lower than new systems.”

Balasudramanian: “You are reducing particles of all sizes by magnitudes over gasoline engines. We have come to a level that is similar to what comes from air conditioners in the room. If you try to improve it anymore, you will end up using the diesel engine as a natural air cleaner.”

Boesel: “There are studies pointing out that there is a window of opportunity with climate change, does that argue more for reduction of greenhouse gases?”

Hwang: “Keine diesel ohne filter. [No diesel without filter.] The Europeans are very enthusiastic, and have been for a long time, but there was a campaign started in Germany , so Europeans aren’t necessarily happy with the trade-off [of fuel efficiency with emissions]. It's the catalyst, so to speak, for all manufacturers to have all diesels fitted with filters. Public health, emissions, particles, cancer, these are going to be the important issues. I think what we’re looking at, what I’m urging here, is a collaborative process of moving forward on ways that are win-win. I hear from the manufacturers that ‘What is the regulatory stability?’ What are the rules of the road going to be for the next ten to fifteen years? Where do we put our resources in controlling particles, in controlling CO2?”

Allan Schaeffer, Diesel Technology Forum executive director: “What can California do to get diesels in marketplace? Everything that has a hybrid may not deliver that fuel economy. Can you see a time in which the environmental community can take that Prius and replace it with the latest diesel car and point to that as an acceptable technology? Do not underestimate the power your groups have to send a market signal.”

Hwang: “I think it’s an excellent question. I think that diesel technology in a lot of forms has a lot of potential, but currently has liabilities in the environmental community. Number one, the baggage associated with dirty off-road diesel. Number two, I haven’t heard yet that a diesel has been certified for a PZEV standard. A PZEV hybrid vehicle, that’s what we’re talking about. Diesel vehicles do not meet that criterion. That’s not to say that it won’t in the future. A hybrid diesel vehicle fueled by biodiesel, imagine that world where PZEV is the standard. That’s the kind of thing you need to get out there to attract people’s attention.”

Boesel: “Why are the pickups so noisy?”

Modlin: “They’re quieter than they were.”

Cackette: “Many manufacturers are saying before the end of the decade we’ll have level II vehicles available. It’s going to be widespread. Diesels can compete and will be a valuable way of meeting GHG standards.”

Boesel: “Is there a flex-fuel possibility with diesel and biodiesel?”

Modlin: “We wish to develop a B20 specification where we don’t have to worry about sensing fuel coming through the system.”

Dohle: “We have developed a sensor. We prefer to blend good specification biodiesel with the diesel fuel and we will tune the engine to the fuel. I would like to see B5 here. This is a huge task. You would need so much biodiesel.”

Boesel: “To summarize, then: I’ll quote Roland here that diesel is part of the solution, and part of the problem. We learned that CARB and the NRC are not anti-diesel; they are here to protect public health. I’ve heard challenges for SCR. As VW quoted, the particulate problem is solved with emissions coming out cleaner than gasoline emissions. The role of California is regulatory stability, which is what the industry needs. Through performance and other advantages, if they are as clean as gas, there is potential. We’ve heard we can meet BIN 5 in this decade.”