Honda Low-emission Engine May Threaten Natural Gas

DETROIT _ Honda Motor Co.'s announcement Friday that it had developed an engine that reduces tailpipe emissions by 90 percent is likely to bolster several state governments' efforts to impose more stringent air-quality standards on automakers and to hurt the natural-gas industry.

The Honda engine is powered by reformulated gasoline, and thus far the only vehicles that could meet the aggressive air standards, adopted first by California and requiring "ultra-low emissions," were powered by natural gas.

Several automakers say that they are able to achieve results similar to Honda's, but that consumers cannot afford the new technology.

Honda says that the additional cost for its vehicles, which are scheduled to go on sale in California some time in 1997 for the 1998 model year, would be less than $1,000.

"You're talking probably in the hundreds of bucks," said Art Garner, a Honda spokesman.

A study commissioned by the auto industry estimated the added cost of meeting the ultra-low emission regulations at more than $800 a vehicle.

"To say it would cost about $1,000 isn't a revelation," commented Chris Preuss, a spokesman for Chrysler Corp. "It's going to price some consumers out of the market."

The California regulations were subsequently adopted by New York and Massachusetts and are under consideration in 10 other Eastern states.

They require the automakers to phase in four types of cleaner cars over the next several years. The Big Three automakers have been fighting the strictest standards by offering a compromise: a lower-emission vehicle that would be sold nationwide, rather than in only selected states.

Honda's new engine will not help the company meet California's toughest requirement. In 1998, California mandates that 2 percent of all vehicles the automakers sell there have no tailpipe emissions, a requirement most manufacturers say can be met only with electric vehicles.

Before Honda's announcement, the only vehicle made by a major manufacturer that had been certified in the second most rigorous category _ ultra-low emissions _ was a mini-van sold by Chrysler that relies on natural gas.

Last year, Chrysler sold 450 of the vans, which have a range as great as 180 miles before refueling, Preuss said. The vans cost roughly $4,800 more than the gasoline version because of the low volume of production. At higher volumes, the price difference could come down to $1,200, he said.

California does not require the reduction in emissions provided by ultra-low emission vehicles until the year 2000. Honda will earn credits against more polluting vehicles by selling the cleaner cars before then.

The Honda engine has not been certified, but on Friday California officials said they expected it to pass the tests.

"It looks very promising, you have to say," said Julie Stewart, a spokeswoman for the American Gas Association, a trade group for the natural-gas industry. "From the natural-gas vehicle standpoint, it is a new level of competition for us, but we will still have a niche in this market, probably in the fleet market."

Under the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy Act, large companies can earn pollution credits by doing better than emissions requirements. Since natural-gas vehicles will probably be cleaner than the new Hondas, Stewart said, companies will still want to buy them for use in fleets.

The Honda engine is a modified version of the four-cylinder, 2.2-liter engine offered in its Accord LX sedan. Honda added a second, larger catalyst, and placed it very close to the engine so that it would heat quickly. Automakers have experimented with electric heaters to warm catalysts, so that they can go to work cleaning emissions as soon as the engine is started.

Honda also tinkered with the engine's software, to regulate the air-fuel ratio for cleaner emissions. The engine, which Honda says develops about the same horsepower and torque as the present version, was tested with a reformulated gasoline that is scheduled to be sold in California in 1996.

Other automakers said they expect the industry to keep pace with Honda on ultra-low emissions.

"They're the first to announce it, but it's our hunch that you're going to see other people announcing the same thing, and bringing out other products in the same time frame," said Ray Day, a spokesman for Ford Motor Co.

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