With the world very eco and money conscious at the moment it is no surprise that when it comes to cars everything is looking to reduce their CO2 emissions and their costs. However Volkswagen have come up with an unusual solution to going green. When we think of CO2 we usually associated this with having a negative impact on the environment but Volkswagen have decided that they are now going to use it in their refrigerant in mobile air conditioning systems across all of its vehicles.
They reached this decision because the refrigerant known as R744 actually has low global warming potential of just “one”. This figure is 99.3% below what the EU specify which is 150 in MAC (mobile air conditioning) systems. In most MAC systems at the moment the refrigerant used, R134 and according to statistics reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency has a global warming potential of 1,300.
Investigations into reducing emissions from MACs have been ongoing since the 1990s. There was nearly a decision for the refrigerant R1234 to be chosen although Daimler found safety issues with it. This was discovered in September of last year through their internal tests so decided against using the refrigerant and BMW and Volkswagen also chose not to.
The chosen refrigerant by Volkswagen is CO2 because it is viewed as an A1 refrigerant and is also not flammable with limited amounts of toxicity. It is also the least likely refrigerant to have an impact on the environment.
When we think of air conditioning we think of the cool air but since a new refrigerant has entered the market, things are starting to heat up! The European Union are pushing for refrigerants in cars made from this year onward to be switched from R-134a to the new R-1234yf. Daimler, the car manufacturer is not happy about this and is standing their ground.
DuPont and Honeywell developed the new refrigerant and spent many years and millions of investment creating it as they believe that it is 99.7% more environmentally friendly that the refrigerant that is currently used, the R-134a. It has passed all the protocols enforced by the EU and they like it so much that they have announced all cars made in 2013 should be using it.
Daimler is refusing this and is still using the former refrigerant. They have conducted a series of tests using the new refrigerant and they believe it is far more dangerous. The most recent test they conducted was a head on collision with B class at the Sindelfingen track. They conducted 20 tests and from the 20 results the discovered that when the coolant hits the heated engine it catches fire. Also, R-1234yf became hydrogen fluoride in the tests. This is very dangerous to humans especially in high amounts.
Apparently the results of the tests showed that there was enough hydrogen fluoride produced to the windshield white. After they had conducted these tests Daimler recalled all the vehicles they had produced with the new refrigerant.
A report by Bloomberg also reported that Volkswagen had similar complaints. On top of this there are some fire fighter organisations in Germany and Australia that are protesting against the new refrigerant as well as some testing agencies who are lobbying to get the coolant banned. After the results of the Daimler tests there are also thirteen other car companies that are now conducting their own tests.
However, on contrast to this, Toyota completed their own tests and they had no such results and they are currently supporting the new change to the new very eco-friendly refrigerant. Chevrolet and GMC are among others who are also supporting the change.
DuPont and Honeywell have announced that the refrigerant is completely safe to be used in vehicles. They claim that a reason why Daimler might be against the new chemical is because it is more expensive than the R-134a.
With the world very eco and money conscious at the moment it is no surprise that when it comes to cars everything is looking to reduce their CO2 emissions and their costs. However Volkswagen have come up with an unusual solution to going green. When we think of CO2 we usually associated this with having a negative impact on the environment but Volkswagen have decided that they are now going to use it in their refrigerant in mobile air conditioning systems across all of its vehicles.
They reached this decision because the refrigerant known as R744 actually has low global warming potential of just “one”. This figure is 99.3% below what the EU specify which is 150 in MAC (mobile air conditioning) systems. In most MAC systems at the moment the refrigerant used, R134 and according to statistics reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency has a global warming potential of 1,300.
Investigations into reducing emissions from MACs have been ongoing since the 1990s. There was nearly a decision for the refrigerant R1234 to be chosen although Daimler found safety issues with it. This was discovered in September of last year through their internal tests so decided against using the refrigerant and BMW and Volkswagen also chose not to.
The chosen refrigerant by Volkswagen is CO2 because it is viewed as an A1 refrigerant and is also not flammable with limited amounts of toxicity. It is also the least likely refrigerant to have an impact on the environment.
New Refrigerant Causing Controversy
When we think of air conditioning we think of the cool air but since a new refrigerant has entered the market, things are starting to heat up! The European Union are pushing for refrigerants in cars made from this year onward to be switched from R-134a to the new R-1234yf. Daimler, the car manufacturer is not happy about this and is standing their ground.
DuPont and Honeywell developed the new refrigerant and spent many years and millions of investment creating it as they believe that it is 99.7% more environmentally friendly that the refrigerant that is currently used, the R-134a. It has passed all the protocols enforced by the EU and they like it so much that they have announced all cars made in 2013 should be using it.
Daimler is refusing this and is still using the former refrigerant. They have conducted a series of tests using the new refrigerant and they believe it is far more dangerous. The most recent test they conducted was a head on collision with B class at the Sindelfingen track. They conducted 20 tests and from the 20 results the discovered that when the coolant hits the heated engine it catches fire. Also, R-1234yf became hydrogen fluoride in the tests. This is very dangerous to humans especially in high amounts.
Apparently the results of the tests showed that there was enough hydrogen fluoride produced to the windshield white. After they had conducted these tests Daimler recalled all the vehicles they had produced with the new refrigerant.
A report by Bloomberg also reported that Volkswagen had similar complaints. On top of this there are some fire fighter organisations in Germany and Australia that are protesting against the new refrigerant as well as some testing agencies who are lobbying to get the coolant banned. After the results of the Daimler tests there are also thirteen other car companies that are now conducting their own tests.
However, on contrast to this, Toyota completed their own tests and they had no such results and they are currently supporting the new change to the new very eco-friendly refrigerant. Chevrolet and GMC are among others who are also supporting the change.
DuPont and Honeywell have announced that the refrigerant is completely safe to be used in vehicles. They claim that a reason why Daimler might be against the new chemical is because it is more expensive than the R-134a.