Abstract
Fuel pricing, CO2 emission and conservation of
nature have become a hot topic on the international agenda. Due
to CO2 emission and other factors global warming is increasing
drastically and it is a topic of discussion among engineers,
environment mentors and researchers globally. The past decade is
driven largely by an effort to meet legislated carbon emissions
reduction goals for vehicle fleets. The automakers have introduced
technologies that enable internal combustion engines (ICEs) to
turn off automatically when vehicles are stopped. These stop-start
vehicles are also known as micro hybrids, idle stop vehicles, and a
variety of names branded by automakers. These vehicles can offer
significant reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions,
although the actual saving depends heavily on the drive cycle.
Stop-start vehicles require more robust batteries and starter
systems than are found in internal combustion engine vehicles and
are priced at a small premium over ICEs but considerably less
than hybrid vehicles. With the most aggressive environmental
goals in the world, Europe has seen so far the greatest selection of
vehicles with stop-start technology and, not surprisingly, the
greatest volume of vehicles (cars) sold. North America has
experienced a relatively slow penetration of the technology due to
less stringent emissions reduction goals and an Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) testing cycle that underestimates the
benefits of the technology. Worldwide, Pike Research expects
more than 41 million of these vehicles (car) to be sold annually by
2020 – nearly a tenfold increase over 2012 sales.