Cold Start Emissions Investigation at Different Ambient Temperature Conditions

A vital question for car manufacturers in countries where the temperature over night falls below freezing, is the significant increase of CO (carbon monoxide) and HC (hydrocarbon) emissions during the start and warm-up of spark ignition engines.

ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) (UDC) (Urban Driving Cycle) cycles, divided into elementary phases, have been used to determine the level of harmful CO and HC emissions and fuel consumption in the cold start and warm up phase.

Tests were undertaken on cars conditioned in temperatures ranging from +22°C to -15°C have shown significant increases in CO and HC as the temperature decreases.