US Gasoline Not Clean Enough for New Merc Engines

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Mercedes-Benz is among the world leaders when it comes to automotive powertrain technology, from the performance front to the greener side of things. Recent developments have led to lean-burn technology aimed at reducing a vehicle’s emissions as well as improving its fuel efficiency. This is something that the United States won’t be able to take advantage of, simply because the gasoline is too dirty for the engines.

According to Ward’s Automotive, Daimler powertrain development VP
Bernard Heil stated that US gasoline contains 95 parts per million of
sulfur, which is around double the amount that the new engines can
handle. This is an excessively high amount and will lead to clogging in
the new engines’ nitrogen oxide traps.

This is just the latest evidence that the US is falling behind in
terms of filtering sulfur from its gas. Of course, Heil is quick to note
that African and Asian gasoline also has too much sulfur in it, which
will make those gasolines unusable by the new lean-burn engines.

Daimler’s new lean-burn engine technology will be first seen in the
Mercedes-Benz C350 sport sedan as well as the pictured SLK Roadster. Of
course, given the conditions outlined above, only European variants will
be able to use the new technology–at least for now.