Oh boy. I know a lot of you are not going to like this. Many people have been trading in their cars for motorcycles due to increase in gas prices, congestion in LA, and pollution. Well, a bike is better for the first two things I mentioned, but actually much worse for the third, pollution. Just because motorcycles consume less fuel does not make them better for the environment. It seems almost impossible, but most motorcycles actually produce more harmful emissions than a small Hummer. If you’re like me, you’re wondering how that can even be possible.
Well here it is in brief:
In California, such bikes make up 3.6% of registered vehicles and 1% of vehicle miles traveled, yet they account for 10% of passenger vehicles’ smog-forming emissions in the state. In fact, the average motorbike is about 10 times more polluting per mile than a passenger car, light truck or SUV, according to a California Air Resources Board comparison of emissions-compliant vehicles.
Motorcycles and scooters are, on average, about twice as fuel efficient as cars. Compact and lightweight, their internal-combustion engines do a better job of converting fuel into energy that makes the vehicle move. But extracting more energy from the fuel has a downside. It produces greater amounts of a smog-forming emission called oxides of nitrogen.
Oxides of nitrogen are one of three pollutants the Environmental Protection Agency and the Air Resources Board measure to see whether vehicles meet acceptable emissions levels and can be sold legally.
There are many reasons why this is. First of all, there are ways to help emissions such as a catalytic converters, but at the current time most of these systems are too large to fit on motorcycles. Therefore a small truck is able to convert more pollutants than a bike, making the small truck better for the environment.
The second biggest issue is that motorcycles are not put through the same rigorous emission standards as cars, trucks, and SUV’s.
Not only are motorcycles allowed to emit more than cars, they are also tested at lower speeds, which pollutes less. And motorcycle manufacturers only have to ensure that their vehicles of 179 cc and above meet governmental emissions criteria for the first 18,600 miles of a bike’s life, compared with 150,000 miles for cars.
At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be any resolution. The EPA is not even looking into trying to fix the problems because there are not enough motorcycles on the roads for them to justify the research and they have bigger problems to deal with such as “diesel trucks, construction equipment and non-emissions-compliant products from China.”
Long story short: Motorcycles, even small ones, are more polluting than Hummers, but it’s the best that can be done for now. If you want to make a difference, consider an electric two-wheeler for your next bike or a gas-powered model with fuel injection and a 3-way catalytic converter.
Quotes by the LATimes
Photo by WorldWideMotorcycles
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Matt // Jun 11, 2008 at 3:11 pm
As a whole motorcycles are doing far more to protect the enviroment than harm it. Unless you have a motorcycle that has a two stroke engine, those pollute quite a bit. For the last few years the emissions standards for motorcycles have been raied steadily, forcing engineers to come up with ways to make, cleaner burning and better running engines. In fact ,California is well known for having it’s own set of emissions standards for motorcycles only. While it’s true older models cycles may not be the best way to save the enviroment, the newer ones are making leaps and bounds. Ride on LA!
2 Mali // Jun 12, 2008 at 7:14 am
I would love to see something that backs that up. I always thought bikes were much better, but they seem to have proof that they’re not. Newer bikes are included in that study though.
And we do have our own emissions standards one that tests them at lower speeds and are less rigorous than cars.
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