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	As with all SwRI's emissions work, the major goal is to help industry bring advanced, environmentally friendly engines, control systems, fuels, and lubricants to the market and to work to keep them there.

Benchmarking competitor products is commonplace within the automotive industry. Engine and vehicle manufacturers are interested in how competitive models perform, what new features are offered, and how new manufacturing techniques are being implemented. Few industries are evolving and expanding product lines as rapidly as the motorcycle, motor scooter, and recreational vehicle industry.

Competitive Product Analysis

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is aware that many motorcycle and recreational manufacturers are currently performing some range of competitive product analysis. This necessary task consumes valuable internal engineering and facility resources that could be used for product development. Most manufacturers' facilities are optimized for use with their own product lines, and it can be disruptive to modify equipment and procedures to test another manufacturer's products.
 

	An SwRI-developed electronic controller uses advanced model-based algorithms to provide optimal engine and transmission performance.

SwRI has conducted many competitive evaluations for motorcycle, industrial, automotive, and heavy-duty engine manufacturers. It is advantageous for companies to combine financial resources to share benchmarking costs wherever possible. SwRI has the required technical and engineering resources and experience for this type of work.

Emissions Testing and Development

SwRI engineers use advanced measurement and analysis techniques to study and evaluate engine emissions from motorcycle, scooter, and recreational vehicle engines. SwRI has been involved in emissions research for more than 20 years, including several landmark studies of small engines for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Keeping pace with constantly improving measurement techniques, SwRI applies its extensive experience to emissions research programs involving outboard motors and engines used in motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATV), and personal watercraft.

Both engine and chassis dynamometers are used with the latest emissions measurement equipment for a variety of test requirements. Evaporative emissions "SHEDs" (Sealed Housing Evaporative Determination) are used to measure evaporative emissions of motorcycles and scooters to help manufacturers meet increasingly stringent government emissions requirements.

New Recreational Vehicle Emissions Regulations

The EPA recently announced new emissions standards for off-road recreational products such as snowmobiles, ATVs, and off-highway motorcycles (OHMs). Currently, only California has emissions regulations for ATVs and OHMs. The new EPA standards are similar to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards; however, EPA added an oxides of nitrogen (NOx) requirement. A summary of the snowmobile, ATV, and OHM standards is shown below:

SwRI applies many of the same emissions reduction techniques to recreational vehicles used for the highway motorcycle industry. SwRI engineers apply a broad range of technologies to achieve the desired emissions requirements.
 

For more information about vehicle and engine benchmarking capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Jim Carroll at jcarroll@swri.org or (210) 522-5015.
 

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Southwest Research Institute^® (SwRI^®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 12 technical divisions.

October 29, 2009