Testing & Validation Fuels in Vehicle Development 2008-01-1764

Because of the wide array of commercial or market fuels in use today, all components, engines, and vehicles must be vigorously tested to confirm emissions performance, driveability and material compatibility. To support the requirements of the modern global vehicle engineer, various testing and validation fuels are used to represent quality that ranges from good to poor for fuel that are currently in the market or that will be introduced into the market in the future. Testing and validation fuels have been developed specifically for emissions compliance testing to meet new environmental regulations in different parts of the world, vehicle performance and reliability needs. Demand for new testing and validation fuels will continue to grow. This paper reviews historical developments in vehicle testing, the development of testing and validation fuels, global fuel quality and trends, and describes the importance of using specialty fuels to develop robust designs that ensure vehicle performance, compliance and reliability in the global market place.