Following the announcement by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond of the creation of a ‘Clean Air Fund’ to improve air quality in London, including such measures as a ‘no-idling zone’, Bosch believes that the use of Start/Stop technology for vehicles in London could reduce CO2 emissions by over 500,000 tonnes annually.

“Bosch is at the forefront of developing technologies to make gasoline and diesel engines more efficient and less polluting”, said Peter Fouquet, president of Bosch in the UK. “Start/Stop is one exemplary fuel saving technology that further reduces CO2 emissions”.

The system works by automatically switching off a vehicle’s engine when it comes to a stop, for example at traffic lights. When the clutch is depressed, or the foot is taken off the brake pedal for an automatic transmission, the engine restarts seamlessly in a fraction of a second.

“A Start/Stop system can reduce a vehicle’s CO2 emissions by 8 percent in average city driving, and up to 15 percent in dense city traffic. In addition, the technology also reduces noise pollution”, Fouquet said. “The benefit can be further improved when a Bosch ultra-efficient alternator is added.”

The impact of a high proliferation of Start/Stop in London would be dramatic. The latest figures from Transport for London indicate that cars and vans in London emit around 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. If all cars and vans in London were equipped with Start/Stop technology, the reduction in CO2 emissions would therefore be in the region of 500,000 tonnes.

Bosch has delivered Start/Stop technology for more than two million cars and vans. The company has predicted that half of all new vehicles sold in Europe will have a Start/Stop by 2013.