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Specifically, the bipartisan bill would cap the ethanol content of fuel
at 9.7%, and would also effect the EPA’s Renewable Volume Obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Under proposed RFS volume requirements for 2017, the EPA calls
for 18.8 billion gallons of biofuel next year, representing a nearly
4% increase despite lower demand for higher ethanol blends. HR
5108 would also ensure continued availability of ethanol-free gasoline for older motorcycles.
EUROPE’S CHANGING EMISSIONS LAWS
WILL CHANGE MOTORCYCLES
Your favorite bike may be influenced from afar. “This year promises to bring a record crop of new and updated models from virtually
every manufacturer thanks to wide-ranging law changes coming
into force thousands of miles away in Europe,” according to Motorcyclist Magazine. “Those changes might not directly affect us, but
given the way bikes are developed with global sales in mind many
of the new models being developed to meet the latest European
regulations are sure to be coming here too.”
On January 1, 2016, a whole new set of rules was adopted across
Europe. “Regulation (EU) No 168/2013” makes significant changes -- in particular to exhaust emissions limits but also to things like
braking systems and electronics. Tests for noise levels have also
been changed.
The emissions limits are of course much tighter; called “Euro 4,”
the new limits reduce the permissible levels of carbon monoxide,
unburned hydrocarbons, and oxides of nitrogen in exhausts. Previously America’s rules on emissions were tougher than Europe’s,
but now in order to pass the Euro 4 tests new bikes are being fitted
with much larger exhausts and kits that include charcoal canisters
to reduce evaporative emissions.
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“Next year we’ll be seeing a lot more things like that,” predicts Motorcyclist author Ben Purvis, explaining that “While the rules were
passed into law back in 2013 and came into force at the start of
2016, their implementation is staggered to give manufacturers a
chance to adapt.”
Since January 1st, all newly launched models have needed to
comply to be legally sold in the EU. But the more important date is
January 1, 2017, because that’s the deadline when existing models must also come into line, though manufacturers can apply for
a two-year extension.
What else is changing? Emissions aside, the big change is that in Europe all bikes over 125cc will have to be fitted with ABS while smaller
bikes will need to have either ABS or a combined braking system.
There are also changes to the lighting rules, with daytime running
lights becoming mandatory as well as US-style side reflectors.
Europe is the closest to America in terms of the types of bike that
are popular, but while Americans consume less than a half million
motorcycles a year, riders in the EU purchase well over a million.
Like lower emissions exhaust systems