EUROPEAN “COLD WAR” HAS THROWN THE TRANSITION TO A NEW REFRIGERANT INTO DISARRAY
If you were in the auto business in the 1990s, you probably remember the near chaos that surrounded a change in vehicle air-conditioning refrigerant at that time. It’s happening again.
This time it should have been a much simpler process — but recent happenings in Europe are casting considerable doubt on that probability.
To refresh your memory, for decades the industry standard refrigerant for automotive A/C systems was Freon (R12). But it was a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), which depleted the ozone layer when released into the atmosphere. So, when the Montreal Protocol to eliminate CFCs was adopted in 1987, R12 became an endangered species.
By the 1990s, a task force coordinated by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) agreed to replace R12 with a new refrigerant known as R134a, which is benign to the earth’s ozone layer, and defined procedures for capturing R12 during servicing.
Regulators also decreed that existing R12-equipped vehicles would have to be converted to use R134a when they were serviced — a task that also necessitated retrofitting some hardware. It was a tough sell to unsuspecting customers who bore the brunt of the costs.
Greenhouse gases
Subsequently, after that changeover was complete, environmental attention refocused on climate change and R134a, was identified as a global-warming or so-called greenhouse gas (GHG), 1,400 times more potent than CO2, which was the primary target for GHG reduction.
Work quickly began to develop yet another new refrigerant that would be friendly to the ozone layer and to the climate, resulting in the selection of R1234yf by another SAE working group that involved most of the world’s major automakers.
While its technical qualifications were acknowledged and agreed upon, there was concern that production of R1234yf was controlled by a Honeywell-Dupont monopoly and perhaps not coincidentally, that its price is about an order of magnitude greater than that of R134a.
Nevertheless, all seemed set for an orderly transition and the industry began its march toward the phase-in of R1234yf as new models are introduced.
To encourage that process, the European Union mandated that refrigerants in all “new” vehicles introduced in that market must have a global warming potential of no more than 1,000 times that of CO2, effectively banning the use of R134a. A grandfather clause, however, allows vehicles already in production to continue using R134a until 2017, when full compliance will be required.
Fire risks and disputes
Then, in September, 2012, Mercedes-Benz revealed that it had carried out a series of additional tests on the new refrigerant, above and beyond those already conducted. They purportedly showed that the refrigerant can be a fire risk when released as a fine spray in a very hot engine compartment — as might occur if a refrigerant line were ruptured in a crash. And that, when burned, it emits a toxic hydrogen fluoride gas.
For those reasons, Mercedes-Benz announced it would not use the new refrigerant in its new vehicles but would continue to use R134a, while further researching other alternatives.
That unexpected announcement sparked a whole new round of testing and evaluation throughout the industry, resulting in a reaffirmation by the SAE study group that R1234yf is safe for commercial use — and it is now being used in several models, worldwide.
While the EU took no action against Mercedes-Benz for failing to comply with its mandate, France stopped registering four new Mercedes-Benz models with the old refrigerant, thus crippling the brand’s sales in that country. That dispute has since escalated into something of a “cold war” involving the governments of the EU, France and Germany, as well as Daimler AG (Mercedes’ parent company).
Various attempts to resolve the issue have been unsuccessful, but Mercedes-Benz has succeeded in obtaining a temporary injunction allowing sales of the affected vehicles to be restored. But the key word is “temporary.” The matter has not been finally resolved and that indecision affects the whole industry.
Prompted by public confusion and uncertainty over the issue in Europe, Toyota has now joined Mercedes-Benz in switching back to the older refrigerant in that market — although it says it has no safety concerns with the new one.
The European Commission’s executive body has now undertaken a full review of the situation, providing independent technical support to mediate the dispute. But that review could take a year or more.
In the meantime, automakers are left with a tough decision on whether to continue with the adoption of the new refrigerant — or begin development on yet another alternative. And what seemed like an orderly transition to a new refrigerant has been thrown into uncertainty and disarray. Welcome to our world!
