“With effect from January 1, EU made a bold start to put in force the “Car Air-conditioning Directive” upon which a two-year moratorium had been imposed. We now can expect a full-fledged commercialization of the new-type car air-conditioning refrigerant HFO1234yf from this year.

The Car Air-conditioning Directive is a law “to prohibit loading of any car A/C using a refrigerant of GWP exceeding 150″ which was agreed by the EU Committee in 2006.

The issuing time of order and applicable types of automobile were designated to be ① new model cars (not including minor model changes) to be delivered on or after January 1, 2011 and ② all new cars on or after January 1, 2017. As the GWP of current refrigerant HFC134a is 1430, it means banning of use as a matter of fact.

However, car air-conditioning refrigerants with GWP of 150 or less for practical use have been confined to HFO1234yf(GWP4) and carbon dioxide (GWP 1). Out of the two, however, carbon dioxide is not well capable as a refrigerant and far less cost effective. So, the car manufacturers deploying in the European market have been discussing over and over, and gradually have integrated their choice of alternative refrigerant candidates into HFO1234yf.

HFO1234yf is a patented gas in the joint ownership of Honeywel and DuPont, and its commercial production had been delayed. It was the reason why EU took the measure of two-year moratorium on the Car A/C Directive from 2011. It was followed by the establishment of commercial production plant in China at the end of last year, which was thought to have solved the shortage in supply. The termination of moratorium and the invocation of the Directive seems to have been resolved at the same time.

As for HFO1234yf, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) once pointed out an ignition risk to be caused by HFO1234yf, but we understand that EU showed no acceptance of the indication after all .

Since EU started to ban the use of HFC134a though limiting to new-model cars, Japanese automobile manufacturers have now started to respond to the move.Toyota is going to adopt HFO1234yf sequentially from the the export of high-class cars for the European customers (according to the Public Relations Department). Likewise, Fuji Heavy Industries started to adopt it for SUBARU BRZ and Mazda for its Atenza (Mazda6). An expected demand for this year will be less than 100t, but most probably it will penetrate gradually into the HFC134a market.”
“With effect from January 1, EU made a bold start to put in force the “Car Air-conditioning Directive” upon which a two-year moratorium had been imposed. We now can expect a full-fledged commercialization of the new-type car air-conditioning refrigerant HFO1234yf from this year.

The Car Air-conditioning Directive is a law “to prohibit loading of any car A/C using a refrigerant of GWP exceeding 150″ which was agreed by the EU Committee in 2006.

The issuing time of order and applicable types of automobile were designated to be ① new model cars (not including minor model changes) to be delivered on or after January 1, 2011 and ② all new cars on or after January 1, 2017. As the GWP of current refrigerant HFC134a is 1430, it means banning of use as a matter of fact.

However, car air-conditioning refrigerants with GWP of 150 or less for practical use have been confined to HFO1234yf(GWP4) and carbon dioxide (GWP 1). Out of the two, however, carbon dioxide is not well capable as a refrigerant and far less cost effective. So, the car manufacturers deploying in the European market have been discussing over and over, and gradually have integrated their choice of alternative refrigerant candidates into HFO1234yf.

HFO1234yf is a patented gas in the joint ownership of Honeywel and DuPont, and its commercial production had been delayed. It was the reason why EU took the measure of two-year moratorium on the Car A/C Directive from 2011. It was followed by the establishment of commercial production plant in China at the end of last year, which was thought to have solved the shortage in supply. The termination of moratorium and the invocation of the Directive seems to have been resolved at the same time.

As for HFO1234yf, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) once pointed out an ignition risk to be caused by HFO1234yf, but we understand that EU showed no acceptance of the indication after all .

Since EU started to ban the use of HFC134a though limiting to new-model cars, Japanese automobile manufacturers have now started to respond to the move.Toyota is going to adopt HFO1234yf sequentially from the the export of high-class cars for the European customers (according to the Public Relations Department). Likewise, Fuji Heavy Industries started to adopt it for SUBARU BRZ and Mazda for its Atenza (Mazda6). An expected demand for this year will be less than 100t, but most probably it will penetrate gradually into the HFC134a market.”