Turbocharging
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To improve fuel efficiency, engines are gradually shedding accessory drives. Electric power steering is now commonplace, and electric air conditioning compressors are used on hybrid cars to keep them cool while the engine's off. Now, BMW has taken a new tack to electrifying ancillary equipment: It's created a twin turbocharger setup in which one half, the compressor that operates at lower engine speeds, is run electrically rather than mechanically. From idle to acceleration The news came to light in a patent application that was covered on the F30Post forum, which said it might be used in a...
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Smaller, More Efficient: VW Passat With 1.2-Liter 3-Cylinder EngineHow large an engine do you need in a mid-size car? Just a few years ago, the answer would have been a V-6 of 2.8 to 3.5 liters, perhaps with a base model offering a four of 2.4 to 2.8 liters. Then Hyundai announced in late 2009 that it would abandon V-6 engines altogether for its 2010 Sonata...
John Voelcker -
New Chrysler Engine To Burn Gas And Diesel--At The Same Time
You probably drive a gasoline car. And surely you've heard of cars with diesel engines. But how about a car with an engine that burns both fuels, at the same time? That's what Chrysler is working on, it turns out, funded in part with research dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy. Author Mike...
John Voelcker -
Report: Honda CR-Z Model To Drop Hybrid Motor, Pick Up Turbo
The 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrid hot-hatch was meant to be the car that showed hybrids could be sporty as well as green, but its paltry 122 horsepower and dismal 0-60 times were never going to excite anyone. And don’t think its fuel economy is anything to write home about; the CR-Z returns 36/38...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
How Smaller Engines Offer More Power: Superchargers Vs Turbos
Turbochargers have been with us in volume production only since the Seventies, but superchargers have a long and honorable automotive history. They were used on the Blower Bentleys that won Le Mans 80 years ago, and have appeared ever since on high-performance engines, often larger ones. A boost...
John Voelcker -
3 Green-Car Trends: Smaller Cars, More Turbos, Luxury Hybrids
Everyone has opinions. But if you had to wrap up what's happening in green cars today by naming three trends, what would they be? The ever-eager publicists at auto-classified site AutoTrader.com sent us their list of three changes in the world of eco-friendly vehicles. We've reproduced them below...
John Voelcker -
Used to be that turbos were used in performance cars, from the Saab Turbos of the late Seventies to BMW's current range of twin-turbo sixes. These days, the little air pumps more often make smaller engines perform like bigger ones to give fuel economy. In brief, a turbocharger uses exhaust gases to drive a turbine that pumps more air into the intake manifold, so more gasoline can be burnt for greater power. We write about this engine downsizing theme a lot, and we're hitting it again because our colleague Bengt Halvorson just looked at the 1.4-liter turbocharged four that GM fits to the...
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Smaller-More-Efficient Engines II: Ford EcoBoost Effort Expands
We said it on Friday: Smaller, more efficient engines are going to be the main way we increase gas mileage in the next few years (in that case, a four-cylinder 2010 Buick LaCrosse). This morning, Ford has underlined that theme once more by announcing three new applications of their EcoBoost engines...
John Voelcker
