Popular Mechanics: 5 TurboCharger Innovations for Fuel Efficiency and Power
Editor’s Note: Our friends at Popular Mechanics have written an in-depth piece about an essential piece of fuel-saving technology: the turbocharger. Read the rest of this story at PM.
In the 1980s, it was difficult to escape the turbocharger. The twin energy crises of the 1970s forced automakers to produce cars that delivered better fuel economy. And that meant downsizing engines. By the 1980s, turbo technology was evolving and automakers installed them to boost the power of these smaller engines. But turbos promised more than just power—they promised fuel economy benefits too.
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Turbos were billed as a way to have the fuel economy of a four-cylinder engine with the power of a Six. Sound familiar? That’s what automakers are claiming today. Theoretically it makes sense because the turbo uses some of the normally wasted exhaust energy. And downsizing the engines reduces thermodynamic and frictional losses. It’s an easy win win, right? Well, in many cases the fuel-economy benefits were slight. And some manufacturers were famous for reliability problems. So widespread turbocharger use faded somewhat in the decades since. In their place, the auto industry simply made bigger engines that were more efficient.
Now that we’re in the midst of another kind of energy crisis, the turbocharger is back. Ford is particularly aggressive with the technology and plans to replace many of its V8 engines with twin-turbo V6s and use turbo four-cylinder engines to supplant V6s. The company has even coined a friendly name for its turbo engines—Ecoboost . Ford, however, is not alone. “We’re going to see a lot more turbo engines,” says Chris Meagher, GM’s chief engineer for its Ecotec engines. Industry estimates peg global gasoline-turbocharger production to grow to around 3 million units by 2013. That’s a sixfold increase in less than a decade.
>> This story continues at at Popular Mechanics.
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I noticed the other day that the Saturn Sky turbo 2.0 is EPA rated higher city and highway than the standard 2.5
I also read about Ford testing a truck with a turbo on a 9 or 10 to 1 compression engine using an ethanol injection unit and reported nearly the same torque as their diesel and better mileage than the standard engine, whatever that was - don’t remember.
There are a few innovative turbos out there - companies like VW/Porsche have been developing variable-boost, clean-running turbos for years.
I do not believe that any present modifications of existing gasoline or diesel engines can ever compete with the upcoming “electrics” as far as efficiency.
There have been many attempts to design an electric powered vehicle for as long as the the internal combustion engine has been around. Unfortunately, battery power was never a formidable contender to the present internal combustion engine, but it looks as though it is time for change.
The Electric Vehicle, is It the Answer?