Engine technology is beginning to catch up with alternative fuels. How an engine is designed can directly improve fuel economy for alternative fuels like E85, and
Ricardo is making great strides in this direction with their Ethanol Boosted Direct Injection (EBDI) technology. Ricardo estimates that an E85 fuel economy improvement of up to 30 percent is possible with no loss of power or performance, using their EBDI engine in place of currently available gasoline power train. That makes E85 more efficient then gasoline.
So the testing begins. Two demonstrator vehicles are to be produced incorporating Ricardo’s EBDI engine technology showing that extreme optimization of ethanol combustion can enable engine downsizing of the order of 50 percent and still deliver substantial fuel economy and CO2 emission improvements from a cost-effective, high performance, inherently low emission power train. The project will use Ricardo’s EBDI flex fuel engine, developed from a production V6 gasoline engine, to repower two GMC Sierra 3500 HD pickup trucks, each with a curb weight of 6,000 pounds. Ricardo and partner Growth Energy have announced the project aims to show the market-readiness of Ricardo’s EBDI technology, which optimizes flex-fuel vehicles to burn ethanol with consumer value, horsepower and fuel economy comparable to gasoline. All that and independence from foreign oil. We wish them luck!
1 response so far ↓
stopethanol // February 20, 2010 at 8:47 am |
Saab has been selling this engine technology in their cars for several years. It is a computer controlled turbocharger boost system. It is nothing new, but it is very expensive and results in a very complex engine. Since Saab was owned by GM at the time, makes you wonder why GM never adopted the technology to their flex-fuel engines. Maybe because they were only interested in the CAFE advantage their flex fuel dinosaurs provided to their bottom line.
It would actually be news if an engine manufacturer built a new engine that was simple and just ran efficiently on E85. That would finally show confidence in ethanol as a fuel source.