Ford Promises 30% Better Mileage Using Ethanol Injection

[Fledermaus]

Ford says the next generation of their Ecoboost engine technology, codenamed Bobcat, will provide 30% more fuel efficiency than a traditional gasoline combustion engine by directly injecting ethanol into the gas/air mixture prior to detonation.

Although Ford’s first generation Ecoboost engines start hitting the market next year — promising a 20% gain in fuel economy over traditional engines — Ford is already tweaking their new Bobcat technology to squeeze out even more fuel efficiency from the direct ethanol injection system.

The technology works by merging a turbocharger with a high compression ratio in the same engine. Combining these two features normally results in an incompatible and disastrous mix which causes premature detonation of the fuel/air mixture — referred to as engine knock.

Ford gets around this incompatibility by injecting a small amount of ethanol into the gas/air mixture before detonation in the combustion chamber. Purportedly, the addition of the ethanol cools the mixture enough that it doesn’t ignite until the engine tells it to, thus preventing the dreaded knock.

http://gas2.org/2008/09/03/ford-promises-30-better-mileage-using-ethanol-injection/

Smaller engine, less weight, better mileage, same or better performance.

[BlooInBloo]

1. (a) suuuuure. (b) too little, too late.

[ingac70]

2. Past time Ford did something like this.

Probably too little, too late.

[madrchsod]

3. not a bad idea for commercial vehicles

because it would be cheaper than diesel fuel.

[4lbs]

4. I prefer hydrogen combustion engines

because hydrogen can be cheaply made through the electrolysis of ocean water. You know, that blue stuff that covers 2/3 of the Earth.

Normally, electrolysis takes some time with pure water, but is greatly sped up with the introduction of an electrolyte, like salt. Gee, think ocean water contains salt?

What else besides hydrogen is produced by electrolysis? Oxygen. You know, that gas that all animal life needs to survive.

[TheMadMonk]

5. Not at all cheap. Cheapest source of hydrogen is actually fossil fuels.

Not advocating just saying.

Most hydrogen is made by catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons.

Or sometimes the water gas method.

[Massacure]

6. Hydrogen is difficult to move and store though.

If your going to make hydrogen, you may as well just use it and biomass as a feedstock for a fischer-tropsch process to create a hydrocarbon.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. It's supposed to be an option on the next...

version of the Lincoln MKS, due out later this year or early next year. This won't be cheap, but it will give you 5+ liter V-8 power in a 3.5 liter V-6 with no turbo lag and no increase (possibly even a reduction) in fuel costs. It goes into the Focus when the cost goes down and it should bring the mileage up to well over 40mpg. The Mercury Milan is already a very nice car-- stick a four with this gadgetry in it and it should beat the crap out of anything else out there.

While the peanut gallery is enamored of Toyota (which sells far more more SUVs than Priuses, btw) Ford has quietly been tweaking existing technology for steady mileage gains, while sticking the toe in the water with neat things like the Escape hybrid.