| Greener and more economical |
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 Volvo V70T4F
Ethanol cars are becoming less fuel-thirsty. But they may be more economical than petrol cars? No, says Volvo's engine developers. Well, says the legendary British engine firm Ricardo. Both may be right.
Winter problems with ethanol is to some extent inevitable as Roland
Wernlund, head of engine development at Volvo Cars. Ethanol is not as
volatile as gasoline, evaporation temperature is higher. It is this
difference that causes it.
First is the fuel manufacturers' liability. That is why the E85 in the winter just keeps 75 percent ethanol. One can also build engines that handle problems more or less good. With direct injection, it will be easier to start, you can have different injection strategies. Engine block heater helps, it will be cold enough need for all fuels. In recent years, flex-fuel cars that run on ethanol and gasoline has reduced its fuel faster than other models. Green Motorists did a comparison of all models sold in Sweden in 2010 and the organization believes that the trend has continued. For example a Volvo V70T4F consumes 0.7 liters diesel per mil. The predecessor 2.5 FT drew 0.9. Run it on E85 pulls T4F 0.96 l / mil today to 1.23 l / mil for the predecessor. Flexifuel cars were originally quite thirsty for manufacturers put no effort into bringing down consumption. Saab as optimized their ethanol cars for performance, not efficiency, says Mattias Goldman of Green Motorists. The methods to obtain efficient ethanol cars are the same as for petrol cars, says Roland Wernlund, head of engine development at Volvo Cars. It's about more modern engine technology, downsizing, direct injection that makes you come down the fuel consumption regardless viket fuel to run on, he says. The ethanol cars that exist today are flex-fuel cars, which will go on both ethanol and gasoline. With an engine that is specially adapted for ethanol could reduce consumption of a few percent. But it would in principle be able to run on gasoline, at least not get the performance or consumption that you would expect. Technically, Volvo, or other major manufacturers, to build such a car. But there is no room for today launched a special ethanol, says Roland Wernlund. This example assumes that the price level of ethanol fuel provides a stable neutral fuel cost for the customer in relation to petrol. If you want to build a dedicated low-optimized ethanol, how do you do? - The foundation is the compression. By raising the compression ratio can win a few additional percent of consumption, says Roland Wernlund. - Then you can optimize the level of detail, such as the injectors which only needs to operate on ethanol. But the foundation is the compression ratio. Ethanol has higher octane and better cooling than gasoline and therefore resistant to fuel higher compression. - That way you can compensate for some of the lower energy content per liter of ethanol. But you can not access everything, that is, the 35 percent of the energy content of E85 is different from commercial gasoline. Volvo has made an inquiry of this kind of product that points to around 3-5 percent savings compared with a flexifuelbil. The British engine developer Ricardo believes that there may be longer. With the ethanol-optimized engine EBDI, boosted Ethanol Direct Injection, mean Ricardoingenjorerna that achieved efficiency as a diesel, up to 30 percent better than a gasoline engine. The first EBDI-demonstrator built by a 3.2 liter V6 engine that states have the same performance as a double petrol engine with 30 percent lower fuel consumption. This is to some extent a play with concepts. Volvo has the right, ethanol cars can not beat petrol car in mil per liter, but if you count efficiency, thus mil per energy content, kilojoules, and one can go further. EBDI technology similar to a series of studies in various engine manufacturers' labs have attempted to combine the diesel and spark ignition technology. |
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