The Volkswagen group is said to be working on developing gasoline-burning engines that are far more efficient than anything you can find commercially available today. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi technical chief, said it won’t be just one single innovation that will make this possible, but the added benefit of several.
According to an Autocar report, one of the main pieces of tech that will be used is “electro-mechanical assistance for forced induction,” which what we understand, is from the same idea demonstrated on this Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost.
It uses an electric supercharger (or just plain compressor) to ensure there’s always pressure in the intake system so that the turbocharger is always spinning or just about to spin, thus reducing lag, boosting performance and efficiency all at the same time.
Another idea thrown around is “variable compression ratios.” This too is not very hard to understand, though it’s so far proved tricky for engineers to fine tune and make ready for large scale commercial applications.
Coasting is seen as another constructive way to go, and it’s currently being looked into to see how more of it could be incorporated into everyday driving.
Do remember that, on top of all of the above, VW also has advanced knowledge of cylinder deactivation, a system that is already present in several of their offerings. If they put all of this fuel-saving knowhow together, then the result might actually raise a few eyebrows.
By Andrei Nedelea
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