New Petrol Engine will save lots of fuel thanks to Volkswagen Group

Low Fuel Consumption from new engines at VW Group

According to hints from Audi technical chief Ulrich Hackenberg who spoke at Audi’s recent annual conference, The Volkswagen Group is preparing a revolution in petrol engine efficiency.  He also said engines with “electro-mechanical assistance for forced induction” and “variable compression ratios” were in development. At the rate fuel prices are going up, and the fact that our resources are limited, the only alternative left for us is to improvise our current technology for optimize fuel efficiency.

Hackenberg also said coasting would become an important fuel-saving technology over the next few years. A coasting function is such where the transmission disengages from the engine on the overrun is already built into some VW Group models equipped with dual-clutch automatic gearboxes.

Hackenberg gave no details on how Audi will introduce variable compression ratio technology, but the principle has long been something of a Holy Grail for engine designers. This advance in efficiency will come from varying an engine’s compression ratio depending on the immediate demands being placed on it.

In 2000, Saab showed its experimental supercharged and turbocharged SVC engine, which used a tilting block to change the volume of the combustion chamber and, therefore, the compression ratio. More recent designs have tweaked compression ratios by changing the throw of the crankshaft or through the manipulation of conrods.

Audi revaled electrically assisted forced-induction technology in the summer of 2012 as part of an experimental twin-turbo V6 engine. It used an electrically driven turbo which was spun up to high speed by a motor and used to force air into the engine at low speeds something a normal turbo cannot do until the engine is running at higher revs. This technology not only allows turbocharged engines to perform effectively from a standstill, but is also very effective for downsized two and three-cylinder engines.

Hackenberg said coasting technology which has significant fuel-saving potential -would arrive in four stages. The first level already features on some dual-clutch ’boxes, with the next version expected to function when the car is travelling below 4mph. The ultimate version will see the transmission decoupling and the engine shutting down when cruising at speed, travelling downhill or approaching traffic lights that are about to turn red. Electric turbochargers, variable compression ratios, cylinder deactivation and coasting combined have the potential to hugely improve the real-world economy of future petrol engines.