Abstract
The automotive industry is currently facing the challenge of significantly tightening requirements regarding CO2 emissions and fuel economy driven by both legislation as well as customer demand.
Ford Motor Company has anticipated this trend, has invested in the development of fuel efficient engine technologies, and is now deploying these technologies in volume to deliver both a meaningful and sustainable response to the above challenge.
Leading the deployment curve is a technology publicly announced as EcoBoost, representing the application of direct fuel injection and turbocharging to an advanced gasoline engine. This technology enables a significant fuel economy improvement via engine downsizing and a significant performance improvement via engine dynamic response. Within three years, Ford expects to deliver 750,000 EcoBoost-equipped vehicles per year in North America and 1.3 million vehicles globally, starting with the first application in the form of a 3.5L V6 EcoBoost engine in the 2010 MY Ford Taurus SHO and Flex as well as the Lincoln MKS / MKT. The next application will be offered as a 2.0L I4 engine in two power levels for worldwide vehicle programs with implementation starting in the European CD-cars Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy. A further migration into small 1.6L I4 is scheduled for the next generation C-cars starting with the new C-Max and finally also an I3 architecture can be expected.
These smaller EcoBoost variants are initially focused on the EU market but the rapid change of the US market and customer wants as well as fuel economy awareness in other regions of the world will likely benefit from Ford's approach to deliver products with worldwide applicability.
The EcoBoost principle deserves a dedicated engine design which takes into account the increased structural and thermal loads of boosted engines and will therefore be the base for any future engine architecture.
EcoBoost can be regarded as the backbone of future gasoline engines being equipped with additional fuel economy features like part load dethrottling technology or advanced full map EGR operation. The combination of technologies is based on the available controls capabilities and has to be part of an integrated powertrain strategy including clutch and transmission system.
The key aim for Ford is the creation of a highly competitive but affordable technology package presenting high value to the customer being confronted with increasing fuel prices and intense focus on environmental aspects like global warming.
Keywords: Downsizing ; Turbocharging ; Direct Injection ; CO2-Emission ; Fuel Economy