Growth Energy has joined the collaborative partnership to build the first vehicles to demonstrate Ricardo’s Ethanol Boost Direct Injection (EBDI) engine technology.
The highly flex-fuel optimised engine takes advantage ethanol’s high octane and latent heat of vaporization to provide a low production cost solution and comparable fuel economy.
Ethanol provides a renewable alterative to fossil fuel and offers a viable pathway to reach the U.S. EPA Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) target of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel use by 2022.
Diesel levels of performance are achieved from a spark-ignited engine of less than half the displacement of an equivalent gasoline engine. Reduced cost and complexity compared to diesel engines – more straightforward engineering and lower warranty risk The project goal is to replace the production V8 engines in two 1 tonne (8000lbs) fullsize trucks with a small 3.2l V6 engine that incorporates EBDI engine technology and to provide the similar performance in terms of vehicle performance and trail towing capability as the production V8 diesel engine solution with comparable fiuel economy. The EBDI technology is scaleable and can be applied to engines that could be used in a mid sized car all the way through to a Class 6 truck
Improved Fuel Economy, Reduced CO2, Great Performance
In addition to being a domestic and renewable resource, increasing the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline can substantially reduce tailpipe CO2 emissions; and lower carbon emissions means lower greenhouse gas emissions.
EBDI engine control algorithms allow optimised operation for varying octane and ethanol content. Increased availability of ethanol blender pumps in the future will allow the consumer to choose the best blend based on vehicle type, expected use and fuel cost.
Describing the Power for the Next Generation
- Highly boosted, downsized SI engines will be required to meet future CO2 regulations
- Designed for Ethanol
- Advanced control strategies allow optimisation on gasoline and ethanol
- When viewed as a total system, the engine is just one of many areas available to increase fuel efficiency
Technical Specifications
Base Engine
- 3.2L Direct injection V6 (V6 3.2l SIDI twin turbo)
- Integrated Exhaust Manifold (IEM)
- External EGR system for exhaust gas
- temperature and knock reduction (EGR boost)
- advance boosting concepts
- Homogeneous operation at high load for emissions compliance
- optimised control algorithms for unrivalled performance from Regular pump gasoline through E85
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E85 Performance
900 Nm Peak torque (35 Bar BMEP)
450+ hp
Gasoline Performance
775Nm Peak torque (30 Bar BMEP)
400+ hp
Benefits through EBDI
- Performance
- Low cost fuel system
- Simpler after treatment (no SCR required)
- Improved vehicle packaging
- BMEP extension (higher performance or increased downsizing)
- Reduced Cost and Complexity
- Reduced Diagnostic Complexity
- Reduced total cost of ownership
- Reduced diagnostic complexity
- Reduced warranty costs
- Reduced engine mass
- Agricultural applications can burn the fuel being harvested
EBDI Applications to be integrated in
- Automotive
- Medium Duty truck
- Agricultural vehicles
- Construction vehicles
