JMU AFV Lab Blog

I came across this article on the “Wired” blog this morning and thought it was especially relevant to our own “electric scooter” project in the AFV Lab. It’s quite an elegant electric motorcycle! To save bandwidth, I didn’t put up all the article, go to http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/08/two-wheels-zero.html to see the rest of the article, especially the pictures at the bottom. For more information, check out the company webpage, http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/.

Two Wheels, Zero Emissions and Loads of Fun

By Chuck Squatriglia August 20, 2008 | 4:07:09 PMCategories: Electric Vehicles, Motorcycles

Saiki started developing the Zero X five years ago after participating in a NASA round table analyzing transportation technology. He became convinced electric drivetrains are the best way forward and motorcycles the logical place to develop them. They’re smaller and less complex than cars, and the regulatory hurdles to getting them on the road aren’t as high.

Off-road bikes lend themselves to electric power because they’re typically ridden short distances, so range isn’t that big an issue. Electric motors also provide gobs or torque, a big plus in motocross riding. The Zero X produces power instantaneously, and it’ll catch you off guard because the bike is all but silent. Snap the throttle too hard and you’ll lift the front wheel. “The throttle is like a light switch,” Saiki says. “It’s on or it’s off.”

A low-speed mode limits the bike to about 30 mph and is good for tooling around. Switch to high-speed mode and you get unfettered acceleration to about 57 mph. The Zero X will hit 30 mph in under two seconds and 57 in about twice that. Juice comes from a proprietary li-ion battery that weighs 40 pounds and provides about two hours of riding time. It recharges in about two hours using any household socket, and you can get a spare for $2,950.

The Zero X has hydraulic disc brakes and fully adjustable suspension with about 8 inches of travel. It looks a bit like a big mountain bike, which isn’t a coincidence. Saiki, who holds a degree in aerospace engineering, has designed bicycles for Santa Cruz, Haro and Mountain Cycles.

He worked through seven prototypes and designed most of the 300 or so components himself. The bikes are built in a factory near Santa Cruz, and Saiki hopes to turn out 300 a month by next summer. He’s sold 127 since April (Google’s Larry Page bought three) and has a waiting list of 77 people, including two guys who signed up after seeing the bike outside our office.

Saiki says about 75 percent of buyers are seasoned motocross riders, which speaks to the bike’s dirt cred. Saiki had motocross hall-of-famer Jeff Emig flog a prototype at a track in Las Vegas last year, and Emig says it’s the real deal. “I’m expecting the production version to have a huge impact on the motor sports industry,” he says. We probably won’t see James Stewart or Ryan Villopoto racing them anytime soon (although Saiki says the AMA is interested in racing e-bikes) but the guys at Dirt Rider (.pdf) called an early prototype of the Zero X “the inevitable sound of the future of off-road motorcycle riding.”

As for Zero Motorcycle’s future, it includes a street version good for 70 mph and a range of 60 miles. Look for it in January with a sticker price of $9,000.

Photos by Emily Lang / wired.com

Source: http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/08/two-wheels-zero.html

Dan Drumheller of our AFV Lab submitted this article for the blog.  My first impression is that none of these vehicles are, in my opinion, prime candidates for electric vehicles.  My idea of the best platform for an electric vehicle is a small, compact car that is easy to maneuver in traffic, and park in crowded, cramped lots at shopping malls, train stations, and employers.  Electric vehicles are most suitable for short trips of 40 or so miles round trip.  For the most part, these trips usually include just one driver and some cargo, like groceries, golf bags, tennis equipment, etc.  These Chrysler vehicles, on the other hand, seem to me to be primarily “second cars” that are better suited for family or recreational usage with their longer trips and limited usage, and, thus, in my opinion, not really suited for typical electric vehicle operation.

Having said all that, I must say that I am fascinated by the comment about the Jeep:  …The Jeep EV is a four-door Wrangler Unlimited that uses the same gas-electric power combination as the minivan, but with four electric motors — one for each wheel… I’m anxious to see how they do that.  If they put the motors in the wheels, they have the best, most efficient, mechanical arrangement, but they increase unsprung weight, especially in the front, which is a liability in offroad usage.  If they attach the motors to the frame to reduce unsprung weight, they introduce power robbing CV or universal joints and shafts.   Comments?

Chrysler Electric Vehicles slated for 2010

Chrysler “plugged-in” the gauntlet on Tuesday, unveiling a secret lineup of electric vehicles, pledging to bring at least one of them to showrooms within two years.

In 2007, Chrysler announced the launch of a program called ENVI aimed at developing electric cars, but other than a few nonrunning concepts displayed at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, not much information on the project had leaked out since. Now, in a move aimed at cheering up the company’s employees and stealing the spotlight from the recently introduced Chevy Volt, Chrysler is showing its hand to the world.

• Click here for photos.

The most exciting of the three, the two-seat Dodge EV, is a pure electric sports car with a range of 150 to 200 miles on a full charge. Looking suspiciously like the $109,000 Tesla Roadster, the Dodge is clearly based on the same Lotus-sourced platform that underpins that exotic electric. With advanced lithium-ion batteries powering a 268-horsepower motor, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds.

For the family, the Chrysler EV is a reengineered Town and Country minivan that Chrysler claims will be able to travel 40 miles on electric power alone. Similar to the Volt, it also carries a small gasoline engine on board that can charge the batteries and extend the range of the vehicle to up to 400 miles, at an average of 50 miles per gallon.

The Jeep EV is a four-door Wrangler Unlimited that uses the same gas-electric power combination as the minivan, but with four electric motors — one for each wheel — that give it the kind of off-road capability buyers have come to expect from the brand.

Projected prices were not revealed, and Chrysler is not saying which of the vehicles will be the first to come to market. But the company says it will have 100 of them on the road in test fleets in 2009, along with its latest entry into the growing neighborhood electric vehicle segment, the Peapod. This small four-seat bubble car has a top speed of 25 miles per hour and is aimed mainly at residents of gated communities, who will be able to drive it up to 30 miles on a charge.

• Click here for more information from Chrysler.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,426522,00.html

I saw this article in ScienceDaily and was fascinated by it. (For more on this idea, go to this article at greencarcongress.com.) It seems like such an “elegant” idea to generate electricity for a hybrid vehicle. Being the questioning person I am, I immediately wondered why they would use permanent magnets instead of an electromagnet in the core of the “alternator.” After all the alternator in modern motor vehicles uses a small wire wound electromagnet as the “rotor” and a relatively larger coil as the “stator” to produce electricity to recharge the battery and provide power for electricity needs of the vehicle. These alternators use slip rings with carbon “brushes” to transmit voltage to the rotor to energize it. In this “Linear Alternator,” instead of rings, linear strips of metal on the connecting rod with brushes attached to the case could energize the coil.  Of course proper orientation of the moving coils and their magnetic lines of flux relative to the orientation of the stationary, current producing, coils would have to be taken into consideration.  My opinion is that the engine would have to be “fatter” in the alternator section to be more effective as an alternator.  What do you think?  (I can see this as a future project for the AFV Lab.)

free-piston-linear-alternator

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2008) — In an advance toward introduction of an amazing new kind of internal combustion engine, researchers in China are reporting development and use of a new and more accurate computer model to assess performance of the so-called free-piston linear alternator (FPLA).

Their study of the FPLA, which could provide a low-emission, fuel efficient engine for future hybrid electric vehicles, is scheduled for the Sept. 17 issue of ACS’ Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal.

Qingfeng Li and colleagues point out that the FPLA has only one moving part and is an engine designed to generate electricity. In the device, a piston in a cylinder shuttles between two combustion chambers. Permanent magnets on the piston generate electricity by passing through the coils of an alternator centered on the cylinder. The engine can burn a variety of fuels, including natural gas and hydrogen, and seems ideal use in a future world of climate change and possible fossil fuel shortages, they suggest.

Their report describes development of a better computer model to evaluate performance of the FPLA and guide engineers in construction of the engine. Results of their initial simulations showed that the FPLA could accelerate three times faster than other internal combustion engines and burns fuel in ways that minimize air pollution. “It is an environmentally friendly power source for the future,” the report concludes.

Journal reference:

1. Li, Qingfeng, Xiao, Jin, and Huang, Zhen. Simulation of a Two-Stroke Free-Piston Engine for Electrical Power Generation. Energy Fuels, 2008; DOI: 10.1021/ef800217k

Also see: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/09/modeling-a-free.html

From the land “down under” comes this item about algae producing not just fuel, but a product it calls “Green Crude Oil” which can be used like petroleum crude oil with all its diversity of products. I’ve seen a number of these dramatic press releases that were just attempts to get financing; let’s wait and see if the “steak” is as good as the “sizzle.” Comments?

Green crude oil world first, says company

8:22AM Tuesday Sep 16, 2008

A New Zealand company says it has has produced the first samples of green crude oil at a commercially competitive price.

The biodiesel, made from wild algae grown on human sewage, was a world first, Marlborough-based company Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation said.

Aquaflow launched a $5 million capital raising for further research and development of its wild algae-based fuel in January last year.

The company refined the processes it had developed to create a next-generation fuel it calls “green crude”, The Marlborough Express reported.

Company director Barrie Leay said green crude was a manufactured form of crude oil different from earlier generations of biodiesel.

Additional food crops or agricultural land were not needed and the end product was not just a fuel but could be used in products in the same way as crude oil can.

“This is an exciting development because we can separate fuels such as diesel and aviation fuels, as well as a range of high-value chemicals, from green-crude,” Mr Leay said.

The company said it hoped to make it commercially viable.

Aquaflow sources its wild algae from Marlborough’s oxidation ponds and its work was attracting interest from around the world.

Green-crude production also delivered clean water for irrigation or industrial re-use, and this was generating huge interest in the United States, the company said.

The 5 per cent algae-based component - extracted from the algae’s natural oils - produced 90 per cent less emissions than regular diesel.

Source material for the biodiesel was readily available throughout New Zealand. By removing the main contaminant to use as a fuel feedstock, Aquaflow also helped clean up water discharge, fellow director Nick Gerritson said.

- NZPA

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10532401

I saw an article on the autobloggreen blog this morning on Yamaha and Honda electric motorcycles.  One of the links in the article led me to this item on Yamaha’s concept vehicles at the Tokyo Auto Show in 2007.  Below is the text of that item. I was particularly drawn to the “DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell)” concept used in this concept vehicle.  This concept has already been applied to power sources for laptops and such, but this is the first I’ve seen for a vehicle.  Maybe this could be a project for the AFV lab?

Carrying on Yamaha’s onslaught of the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show and their slew of environmentally-friendly cycle concepts, we now introduce you to the FC-Dii. Like the LUXAIR that we showed you previously, the FC-Dii appears to be based on a model originally shown in 2005 called the FC-me. Like that machine, the FC-Dii gets its power from a fuel cell which uses Yamaha’s methanol-water solution. The fuel cell creates electricity which continuously charges the on-board lithium ion battery pack. That battery pack is also removable for charging and replacement purposes. According to Yamaha, their fuel cell “features the highest level of power density in the 1kW class… which achieves a top-level performance of 30% system efficiency for a DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) system.”

The bike itself appears quite small, which makes sense considering that Yamaha would want to keep the machine as light as possible. Nothing really appears to be innovative here besides the fuel cell system, and a good deal of the components appear to carry over from the FC-me. AS soon as we are able to get better pictures, we’ll be sure to update this post.

Related:

• Tokyo 2007 Preview: Yamaha on two-wheels - Tesseract - Part 2 of 6
  
• Tokyo 2007 Preview: Yamaha on two-wheels - LUXAIR - Part 1 of 6
  

[Source: Yamaha Motors]

I saw this item from SmartPlanet News this morning.  Could this work in the U.S.?  I am especially intrigued by the last paragraph, …Utility RWE said it envisions that car batteries from the 100 electric cars in Berlin could feed electricity back into the grid to lessen the load during peak times…. Comments?

One of the charging stations in Berlin

Car giant Daimler and German utility RWE will launch a network of 500 battery-charging stations next year for a trial meant to give electric car drivers the freedom to power up on the go.

The ‘e-mobility Berlin’ project will see Daimler and its Smart wing supply 100 electric city cars. RWE will install and run the charging stations in Berlin.

The cars will be equipped with communication equipment that will allow consumers to have their cars charged at different locations and billed to one account. Although the exact models are yet to be confirmed, the Smart Ed is a natural choice and Daimler told SmartPlanet an electric version of an A or B-class Mercedes Benz could also be used.

Charging stations are expected to be installed at people’s homes as well as public spaces, such as offices, shopping centers, and car parks.

The cars’ lithium-ion batteries (from an undisclosed supplier) will be optimized for rapid charging and longer range. Those same batteries will be used in a Mercedes hybrid model as early as next year, the companies said.

The effort, modelled on a similar effort in London, is being financially supported by German government agencies as part of environmental policy.

Project Better Place, founded by former SAP executive Shai Agassi, is taking a similar approach in an effort to make electric car ownership more attractive.

It has signed on the governments of Israel and Denmark to test a system where electric car drivers in a restricted driving area can replace batteries in a network of stations.

Utility RWE said it envisions that car batteries from the 100 electric cars in Berlin could feed electricity back into the grid to lessen the load during peak times.

One Response to “Time to reconsider criticism of ethanol”

1. renergie Says:
   September 10, 2008 at 8:37 am Louisiana Enacts the Most Comprehensive Advanced Biofuel Legislation in the Nation
   __________________

   Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative Benefits Consumers, Farmers and Gas Station Owners with Localized “Field-to-Pump” Strategy

   Baton Rouge, LA (September 10, 2008) – Governor Bobby Jindal has signed into law the Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative, the most comprehensive and far-reaching state legislation in the nation enacted to develop a statewide advanced biofuel industry. Louisiana is the first state to enact alternative transportation fuel legislation that includes a variable blending pump pilot program and a hydrous ethanol pilot program.

   Field-to-Pump Strategy
   The legislature found that the proper development of an advanced biofuel industry in Louisiana requires implementation of the following comprehensive “field-to-pump” strategy developed by Renergie, Inc.:

   (1) Feedstock Other Than Corn
   (a) derived solely from Louisiana harvested crops;
   (b) capable of an annual yield of at least 600 gallons of ethanol per acre;
   (c) requiring no more than one-half of the water required to grow corn;
   (d) tolerant to high temperature and waterlogging;
   (e) resistant to drought and saline-alkaline soils;
   (f) capable of being grown in marginal soils, ranging from heavy clay to light sand;
   (g) requiring no more than one-third of the nitrogen required to grow corn, thereby reducing the risk of contamination of the waters of the state; and
   (h) requiring no more than one-half of the energy necessary to convert corn into ethanol.

   (2) Decentralized Network of Small Advanced Biofuel Manufacturing Facilities
   Smaller is better. The distributed nature of a small advanced biofuel manufacturing facility network reduces feedstock supply risk, does not burden local water supplies and provides for broader based economic development. Each advanced biofuel manufacturing facility operating in Louisiana will produce no less than 5 million gallons of advanced biofuel per year and no more than 15 million gallons of advanced biofuel per year.

   (3) Market Expansion
   Advanced biofuel supply and demand shall be expanded beyond the 10% blend market by blending fuel-grade anhydrous ethanol with gasoline at the gas station pump. Variable blending pumps, directly installed and operated at local gas stations by a qualified small advanced biofuel manufacturing facility, shall offer the consumer a less expensive substitute for unleaded gasoline in the form of E10, E20, E30 and E85.

   Pilot Programs
   (1) Advanced Biofuel Variable Blending Pumps - The blending of fuels with advanced biofuel percentages between 10 percent and 85 percent will be permitted on a trial basis until January 1, 2012. During this period the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Division of Weights & Measures will monitor the equipment used to dispense the ethanol blends to ascertain that the equipment is suitable and capable of producing an accurate measurement.

   (2) Hydrous Ethanol - The use of hydrous ethanol blends of E10, E20, E30 and E85 in motor vehicles specifically selected for test purposes will be permitted on a trial basis until January 1, 2012. During this period the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Division of Weights & Measures will monitor the performance of the motor vehicles. The hydrous blends will be tested for blend optimization with respect to fuel consumption and engine emissions. Preliminary tests conducted in Europe have proven that the use of hydrous ethanol, which eliminates the need for the hydrous-to-anhydrous dehydration processing step, results in an energy savings of between ten percent and forty-five percent during processing, a four percent product volume increase, higher mileage per gallon, a cleaner engine interior, and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

   Act No. 382, entitled “The Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative,” was co-authored by 27 members of the Legislature. The original bill was drafted by Renergie, Inc. Representative Jonathan W. Perry (R - District 47), with the support of Senator Nick Gautreaux (D - District 26), was the primary author of the bill. Reflecting on the signing of Act No. 382 into law, Brian J. Donovan, CEO of Renergie, Inc. said, “I am pleased that the legislature and governor of the great State of Louisiana have chosen to lead the nation in moving ethanol beyond being just a blending component in gasoline to a fuel that is more economical, cleaner, renewable, and more efficient than unleaded gasoline. The two pilot programs, providing for an advanced biofuel variable blending pump trial and a hydrous ethanol trial, established by the State of Louisiana should be adopted by each and every state in our country.”

   State Agencies Must Purchase or Lease Vehicles That Use Alternative Fuels
   Louisiana’s Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative further states, “The commissioner of administration shall not purchase or lease any motor vehicle for use by any state agency unless that vehicle is capable of and equipped for using an alternative fuel that results in lower emissions of oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, or particulates or any combination thereof that meet or exceed federal Clean Air Act standards.”

   Advanced Biofuel Price Preference for State Agencies
   Louisiana’s Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative provides that a governmental body, state educational institution, or instrumentality of the state that performs essential governmental functions on a statewide or local basis is entitled to purchase E20, E30 or E85 advanced biofuel at a price equal to fifteen percent (15%) less per gallon than the price of unleaded gasoline for use in any motor vehicle.

   Economic Benefits
   The development of an advanced biofuel industry will help rebuild the local and regional economies devastated as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita by providing:
   (1) increased value to the feedstock crops which will benefit local farmers and provide more revenue to the local community;
   (2) increased investments in plants and equipment which will stimulate the local economy by providing construction jobs initially and the chance for full-time employment after the plant is completed;
   (3) secondary employment as associated industries develop due to plant co-products becoming available at a competitive price; and
   (4) increased local and state revenues collected from plant operations will stimulate local and state tax revenues and provide funds for improvements to the community and to the region.

   “Representative Perry and Senator Gautreaux have worked tirelessly to craft comprehensive advanced biofuel legislation which will maximize rural development, benefit consumers, farmers and gas station owners while also protecting the environment and reducing the burden on local water supplies,” said Donovan. “Representative Perry, Senator Gautreaux, and Dr. Strain, Commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, should be praised for their leadership on this issue.”

   About Renergie
   Renergie was formed on March 22, 2006 for the purpose of raising capital to develop, construct, own and operate a network of ten ethanol plants in the parishes of the State of Louisiana which were devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Each ethanol plant will have a production capacity of five million gallons per year (5 MGY) of fuel-grade ethanol. Renergie’s “field-to-pump” strategy is to produce non-corn ethanol locally and directly market non-corn ethanol locally. On February 26, 2008, Renergie was one of 8 recipients, selected from 139 grant applicants, to share $12.5 million from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Renewable Energy Technologies Grants Program. Renergie received $1,500,483 (partial funding) in grant money to design and build Florida’s first ethanol plant capable of producing fuel-grade ethanol solely from sweet sorghum juice. On April 2, 2008, Enterprise Florida, Inc., the state’s economic development organization, selected Renergie as one of Florida’s most innovative technology companies in the alternative energy sector. By blending fuel-grade ethanol with gasoline at the gas station pump, Renergie will offer the consumer a fuel that is more economical, cleaner, renewable, and more efficient than unleaded gasoline. Moreover, the Renergie project will mark the first time that Louisiana farmers will share in the profits realized from the sale of value-added products made from their crops.

Since it’s a slow news day for articles that may interest our readers, I dug back into the archives and found this interesting item.  Go to http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606091445.htm to read the full article. Below are excerpts from the article. This could be a good future AFV Lab project.

Air-powered Go-cart Hits The Track

ScienceDaily (June 11, 2008) — It’s Sunday afternoon. Thousands of fans cheer wildly as race cars fly by at speeds nearing 200 mph for 200 laps. They whiz down the pit road making pit stops, changing tires and refueling. Only, the tanks are not being filled with gas; they’re being filled with air.

That scenario may sound futuristic, but it may not be long before we see air-powered engines take to the track. Five Dalhousie mechanical engineering students have already started the journey down that road….

Dalhousie engineering student, David Alderson test drives an air-powered go cart. (Credit: Nick Pearce)

…The students modified a 40-year-old snowmobile engine and ran compressed air through the engine to produce power similar to a gas engine. They attached the engine to a refurbished go-kart using two scuba tanks to house the air. The air is released through a standard scuba fitting with a high-flow regulator. The released air travels through tubing to a ball-valve connected to the foot pedal and throttle. “It operates much like a normal rotary engine,”…

…The students officially unveiled their air-powered go-kart at Kartbahn Racing in Halifax’s Bayer’s Lake Business Park last week and invited members of the media to take it for a spin. The air-powered vehicle performed comparatively to the electric-powered carts in use. “We can do three laps here or just under two minutes going full out at 43 km/h with two tanks,” Mr. Langille explains.

Kartbahn owner Lucas Strackerjan, who graduated from Dalhousie in 2000 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and a Bachelor of Science in Physics, was impressed with the finished product.

“As someone involved in not only go-kart racing, but the international racing industry, it’s important to find something that’s more advanced and could be accepted as sustainable energy,” says Mr. Strackerjan. “We set benchmarks for the electric cars and the air-powered car went right between them.”

The greatest drawback to the air-powered engine is that it runs out of air quickly. However, Mr. Strackerjan believes the engine will improve with refinements and could be a successor to conventional gas-powered engines….

Saw this a while back and thought I would introduce it to this blog. It is not the first motorized unicycle, nor is it really a unicycle, as it has two wheels. However, it is curious as an extension of the Segway, and its inventor is 19 years old.  Go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-562726/Hold-tight-The-worlds-unicycle-MOTORBIKE.html to read the full article.

Hold on tight! The world’s first unicycle
MOTORBIKE

A young inventor has created a motorbike with a twist ? it uses two wheels but they are positioned right next to each other, giving it the illusion of being a powered unicycle. And even better, it might help save the planet.

Ben Gulak has spent several years building the electric Uno that uses gyroscopic technology - like the infamous Segway commuter device - to stay upright.

The bizarre-looking contraption has only one switch - on or off - and is controlled entirely by body movement.

The rider leans forwards to accelerate to speeds of 25mph and back to slow down. It has two wheels side-by-side and has been turning heads wherever it has been ridden.

Electric Unicycle and Inventor Ben Gulag

Ben Gulak designed the Uno himself with the help of a simple 3D program

The green machine is so small and light it can be taken indoors and carried into lifts - and is recharged by being plugged into the mains.

The wheels are completely independent, allowing the bike to turn on a sixpence and the technology takes the balance and guesswork out of riding a unicycle.

Its 18-year-old creator is now looking for investors to get the Uno into production and onto the streets.

Ben, from Ontario, Canada, said: “I was inspired to make the bike after visiting China a few years ago and seeing all the smog.

“They all drive little bikes that are really polluting and I wanted to make something to combat that.

“I started with the concept because if something doesn’t look cool people just won’t be interested.

Electric Unicycle in operation

I thought you may be interested in this from Ford.  To me, it is a modern incarnation of an older idea.  Back in the Fifties and Sixties, a few hotrodders used “water injection” to accomplish the same thing, namely cooling the combustion chamber to combat detonation, thus allowing higher compression.  Ford is using ethanol instead of water, accomplishing the same thing but getting heat from the combustion of the ethanol instead of absorbing heat from the vaporization of the water.  I also found it fascinating that they are using direct injection instead of port injection.  With a few exceptions, direct injection has heretofore been the sole province of diesels.  Go to http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10030963-48.html to read the full article.

Below is an excerpt from the article:

We haven’t been too excited about Ford’s Ecoboost tech, simply because it’s not really new tech. However, Ford’s next evolution of Ecoboost, code-named Bobcat, might be worth getting worked up about.

According to sources at PickupTrucks.com, the Bobcat is essentially a turbocharged engine running at a high compression ratio. Typically, this combination results in disaster, but Ford’s system has a trick up its sleeve in the form of ethanol injection.

The Bobcat builds on Ford’s Ecoboost engines by including a direct injected ethanol nozzle that adds small amounts of ethanol to the standard port injected air/fuel mixture. The ethanol cools the combustion chamber to prevent premature detonation, allowing the turbocharged engine to run extreme compression ratios.

The system promises 5 to 10 percent greater fuel economy than EcoBoost engines, which already promise a 20 percent increase over Ford’s traditional engines. Turbodiesel enthusiasts already know that high compression plus a turbo equals gobs of torque, which is why the Bobcat is speculated to be a potential replacement for the large diesel power plants that power Ford’s heavy- and super-duty trucks. A 5.0-liter turbo V-8 with ethanol boost could be rated at 500 horsepower and 700 foot-pounds of torque.

With the system’s lower entry cost combined with gasoline’s consistently lower cost per gallon, this system could be a viable alternative to diesel engines in the big trucks of the future.

Ford’s Bobcat engine includes standard port injected gasoline supplemented by ethanol direct injection.

(Credit: PickupTrucks.com )