1998 engine trends - automobile engines

Automotive Industries, March, 1998

Direct fuel-injection and common-rail diesels take off, as hybrids enter production and fuel cells inch closer to reality.

The first person to benefit from gasoline direct-fuel-injection probably owed his life to it -- literally. It was in 1938 and he was high above Spain, flying the new Messerschmitt 109 fighter plane. The Spanish Civil War was raging below him when suddenly, from out of the sun, dove the enemy -- a Russian-built Polikarpov 1-16. In most situations, the stubby little 1-16 was not match for the 109, then the world's most advanced fighter. But nothing is certain in combat. Instinctively, the 109's pilot yanked on the stick, sending his craft corkscrewing into a violent, negative-G dive. By doing this he quickly eluded his toe, whose carbureted engine starved for fuel in pursuit. Direct-injection ruled the skies in those days. Developed and supplied by Bosch, the early DI system allowed the Me109 and other German war plane (powered by supercharged Daimler-Benz v-12s and BMW radials) to often out-maneuver their carbureted adversaries.

Sixty years later, gasoline DI -- long dormant except for an early `50s fling on Mercedes' fabulous SL sports cars -- has reappeared to fight again. This time it will help carry the automotive piston engine into the 21st century. High-pressure DI improves combustion efficiency and increases fuel economy by 15% in real-world driving. That's a big sales factor in nearly every country except the U.S., where the average price of a gallon of gasoline is $1.05.

European and Japanese automakers are racing to design new DI gasoline engines. Mitsubishi has committed to direct-inject its entire gasoline engine range within a couple of years. And its taken the technology upscale, with a 45L DI V-8 slated for the next Shogun (Montero) sport-ute. "Everyone in the industry is working aggressively on direct injection," observes David Taitt, head of power-train engineering at Lotus Engineering in Britain "Its brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) gains cannot be denied."

But like all internal combustion engines, DI offers no free lunch. Its inherent lean-burn operation causes excessive nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions -- a "greenhouse gas" that exceeds current U.S. and European standards. Today's 3-way catalysts are insufficient; lean-NOx catalysts now in development look promising, and may be ready within two or three years. But the high-sulfur gasolines of Europe and the U.S. threaten the new cats' durability up to the required 100,000 miles. Systems integration is far more critical on DI than on port-injection engines, due to transients into and out of lean burn that can cause driveability problems. Then there's cost: DI equipment adds at least $200 extra to a new engine, say powertrain engineers.

Nonetheless DI, along with an exciting new generation of clean, quiet diesels (see p. 56), are AI's major Engine Trends of 1998.

Significant too, is the rapid development of hybrid-electrics, led by Toyota's 66-mpg Prius, the first production hybrid of the modern era. Being first, Toyota and its suppliers are gaining valuable production experience with the new breed. The U.S. Big Three, working towards the PNGVs 80-mpg fuel economy target, will have "Production ready" hybrids by 2000-2001. Their cost penalty is being reduced dramatically, but (like Prius) is still $15,000 or more than today's conventionally-powered vehicles.

Much hybrid development, particularly batteries and power control, lends itself to fuel cells. There are now clear signals that the hydrogen fuel cell will indeed become a prime-mover for light vehicles. "We'll know by 2000 or 2001 if its a mass-production technology," says Chris Borroni-Bird, manager of technology strategies at Chrysler, "but then we'll need another solid 10 years of R&D to make that happen."

In the meantime, "everybody continues to improve the traditional vehicle," observes J. Ferron, automotive analyst and lead partner at Coopers & Lybrand Consulting in Detroit, Mich. He predicts that piston engines, diesel-electric hybrids, pure EVs and fuel cells win evolve in parallel over the next 20 years, much like steam cars, EVs and the piston engine vied for supremacy prior to 1925.

"We're clearly at a fork in the road," Ferron says. "CEOs should be reviewing their product and supply bases," he advises. "They should be planning for how this fusion of new technologies will effect their existing infrastructures.

Daimler-Benz seems to agree. The automaker, which is jointly developing the technology with Ballard Power Systems of Canada and Ford Motor Co., confidently proclaims 100,000 fuel cell vehicles will be produced by 2005. That surprises many researchers, who argue that it's too soon for a fueling infrastructure to be in place. Chrysler (along with Arthur D. Little and Delphi) hopes to use the existing fuel infrastructure by converting gasoline to hydrogen on board the vehicle.

GM has put serious research muscle into fuel cells, establishing its new Global Alternative Propulsion Center at the Opel tech center in Germany. GM chairman Jack Smith promises a drivable, "production feasible" fuel cell car by 2004 or sooner.