Garrett launching electric turbocharger (E-Turbo) in 2021 with mass market passenger application in mind
Published on 10-19-2019 12:41 PM
The idea of a compressor powered by electricity is nothing new. Mass adoption of a turbo that uses electricity to instantly spin the compressor before having to wait for exhaust gases certainly would be new. That is what Garrett promises with the E-Turbo set to hit the market in 2021.
What is the idea behind this? Classic sequential turbo setups in the past had a small turbo and a big turbo working in concert with the small turbo helping reduce lag before the big turbo got going and took over. The idea will be similar here.
You can have a small motor with a large turbocharger and reduce the lag issue significantly with the E-Turbo getting things going in the low rpm range:
Originally Posted by
Garrett
Garrett has created an E-Turbo demonstration vehicle that is a successful representation of how an electrified boosting solution can increase engine power and torque while allowing the engine to operate at Lambda 1, providing energy recuperation to the vehicle’s electrical system.
Electrifying a turbocharger removes the constraint of needing a small turbine with excellent efficiency to drive the compressor at low flow rates. Instead, it allows us to right size the turbine for Lambda 1 rated power.
Mercedes-Benz explored this idea back in 2015 and their M256 inline-6 engines designed in
2016 use an electric compressor. Mercedes refers to this design as an electric auxiliary compressor.
The Mercedes design is more mild than what Garett will be introducing and we will likely see more and more powerful 'E-Turbos' from Garrett.
Keep in mind the primary goal here is an efficiency gain and the E-Turbo goal is to improve emissions and fuel economy by 20%+ without a performance penalty.
Garrett illustrates the key points here:
Will we see a benefit in enthusiast cars and sports cars? Probably not initially as the mainstream application is for mass market passenger vehicles. The performance applications will come in time.
Originally Posted by
Garrett
The growing trends toward hybridization opens up possibilities to transfer electric boosting technology from racetrack to road. Garrett is pioneering E-Turbo technology to deliver superior performance, fuel economy and emissions, by integrating state-of-the-art, ultra highspeed electric motors and power electronics into it’s turbocharger product families.
Electrified Turbos (E-Turbos) show exciting potential and equal applicability in both light & commercial vehicles, in all fuels such as gasoline, diesel and natural gas (CNG).
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