The new e-Power engine being developed by Nissan will be a pioneer in the industry and boasts a thermal efficiency of up to 50%.
Nissan announced that its next generation of internal combustion engines will be the most efficient in the world, as it will have a thermal efficiency of 50%, which represents the percentage of total energy transformed into combustion that can be converted to motion; the rest is lost as heat. For this purpose, it will be assisted by the brand’s e-Power hybrid technology.
Until now, this number had only been reached by the Mercedes-AMG team in Formula 1 in 2017, with their car’s V6 turbo hybrid.
The e-POWER system combines the benefits of an electric vehicle (such as quiet driving and efficient use of energy) with better handling response and smooth acceleration.
Currently, the most efficient engines have a factor of around 40 percent. Toyota’s Dynamic Force engine is capable of this number in its 2.0-liter version, while Mazda’s groundbreaking SkyActiv-X is rated at around 44 percent, so hitting the 50 percent mark would put it way ahead. front and would bring it closer to the actual charging emissions of a 100 percent electric car.
The only brand, apart from Nissan, that is known to be developing new combustion engines this efficient is precisely Mazda, which is targeting 56% with the third generation of its SkyActiv technology.
Nissan claims the achievement comes from new technology that allows it to burn a lean mixture, named for the low concentration of fuel in the combustion chamber air, with a higher compression ratio. With this mixture and higher pressure, a more powerful spark and a complete and rapid combustion are ensured, preventing the energy from dissipating in the form of heat.
The final part of the puzzle comes thanks to Nissan’s e-Power technology, which uses the engine solely as a generator of electricity for an electric motor and not to connect directly to the wheels. This eliminates the fluctuation in the revolutions that a regular car has, since the engine works in its most efficient range and is not constantly changing for accelerations, braking and gear changes between idle and 6,000 rpm.
In tests, Nissan says that the prototype has already achieved 46% thermal efficiency and that the final gains to reach 50% will be given by heat recovery technologies. The date of presentation of the new generation of engines has not been announced, but it is expected soon.
Commenting on the accomplishment of this, Nissan’s chief EV and powertrain engineering Toshihiro Hirai said that “it took 50 years to increase thermal efficiency from 30 to 40 percent in conventional engines, but with e-Power we can achieve 50 percent in a few years. That has been the goal of the engineering community.
The combustion engine is like a electric generator
The e-POWER of Nissan has a high-performance battery, gasoline engine, electric generator, an inverter and an electric motor. This gasoline engine gives electrical power to the electric powertrain battery.
For instance, on account of the new Qashqai, the framework is comprised of an electric engine with 140 kW (190 hp) of force and 330 Nm of force that drives the wheels, a diminished limit battery and a 1.5-liter fuel motor. what’s more, 154 CV that doesn’t drive the wheels, since it works only as a generator.
In this hybridization framework, the gas motor consistently works at a similar speed and subsequently low genuine utilization is obtained (for instance, under 3 l/100 km in the city on account of the Note).
Moreover, the engine adjusts the power age of the engine and the measure of power put away in the battery consistently.
In this situation, the Japanese firm has improved the framework and guarantees that they have accomplished half warm effectiveness by reinforcing the gas stream in the chamber and the start, securely consuming a more weakened fuel-air combination with a high pressure proportion.
In a traditional motor, Nissan clarifies, there are limitations to control the disintegration level of the fuel-air blend to react to the different burdens that happen while driving.