Product category:
Design and Development Consultancy
News Release from: Ricardo
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 09 May 2008
GBP 52 million supports low-carbon
vehicles
The 2/4car project aims to deliver a global premium vehicle demonstrating a 25-30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions with no loss of performance.
The UK government's Technology Strategy Board has released funding of GBP 23 million for 16 innovative low-carbon vehicle development projects Including partner contributions these projects collectively represent a total value of GBP 52 million
Ricardo will be an active participant in three of the winning project consortia.
Building on the work of the 2/4sight engine concept, the 2/4car project aims to deliver a global premium vehicle demonstrating a 25-30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions with no loss of performance using a highly-downsized gasoline engine with two-stroke/four-stroke switching technology.
Laboratory work has shown that torque output more typical of an engine of twice the capacity is achievable.
The engine design incorporates a cycle-switching valvetrain, an advanced boosting and control system and will demonstrate powertrain integration and driveable control strategies.
Ricardo will lead this project which will be carried out by a consortium also including the University of Brighton, Denso Sales UK and Jaguar Cars.
Reflecting the emerging importance of vehicle electrification, Ricardo will also participate in the Range Extended Electric Vehicle project which will be led by Land Rover.
This project aims to develop a modular electric and electric/diesel powertrain, suitable for several different vehicle types, which will be tested on a large premium sport utility platform delivering 120 to 130g/km and zero emissions range of at least 19km.
The project will also investigate range extension and plug-in charging and installation/ commissioning of local recharging facilities for vehicle trials within the vehicle fleet of E-ON, which along with Amberjac Projects is also a consortium member.
Kinetic energy recovery will be the theme of the Flywheel Hybrid System for Premium Vehicles project.
This project will involve the design development of a mechanical hybrid (flywheel and variable drive system) kinetic energy recovery system for use in a premium segment passenger vehicle as an alternative, cost-competitive solution to other hybrid systems.
The project will demonstrate this within an existing vehicle platform to prove its effectiveness and viability for production and suitability for modular applications.
Jaguar Cars will lead this project, which will be carried out by a consortium also including Flybrid Systems, Ford Motor, Prodrive, Ricardo UK , Torotrak and Xtrac.
"We welcome the investment decision released today by the Technology Strategy Board and look forward to participating in three of the major UK low-carbon vehicle programmes that have successfully secured funding", said Neville Jackson, Ricardo Technology Director.
"Improving fuel economy and reducing carbon emissions is a major imperative globally for both the automotive industry and society in general".
"We are proud that the consortia in which we are participating have secured funding for these three very important projects, which aim to provide some of the crucial enabling technologies for future low carbon road transport applications".
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