Ford's EcoBoost tech busts into showrooms

The cornerstone of Ford's sustainability strategy--a more efficient engine design called EcoBoost--will be available for the first time in the coming weeks.

The EcoBoost technology combines direct fuel injection and a turbo charger to improve the fuel efficiency of comparable cars between 10 percent and 20 percent. Ford decided that it's the cheapest route to improved mileage, noting that consumers will recoup the additional cost of the EcoBoost option in two years.

The elements of Ford's EcoBoost technology are already built into vehicles from other manufacturers. What's significant about Ford's plans is that it plans to make it available on half of a million vehicles by 2013, making it an option on 90 percent of its car models by then.

"EcoBoost kept rising to the top as the most effective way to get fuel economy improvements over competing options such as hybridization and diesels," said Dan Kapp, director of advanced power trains at Ford. "It very quickly went from an effective performance improvement option on big vehicles to something to build our strategy around."

In its first incarnations, EcoBoost will be offered with high-end versions of Ford's midsize sedans and crossover SUVs. Over the coming months, the technology will be including the 2010 Lincoln MKS, Lincoln MKT, Taurus SHO, and Flex.

Rather than get a V8 engine with the "performance" models, consumers will get a six-cylinder engine with the EcoBoost, which improves performance as well as fuel economy, said Kapp. For example, Ford will offer a six-cylinder F-150 pickup with EcoBoost in 2010 as an alternative to a V8 model.

Over time, the engine will be fitted into smaller cars. Instead of a V6 engine, the high-end model of sedans will have a four-cylinder engine with EcoBoost. "It's an enabler to downsize our engines," Kapp said. The carbon dioxide emissions from EcoBoost engines are 15 percent lower than comparable engines, according to Ford.

Ford is still developing alternative power train technologies, including diesels and hybrid cars. It recently released a hybrid version of the Ford Fusion sedan and has plans to introduce both plug-in electric hybrids and all-electric vehicles in the next two years.

But in the short term, EcoBoost is more attractive as the smaller engine that EcoBoost allows offsets the added cost, Kapp said. Meanwhile, hybrids cars have a longer payback, on the order of 8 to 10 years depending on gasoline prices, he added.

In the coming years, Ford also envisions combining EcoBoost with hybrids although there would need to be significant modifications to get more than incremental improvements, he said.

[ballmerisanape]

I hope they put this in the base Mustang... and put a bigger.. or factory boosted V8 in the GT. All you need is a little computer tuning to get big HP gains in a boosted car.

[DMAN3k]

I like Nissan's Dual Injector system technology more than Ford's EcoBoost.

[baconstang]

Tried them both?

[kieranmullen]

Although directing us to a Ford video is nice, it would have been nicer if you had included some points in text on what the EcoBoost does.

[dgoshilla]

That car is Chunky and UGLY. I don't care if its a concept. Ford can't afford to have huge press releases with such crap being displayed to the public. Big mistake.

[baconstang]

Have you looked a most cars on the road? The SUVs and 'crossovers'? Big and ugly sells.

[Outside_Looking_In]

What difference does it make how many HPs a car has if you can't use them? Sure you can go out to a race track, drop a couple bills and run a few laps around a track but frankly, who buys a car for that purpose and then to put it through that kind of grind on a regular basis? Be real, how much horsepower do you need to pass someone on a congested freeway/highway as you're looking in your mirrors for the highway patrol?
An alternative power vehicle that gets great mileage, easy on the eyes and affordable. That's where the public appeal will be.

[RTFM]

Good to see Ford is yet again charting a different path than jumping immediately on the hybrid band wagon. They have a sound plan the progresses slowly through the technologies. That way the consumer hopefully won't be burdened with a payback figure of more than a few years. Ricky from GM guided his company into a 50+ billion deficit and I'm guessing he will do it again and this time pull the cord on his golden parachute. At least I'll be bending over my Ford when I get ewscrayed. Not that I'm gonna like it.

[biffhenerson]

I would pay extra for Anti-EcoBoost.

[AppleSuxLeo]

The idea of EcoBoost is to provide big-inch V8 type instant on torque at low RPM`s and to provide less fuel consumption overall. And it does all this. It is one way to meet the future CAFE standards the Democrats are forcing on us.

[mattie121]

EcoBoost isn't some magic, it's just a combination of turbo-charging and direct injection wrapped in a trade name. The ideas are sound, and are used in lots and lots of cars already. Direct injection is just injecting the gas from a higher pressure fuel line into the combustion chamber, not the intake runner. This gives more atomization which cools the intake charge more, allowing for higher compression ratios (which lead to more efficient generation of power). For old gear heads this is like running high compression pistons but you don't need the race gas to prevent knock. Turbos are just "displacement on demand". New turbo technology (like variable geometry and dual scroll designs) allow for less lag with higher overall operating ranges.

What's new here isn't the technology, but it's use in a high volume US produced car fleet.

Doesn't matter if your a democrat or a republican, getting more power out of less gas is a good idea.

In some of the latest Porsche engines, just going direct injection gave about a 10% INCREASE in power while lowering gas consumption by 15%. Who can say this is a bad idea? Gear heads (who understand engine tech) love it, greenies who want to save the world love it. Only people who don't like it are those that don't like change in any shape or form. This is one time, at least, when those who want performance and economy can both be happy.

[MD_Willington]

So in other words, they have been picking the brains of the torque tweakers from Volvo...

So couple a forced induction with an alternative fuel and put out a screaming high mileage 4 or 6 bangers with gobs of torque... sounds like fun.

[jwhenry22]

You can buy or trade in both domestic and foreign vehicles so not just the US made cars.

henry
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