Ford is adding a 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder engine—the first three-cylinder engine Ford has built for a regular production car—and an new eight-speed automatic transmission to its line-up. Ford had previewed the small EcoBoost turbocharged gasoline direct injection unit, and had confirmed it for production, at Auto China 2010 in Beijing.
Ford also said that its next generation of hybrid vehicles, including a new plug-in hybrid that will launch next year, will have a Ford-engineered transmission that will be built in Michigan.
| “The 1.0-liter engine is a little dynamo.” |
| —Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development |
The new 1.0L 3-cylinder EcoBoost was designed at Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in the US, the company’s global center of excellence for small-capacity engines. Engineers focused on improving thermal efficiency and reducing friction of the engine’s internal moving parts, especially during warm-up—the time when an engine emits higher levels of CO2 and other pollutants.
The new engine introduces many new technologies that could someday be part of the DNA of future Ford engines, said Joe Bakaj, Ford vice president of Global Powertrain Engineering. The 1.0L unit features:
An offset crankshaft that helps improve fuel economy.
An advanced, Ford-designed split cooling system that allows the cylinder block to warm up before the cylinder head. Faster cylinder block warm-ups save fuel, especially in cold weather.
An exhaust manifold cast into the cylinder head. The one-piece assembly lowers the temperature of the exhaust gases. This enables the engine to run in a wider rpm band with the optimum fuel-to-air ratio. The new design also saves weight and allows the engine to operate more smoothly.
EcoBoost technologies, such as turbocharging, direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT).
Final calibrations of the new EcoBoost 1.0-liter are under way. Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of Global Product Development, said the new engine will deliver horsepower and torque outputs equivalent to or better than most normally aspirated 1.6-liter gasoline engines.
A study by Delphi Powertrain presented at the SAE 2010 World Congress in Detroit concluded that a 3-cylinder turbocharged gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine—such as the 1.0L EcoBoost—offers an optimal combination of cost, lower emissions and reductions in fuel consumption for the most cost-sensitive vehicle segments.
The new three-cylinder engine will be available globally in the company’s small cars. It will also play an important role in North America.
Consumers are telling us they want to buy affordable vehicles that get many more miles per gallon. Our new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine will give consumers looking for hybrid-like fuel economy a new, more affordable choice.
—Derrick Kuzak
| Ford US small car sales |
|---|
| Ford’s two all-new small cars combined had US sales of 29,423 in May, up 74% versus a year ago. It was Ford’s largest small car month since May 2008. |
| Fiesta sales were 7,120, and Focus sales were 22,303, up 32% versus a year ago. |
First seen in the Ford Start concept car that debuted at Beijing in 2010, the engine more recently made its European debut in the Ford B-MAX at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. More technical and application details for the new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine will be released in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany.
Ford is on track to deliver on its promise in 2006 of offering EcoBoost on 90% of its North American lineup by 2013 and to be producing 1.5 million EcoBoost engines globally. The next vehicles to get EcoBoost engines, Edge and Explorer, arrive late this summer.
With our global family of EcoBoost engines, we’ve replaced V8s with V6s and V6s with four-cylinders—with no loss of performance and with impressive fuel economy improvements. The new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine will come in at the lower end of the global range and will take the place of a four-cylinder engine, again with no loss of performance or refinement. Above all, drivers win because this new engine is specifically designed and engineered for terrific fuel economy.
—Derrick Kuzak
Two new Ford transmissions. The new eight-speed automatic is currently under development. The eight-speed transmission will feature:
- Ford’s next-generation clutch controls;
- An input torque sensor, which measures torque coming into the transmission. The sensor enables faster selection of the proper gear, reduces hunting and helps smooth out shifts;
- Actuators built into the case for tighter, more precise control of hydraulic pressure; and
- Closed-loop control.
More details on production and applications will be released at a later date.
Another new Ford transmission to be installed in hybrid vehicles starts production late this year at Van Dyke Transmission Plant in suburban Detroit. Full volume production is slated for the first quarter of 2012.
By next spring, Ford expects to be manufacturing more hybrid transmissions in North America than any other automaker or supplier. The new transmission replaces a unit currently made in Japan that is used today in Ford and Lincoln hybrids.
As with the new eight-speed, the new hybrid transmission is Ford-designed, Ford-engineered and Ford-built. It’s an e-CVT or electronic continuously variable transmission. The new hybrid transmission will offer improved performance over the current unit. The current Ford Fusion Hybrid can reach a top speed of 47 mph on electricity and go as far as one mile.
Source: Green Car Congress
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