Remember the uber-secret Ford "Bobcat" dual-fuel engine — the one that squirts a shot of E85 directly into the cylinder chamber to create diesel-like performance out of a gasoline engine? Thanks to PickupTrucks.com, we've got this exclusive first look!
These CAD renderings, brilliantly pilfered from presentations given by Ford last month to the Department of Energy and Society of Automotive Engineers by PickupTrucks.com, show the first detailed look at the new engine that's expected to achieve fuel efficiency gains of somewhere between 25-30% over a standard gasoline engine. That'll even be a 5-10% increase over the EcoBoost engines!
PickupTrucks.com claims, through a load of math-type stuff, that:
"...an experimental 3.5-liter GTDI EcoBoost engine modified with E85 direct injection and gasoline port fuel injection run on a dynamometer achieved a BMEP score of 305 psi (27 bar), which translates to approximately 553 pounds-feet of torque and 316 horsepower at 3,000 rpm (flat torque curve from 1,500 to 3,000 rpm). The experimental engine was limited by the engine block's ability to handle higher compression ratios."
That means it could have been even higher! For comparison purposes, a standard GTDI EcoBoost engine on a dyno was rated at 17 bar, which translates to approximately 350 lb-ft of torque and 300 HP at 4,500 rpm. Wowzers.
And at first we were just impressed with those pink double Air/Water-heat exchangers sitting on top of the engine.
But what's really cool about this technology is it's precisely how Ford expects to rech the new 2016 fuel economy numbers just announced by the Obama administration. No neutered hybrid pickup trucks needed. [PickupTrucks.com]