Lotus will be showcasing its very own “range extender” powertrain at the Frankfurt motorshow this month. If you know how the Chevrolet Volt works you’ll basically have a gist about what range extenders are all about. A range extender engine does not power the car’s wheels. It either provides power to an electric motor or charges the vehicle’s battery, depending on needs as per what the management system tells it to do.
The Lotus Range Extender Engine is a 1.2 litre 3 cylinder engine. Its power/torque curve is optimised for 2 power generation points – 15kW (20hp) at 1,500rpm and 35kW (47hp) at 3,500rpm, which by the way is also its redline. The engine is most fuel efficient at these points in the RPM range so it can just run at these speeds without having to go into the other inefficient ranges because it does not drive the wheels directly. Peak torque is 107Nm at 2,500rpm.
The engine is a single cam engine with 2 valves per cylinder on a 10.0:1 compression ratio. It uses a monoblock construction with an integrated exhaust manifold, which means the head and block are integrated, removing the need for a head gasket. 17 parts are eliminated thanks to this and the water jacket can be optimised – the result is a dry weight of only 56kg. No fancy direct injection here – fuel is delivered via port injection and the minimum octane requirement is RON95. It can also run on ethanol or methanol.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
put into savvy
hermm maybe proton should look into this for their ev car
a generator. i think diesel is better. lower rpm n more power.
Amazing what only 56kg can do. A non turboed diesel would operate at about the same rpm wouldn't it? Not sure whether that same weighted diesel could generate the same amount of kinetic energy required. Diesels are big on torque but low in hp. HP is more what you need to turn a small generator.
This would definitely make the car lighter, therefore, reduce torque required, reduce drive size AND battery size/weight. The renderings reminds of the flexi fuel Omnivore 2 stroker engine project. I think they share some common design. This one only need to supply power for batteries and maybe a bit more for ancillaries.
So will Opel/GM buy this idea?
bobdbilder said,
September 8, 2009 @ 2:40 am
Diesels are big on torque but low in hp. HP is more what you need to turn a small generator.
Nonsense, have you read Paul's article ?
"Its power/torque curve is optimised for 2 power generation points – 15kW (20hp) at 1,500rpm and 35kW (47hp) at 3,500rpm, which by the way is also its redline."
nais.thats the way to go.now we need savvy replacement.
No need replacement laa…. just need 2 doors savvy variant wif turbo D4F engine. Cuurent savvy looks cool what…..i have one btw hehe, luv it very much
who know this will be proton next most fuel saving vehicle engine.
Just keep the LOTUS emblem at the engine.. so, nobody will argue about it..
Handling & Tuned by Lotus, Engineered by Lotus, so, malaysian will not talk about the quality issue again..
Savvy should have this engine inside it.. and make some facelift to the front and major facelift to the rear..sure can get customer attention…
Nice, this engine will be suited for Savvy.
You guys want to see some sketches of proton cars by Malaysian designer?
Try go to this link:
http://funtastickodesign.wordpress.com/2009/09/03…
i believe this is to be used in ev car. if the power in the battery almost empty, then kick off this engine to recharge it, so we can reach recharging point or our home.
interesting. what's the maximum range on this in, say, a small car with 30 litres of fuel capacity?
In the end we still depend on fossil fuel for a car with this powertrain. Not exactly a true ev car. ^^;
better then overloading the electric power provider line when charging the battery…they also use fossil fuel what…unless their generator fully powered by water or nuclear. Remember…our electric rate is not cheap…normal usage without any recharging vehicle battery is already RM40 minimum…unless u are using 3 phase…the rate will be cheaper…
The tricky question is if Proton could find a way to adapt this technology efficiently.
Global fuel prices will plummet when
the first EV vehiecles are finally up and running in 2010
and at the end of the day.It would still be economical
to run a petrol vehiecle because
major petroleum players with mega bucks and cartels
will not go down without a fight.!!
i
pulge said,
September 8, 2009 @ 8:49 am
In the end we still depend on fossil fuel for a car with this powertrain. Not exactly a true ev car. ^^;
_____________________________________________________________________
This concept would fit Malaysia nicely given the lack of infrastructure for a "true" EV car. Since at this moment I don't expect the government to do more in support of any EV application other than "cheaper" hybrids.
Frankly they still (gov) expects Malaysia to still depending on traditional fossil fuel, I mean why should they do something that will make Petronas goes out of business. Just look at what has happened to the NGV and you'll get my point.
Mat Rempit..
You don't have any idea, don't you?…
Petronas makes more money exporting the fuel than selling it locally.
They have to absorb some of the local subsidies too..
So they should promote this engine in the country, so that there are less demand locally.
Petronas is losing more money selling NGV locally due to subsidies they have to absorb….
"True" EV car should not need extended infra. Any wall socket at their home should do fine. Rapid charging station would waste govt money since not many will utilize them when communing from home to work.
But Malaysians frequently travels outstation (especially balik kampung), so an extended EV would be a much (better) anticipated choice.
.
Pulge,
it still needs fuel. today it is fossil fuel.
but it also can run on ethanol and methanol. So in the future, it might not need fossil fuel. Syntetic fuel or plant based fuel could be the next step.
BTW, I still hopeful that Lotus also developing diesel version of the engine. Next time hopefully we could pour in palm oil into our new Proton!..
Anyhow,
I have heard that Proton is developing a fuel efficient and low emission vehicle.
This engine might be the key…
A range extender! Sort of like a stepping stone between current technology battery and future high capacity low cost batteries.
In short, any means to generate electricity to spin the electric motor. Batteries, range extender, fuel cells, etc.
Not surprise if theres a diesel, British are fancy with diesel power.
RT you've got your facts wrong abt NGV.
NGV is practically free and the only cost incurred
is the gas pipeline cost which has skyrocketted.
(Engen SA /Petronas personnel qoute)
and Petronas does not lose money on subsidies,
its the govt that loses – as claimed.
You think that Shell / BHP / Esso would want to subsidise Msians
and run a charity co?
No way!! And Petronas is in the same boat.
This is a business so as a public listed and responsible co they will always tell you of how much they have put back to the rakyat etc etc !!!
drama sikit lah!!!
Good if someday a fuel based on palm oil is to be used. My dad has a palm field, can become our major source of income in the future. Palm oil prices will go boom then..
Btw, regardless of fuel types (fossil, synthetic, or biological), it still produces emission to the air, only that the amount is varied and types of emission is also different. Correct me if I'm wrong.
a very best of technological showcase from lotus… hope this does help them to get back to black..
– not smart ass comment from me. ;)
KosmoNot
your statement:
"RT you’ve got your facts wrong abt NGV.
NGV is practically free and the only cost incurred
is the gas pipeline cost which has skyrocketted"
is a complete nonsense….gas pipeline cost is only a part of the cost for NGV delivery…..and we've got that covered from the Peninsular Gas Pipeline which was actually built for the industry…how can NGV be free when u need to spend millions and billions just to extract gas from the ground? not to mention the cost to keep processing plants running to purify the gas that we got underground….
and actually PETRONAS does lose money from gas subsidy….the gas price for domestic market is way below the operating cost and PETRONAS still have to produce them at a loss…the Malaysian government doesn't pay PETRONAS for that…
Range extender….fancy name for small engine or generator or whatever…botom line is the main function to provide electricity for the electric powertrain.
Gonna have to get used to driving a car like that where the engine is always running at a steady rpm irrespective of speed, as though the acclerator is stuck unless the NVH is very very good
Well… I can think of a weakness of this engine is that…
If you did not maintain this engine well until it is kong… Well… Say bye bye and get a new or secondhand…
Just think of it's valve, how u gonna service it if it is intergrated? Ths most is changing the valve seal…
From the picture it look like timing belt driven, so if the timing belt putus? How to check if the valve bengkok?
bobdbilder said,
September 8, 2009 @ 2:40 am
Amazing what only 56kg can do. A non turboed diesel would operate at about the same rpm wouldn’t it? Not sure whether that same weighted diesel could generate the same amount of kinetic energy required. Diesels are big on torque but low in hp. HP is more what you need to turn a small generator.
y do u need hp since the engine is running on constant speed? n do know wat is torque n hp actually? a 700cc diesel engine generator can produce more with 300-500rpm. n its more fuel efficient n u can also power the traditional belt driven air cond pump, n more.
but then again, maybe lotus wan it to be a light engine which is good. n diesel is more noisy then petrol engine.
Highlight: Lotus dont really have or any trademark engine. they use rover, toyota etc.
Can't Proton utilize this technology to come up with a praise worthy + technologically advance vehicle for once? I mean since Proton owns Lotus, whatever that Lotus comes out with belongs to Proton right? Yes, a range extender based on a 4 door savvy is the New Saga! Malaysia's first Hybrid vehicle to be sold. If that happens :)
This is for a series hybrid electric vehicle similar to Chevy Volt. The engine can be used as a range extender after the battery state-of-charge drop below a threshold value. If the battery pack is sized for a typical daily commuting range of let say 60 km and the car has plug-in capability (battery pack can be recharged at home or at work), then you can skip the petrol station for majoriy of daily driving need. Of course if you have to drive out of town, then you'll need the range extender.
Why only 2 optimized operating points? Because internal combustion engine maximum thermal efficiency (>25%) is located on a small 'island' and you want to design, tune and operate the engine within this point when turning the generator. If the engine has to drive the gearbox and the wheels, most likely the operating points will be all over the place on the torque-speed curve and overall the engine thermal efficiency will be very low (<15%).
What would be good combination of technologies which this range extender unit can complement? I am thinking four compact in-wheel motors inside each wheel maybe at least 30 kW/motor (4×30 kW = 120 kW = 160 HP total) and a 20 kWh Lithium polymer battery pack which is designed for a new hybrid car platform. The lithium polymer battery pack can follow the shape of the car floor since there is no liquid electrolyte involved. Perhaps in parallel with supercapacitor that can absorb more regenerative braking current than the battery pack can and the supercapacitor can instantaneously release large amount of power for acceleration (just like KERS in Formula 1). Maybe I should slap a large sticker "Eat My Voltage!" on the rear bumper. What else? Hmmm… maybe the plug-in capability and a compact gasifier for home use to create my own fuel.
I can only dream… Proton please make my dream comes true; with German level engineering, Japanese quality, Italian styling and Langkawi price of course!
You cannot accelerate from 0 rpm to 1500rpm without putting in work. You need hp to bring any mass to any speed. It just didn't happen on its ownsome.
What can you fill a diesel engine with? No spark plug remember? Its all compression. You can't fill it with Ethanol. And yes Diesel engines are heavier than petrol engines coz they need to pressurize the diesel to burn it.
Lotus did make engines on their Sevens, Elans, Espirit. You think Lotus started doing business with Elise?
Somebody said NGV is free. Come let me bring you to Petronas GPPA and GPPB in Kertih and Satong. Or let's bring you offshore Kertih to Resak and offshore Bintulu to Helang and see what a dedicated Gas Platform looks like. Or drive you to Pasir Gudang where they're building Tangga Barat. Then you will see how much money is involved.
Where do people come out with the idea that Natural Gas is a byproduct of producing oil?
Get your head out of that hole.
Hmm let's see if my friend who's working at Lotus Engineering has something to say…
The only free "compressed natural gas" is the one that naturally produced by humans and cattles. Bottled it up and try to run your Iswara taxi with it…
I really didn't get what Mohd was trying to say. So yes you have two fuel efficient points on the power band. That means two levels of different current generation. One to charge an almost low battery, and the other for trickle charge or ancillary power (AC, blowers, or when battery is 90% full). If they ran at one point only, the current wouldn't be sufficient. The power charging module would have its say on which setting it should go.
So what's your point Mohd? If you look up Proactive magazine there's more info on EV, Alternative Fuel, Hybrids and the Omnivore engine. If you do a little reading on EV you might understand a bit more.
Actually no fancy technology needed here, its just like putting a bike engine together with a dynamo.
The point of range extender is that it is only used as a secondary source of energy, when a primary power source, like battery in EV, is powering the vehicle. Therefore, if you never travel far, you might not need to burn any fuel.
As oppose to Prius, where the battery is the secondary power, and the petrol engine still the primary workhorse.
From the figures given; 15 kW and 35 kW and if I assume this is for a medium sized sedan, the numbers look right for low speed urban driving power requirement (average power required perhaps less than 15 kW, but 15 kW is not really that high above the requirement so you can trickle charge the battery pack) and for highway cruising (average power requirement less than 35 kW for 110 km/h speed, but 35 kW is not really that high above the requirement so again you can trickle charge the battery pack while cruising at 110 km/h). Assuming that there is a 20 kWh energy capacity with max discharge current of 300 amps (C10 discharge rate and you'd need a really big cable if current rating is well above 300 amps) and max recharge current of 100 amps (some figures that I obtained from a local lithium polymer mfr) and the maximum power requirement is 120 kW; the system voltage must be around 400 V. If the maximum charging current is around 100 amps, the maximum power that can be absorbed by the battery pack is 40 kW (maybe from a hard regenerative braking) and this is below the peak power output of the generator of 35 kW.
20 kWh li polymer at 120 Wh/kg will weight around 167 kg, if the motors (plus controllers) are 1 kW/kg then this will add another 120 kg, the range extender from Lotus is only 56 kg. The total hybrid sysem will weight around 343 kg, add aroud 10% more for the structures/cables/mountings etc and it will be around 377 kg total mass. How much is the weight of a 1.6 L Campro CPS engine plus the gearbox? Can I assume it is the same as the old Honda 1.6 VTEC of 320 lbs = 145 kg? So the difference is 377 kg – 145 kg = 232 kg. This means that the new Gen2 hybrid will weight 1190 kg + 232 kg = 1422 kg (about 78 kg less than a Peugeot 407).
Power to weight ratio of the non-hybrid Gen2 CPS car is 94kW (125 HP)/1190 kg = 0.079 kW/kg = 0.105 HP/kg. The new proposed hybrid peak power is 120 kW or 160 HP; the proposed hybrid power to weight ratio is 120 kW (160HP)/1422 kg = 0.084 kW/kg = 0.112 HP/kg. Whis is higher than the non-hybrid Gen2 CPS car. Not sure about the other chassis and suspension mods neeed since GVW of Gen2 is only 1560 kg. Maybe Jesse James from Monster Garage can help.
KosmoNot,
as others said, I was not wrong.
Get your facts straight. Claiming your source as "Petronas personel" does not work.
BTW, Shell/BHP/ ESSO does not sell NGV (probably -as you said- because they does not want to participate in the charity)
But they do sell LPG.– those gas we use in our home.
Probably you got that mixed-up.
.
RT,
The gas is free but the cost of precessing it into NGV is about RM2 per litre. Yes Petronas is doing charity, thats why they never encourage public to use the NGV and never make it avalaible nationwide,its a burden to them.
bobdbilder said,
September 8, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
I really didn’t get what Mohd was trying to say.
You pointed out, that hp is more important than torque. A Diesel with this displacement will always be better at low rpm in terms of torque and hp…
There seem to be a confusion about hp and torque. The (simplified) formula is: hp=torque x rpm. (for engineers: P = T(au) x ?(omega) where P is power, ? is torque, ? is the angular velocity)
Maybe it will makes it s way into Saga.
rest of the world..price of natural gas is at least 50% cheaper than petrol….
20hp ? wat for ? bring up a bicycles ?
"allen said,
September 9, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
20hp ? wat for ? bring up a bicycles ?"
it only makes sense if you actually read the whole article, and not just the part that says (20hp).
I think there a turbodiesel 1.2cc 3 cylinder engine that capable of pumping out 76hp @ 3000rpm and a whopping 175nm @ 1500-2250rpm.Think its from France
hp=torquexrpm
Is that really the formula for calculating hp? How do we calculate using that formula for campro and cps engine. Since campro's torque is 148Nm but only produce 110hp(84kW?), Cps has 150Nm of torque but produces more hp which is 125hp. I cannot understand the simplified formula to calculate hp claimed used by engineers.
Fazron80,
Not sure if you still read this article. There is nothing wrong with the equation. The reason you asked this question was because you have not understood the GRAPHS of TORQUE (Nm) and Power (in Watt) respectively.
Campro engine has peak torque at 4000+ RPM, but peak power at 6000+ RPM.
Remember, at 6000+ RPM, the torque curve (graph) is rapidly falling off.
I think most of you miss the whole idea of range extender engine. This engine is use to charge up the battery or generate electricity for EV. It's not use to move the vehicle directly. It's like a generator….wait it's a generator…wait it's use to charge the battery…hhmmmm..now i am confuse…
Codename for this project is OMNIVORE…
Check here what is OMNIVORE "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore"
Technical specification
1.2 litre 3-cylinder with 2 valves per cylinder, SOHC, 2-Stokes
Belt driven
Construction
Monoblock with Integrated Exhaust Manifold
All aluminium
Balance shaft (optional)
Direct-coupled generator
Bore and Stroke: 75.0 mm x 90.0 mm
Compression ratio: 10:1
Maximum power: 35 kW (47 bhp) at 3500 rpm via integrated electrical generator
Peak torque: 107 Nm at 2500 rpm
Maximum BMEP: 11.2 bar
Maximum Engine Speed: 3500 rpm
Fuel System: Port fuel injection, Lotus EMS
Fuel: 95 RON ULG / ethanol / methanol
Dry weight:56 kg
It's rare that a three-cylnder 1.2-litre motor gets our juices flowing here, but Lotus Engineering's new 'Range Extender' engine is more interesting than most. Lotus Engineering's primary focus is to develop technology for other manufacturers to use.
It's been designed as an off-the-shelf engine for any production series hybrid, and could be sold to any number of car companies.
The Lotus Range Extender could even find its way into a Jaguar, as it's been developed with Jaguar as part of the UK Technology Strategy Board's 'Limo-Green' scheme, a project funded by Lotus Engineering, MIRA, Caparo and Jaguar. If the new engine does end up in a series production Jag, it could be part of the company's project to make an executive saloon with a CO2 output of less than 120g/km.
Check this "http://www.grouplotus.com/engineering/green_technology.html"
These would be serial component
engine > generator > battery > motor > wheels.
engine + generator = PROJECT OMNIVORE.
With Project Omnivore, Battery size will be small, Long waiting for recharge is eliminate and i reckon we may pump any beer or cooking oil into the engine.
It's cost-effective and cost-efficient without sacrifice power and environment.
Well done Lotus Engineering…
Maybe i still dont understand…This car is run on petrol and battery right? If the battery is flat, the petrol engine will still allow this car to run right?
Is the power enough to drive the car up ? Like genting? What about during the interchanging portion when the car is more than 50km, would the gasoline engine malfuntion and does not work? I guess lots of testing will be needed….Maybe another 5 years before the production……….
Sexy. Its time for hybrid.
I Just Bought a Opel Mokka GS with this engine. Its torque and power r amazing. It paired with a 8 speed Auto Transmission 4 modes…Absoultely amazing at 130 HP…First in Central Europe of its kind…Great Product and amazing technology…Opel hit a home run with New Line Up…Im a car guy…Had a Porsche 964 Turbo 1991 3.3 liter…1995 M3 95…2000 X5 4.4 V-8…Audi A3 S Line 2.0 Turbo…Ive owned some great cars…but the weight of 2,500 pounds and Room for family of 4 brings all these cars I owned into one package…Daily Drive 4 star rating…more safety features than a Lear Jet…GodSpeed