General Motors’ Engines Are About To Get Larger
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In the midst of strangling fuel economy and emission regulations across the globe, an answer revealed itself: downsizing. The world’s largest automakers quickly did their best to make smaller, three-cylinder engines which employed turbocharging to help make up the difference in lack of grunt.
Except, now, it seems to have been the wrong move, according to Reuters.
General Motors specifically will work to make its smallest engines larger after starting reports showing these tiny powerplants actually emit more emissions than legally allowed. Most of the culprits are European-spec engines, where the increased loads don’t handle the work nearly as well as once imagined.
The news comes after a much-needed shift to real-world fuel economy and emission testing, something that has been laboratory based for many years. In the real world, engines behave much differently than simulated testing.
In the meantime, GM powertrain chief, Dan Nicholson, continues to press continents for one aligned set of emission standards in order to save valuable time and money for global automakers.
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Not only GM! Other manufacturers too.
And many of us saw this as highly likely for obvious reasons.
Delphi’s VP of engineering, Mary Gustanski, on Autoline After Hours suggested that the only solution that car makers have will be to integrate mild hybrids even on small engines as the electric motor(s) would provide additional power like a turbocharger on acceleration meaning the engine won’t need to work as hard and overall would provide a 20-30 percent improvement in overall fuel mileage because at low speeds the engine will get turned off and the electric motors kick in; Ms Gustanski added that the cost of Delphi’s mild hybrid system will be about $3,500.00.
“In the real world, engines behave much differently than simulated testing.”
What exactly is it simulating then? If there is that much difference from the simulated testing, I would think you should be fixing the software for your “simulations” as well. Kinda silly to have a test that doesn’t reflect results the way it should have, more of an exercise than a test at that point.
Well, as we know even a certain (and maybe more?) manufacturer employed emissions defeat software where the car could sense when it was hooked up to a simulator and behave differently. I would think it would be highly unlikely you could bypass a real world test.
Not asking for a bypass to a real world test. It isn’t a simulation if it is not simulating the conditions. It should be likely they fix the simulator software to actually do some simulating. Nobody is talking about bypassing a real world test to fake some diesel emission results. Why would the manufacturer, purposely, defeat it’s own “simulated” tests? That makes no sense whatsoever.
The best way to use small displacement engines in heavy vehicles, and keep the emissions lower is with a true hybrid sysem, such as what Ford has done in the Gen 2 Fusion/Mondeo and the C-Max. GM is doing this now in the Chevy Malibu Hybrid and the Buick LaCrosse Hybrid.