The automotive marketplace is being inundated with technologies and alternatives to fossil fuel-consuming powertrains, each claiming to be the answer for the future of the industry and our planet. Hybrids, plug-ins, pure electrics, fuel cells — with so many possibilities, it’s difficult to envision what we’ll be driving in the years to come.
Some experts say the answer is all of the above, that there will be no silver bullet that will resolve this issue. Tom Baloga is one of those voices. He’s vice-president of engineering for BMW of North America and I got a chance to speak with him at the Canadian International Auto Show.
Baloga says the current situation in the industry is not unlike the computer business — there is a battle between the PC makers and Mac to dominate, but, in fact, the marketplace needs both systems.
“There needs to be a variety,” says Baloga, “and it’s the same in the automotive industry. We need a portfolio of solutions. We don’t need companies picking winners and losers, we don’t need governments choosing one technology over another. The public will decide which works best for them.”
Numerous powertrain options are being explored, including clean diesel, high-efficiency gasoline, battery electrics, various forms of hybrids and hydrogen fuel cells, but, ultimately, no single solution is expected to answer the needs of everyone. Consumers will make their choices based on the technology that best suits their own needs.
And don’t be too quick to write the internal-combustion (IC) engine out of the equation. Baloga expects IC engines will be around for many more years, perhaps into the 2050s, and they will be instrumental in making the transition to alternative systems in the future.
“We’re not about to give up on it. The IC engine is going to be around for a while because we can continue to improve its efficiency through developing better electronics,” he says.
For example, developments in electronic fuel injection will help improve the efficiency of such engines, whether fuelled by gasoline or diesel fuel. Baloga notes that today’s electronically controlled injection systems have enabled engineers to develop far more precise fuel metering systems than was possible even a few years ago. Electronics are also enabling these systems to operate at extremely high pressures — 29,000 psi for gasoline systems, even higher for diesels — to enhance efficient, precisely timed fuel delivery.
These systems are also allowing engineers to develop injectors that open multiple times during combustion — four or five times per engine stroke — to ensure cleaner, more complete combustion within the cylinder.
“These systems are only possible through electronics,” Baloga says.
Another interesting technology that will help improve IC engine efficiency is combining the capabilities of the navigation system with a vehicle’s engine management system. As Baloga explains, the car’s navigation system will “learn” frequently travelled routes, such as your daily commute to work. It will then anticipate the demands that will be placed on the engine during that daily drive and adjust the management system accordingly. For example, it will know “from experience” when you will be accelerating onto a highway. At that point, the engine is most efficient when it’s running cooler, so the electronically controlled water pump will circulate cooling fluid more aggressively to help reduce heat in the engine and make it more efficient. Once in cruising mode, a warmer engine is more efficient, so the pump will alter the rate of circulation accordingly.
Similarly, if the management system recognizes the battery needs charging but is told by the navigation system that a long, downhill stretch is coming up, it will delay engaging the electronic alternator, allowing the battery to get a “free” recharge using regenerative braking on the downhill run.
“These types of systems will allow us to squeeze every last drop of efficiency out of an engine — and it will be electronics that make it possible.”
Baloga agrees such engines will continue to burn non-renewable fossil fuels, but, by reducing the rate of consumption, it will reduce demand and enable us to source these fuels locally, rather than having to depend on foreign suppliers.
BMW also sees the battery electric system as a powertrain alternative it needs to include in its portfolio. In fact, the new i3, introduced as a concept at last year’s Frankfurt auto show, will be using a battery electric system when it goes into production in 2014. The i3, which will also incorporate ground-breaking carbon-fibre components to dramatically reduce weight, will be primarily a pure electric vehicle. However, a range-extender option will also be offered for those consumers with a touch of range anxiety. The BMW system, unlike the Chevy Volt’s propulsion technology, is intended only as a backup to the battery. A small IC gas engine will engage when the battery reaches a critical level, powering a generator that will supplement the battery.
“It’s like overdraft protection,” Baloga explains. “You may never need it, but, when you do, it’s there.”
Baloga says the i3 is expected to have a range of about 160 kilometres, but the range extender, with its small fuel tank, will add about 120 to 140 km — enough power to ensure you get home. The i3, says Baloga, is designed to handle 90% to 95% of of the typical daily commute on battery power alone.
Having the range extender on board will help relieve those range anxiety issues that are limiting the acceptance of electric vehicles.
“I think it will be extremely rare that i3 drivers will be using the range extender, but it’s there if they need it — and that’s reassuring for some consumers. We don’t want to take them out of their comfort zone,” Baloga says.
Hybrid technology, too, has a role to play, but Baloga says the costs involved with such systems will be difficult to sustain in the future.
“There are other systems that deliver the same efficiencies, but at less cost,” Baloga says.
Hydrogen has an advantage in the mix of possibilities because, as Baloga says, its refuelling scenario is familiar to consumers. They can pull up to a pump at a typical fuelling station, hook up the hose, refuel and be quickly on their way. Electrics, however, will require some time to “refuel,” even with quick-charging units. The infrastructure supporting those rechargers is also going to be more difficult to implement.
The big issue, Baloga says, is that Canada is a nation with drivers who love to drive cross country and to cover long distances, and that will be difficult and expensive using pure electric power. Granted, the infrastructure to support hydrogen filling stations still needs to be developed, but it won’t be as a difficult to create as electric charging facilities. Baloga also notes that hydrogen is very clean to produce, has zero tailpipe emissions other than water and has none of the upstream power-generating issues that critics of electric vehicles are prone to note.
“It’s clean from start to finish,” he says.
Baloga predicts that 2020 will be a realistic target for the development of an infrastructure to support hydrogen refuelling. In the meantime, BMW and other manufacturers are continuing to refine the fuel cell engine.
“It’s developing very well, and solutions to the onboard storage of hydrogen is coming along well,” he says.
BMW is working on a cryo-compressed system that uses hydrogen in both liquid and gas forms. “It’s the best of both worlds,” says Baloga, explaining that liquid hydrogen, which requires less pressure, works best when used for long-distance drives — the “premium grade” of the gas — while hydrogen in gas form, which is less expensive (or the “regular grade”), is more economical.
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