Car manufacturers are almost constantly running a marathon of researching newer and more efficient technologies which help create machines that require lesser maintenance and are less harmful to the environment.
Nissan Motors has recently taken a leap in its research and development. On Friday, 26 February 2021, they’ve reached a breakthrough in achieving a 50% thermal efficiency with its e-POWER hybrid technology, which in turn could lead to a reduction of car CO2 emissions.
In 2016, at first, e-POWER had utilized a gasoline engine to generate power and charge a battery which then in turn powers the vehicle. In the current day scenario, achieving a 50% increase in thermal efficiency was made possible by a concept called “STARC”—named after the keywords strong, tumble and appropriately stretched robust ignition channel. This concept brings improvement in thermal efficiency by strengthening in-cylinder gas flow (the flow of the air-fuel mixture that is pulled into the cylinder) and ignition, reliably burning a leaner air-fuel mixture at a higher compression ratio.
In a statement made by the manufacturer, it was said that- “Nissan’s latest approach to engine development has raised the bar to world-leading levels, accelerating past the current auto industry average range of 40% thermal efficiency, making it possible to even further reduce vehicle CO2 emissions.”
Senior Vice President of the powertrain and EV engineering division at Nissan, Toshihiro Hirai said- “It took 50 years to increase thermal efficiency (of conventional engines) from 30% to 40%, But with e-POWER, we can increase it to 50% in several years. That has been the target for the engineering community...Without building up these fundamental technologies, we are unable to attain carbon neutrality”, he also added that achieving this feat was their “ultimate, challenging goal.”