What makes Ford’s new EcoBlue diesel engine a game changer?
Earlier this week (April 2016) Ford revealed the first new 2.0 litre EcoBlue advanced diesel engine. Ford claims the new engine to be a real game changer, with more power, more torque, more fuel efficiency and that it’s cleaner.
Advantages of EcoBlue Diesel
Enhanced drivability
Drivability is enhanced with 20 per cent more torque at 1, 250 rpm compared with the outgoing equivalent power 2.2 litre TDCi diesel engine, so drivers will be able to tackle everyday driving challenges, like overtaking slow-moving vehicles.
Optomised fuel efficiency
Ford claims that it will offer optimised fuel efficiency and reduced CO₂ and NOX emissions for customers.
Minimises friction
Its clean-sheet design minimises friction with innovations including an off-set crank, belt-in-oil and Ford’s first use of modular camshafts for a 13 per cent fuel efficiency improvement. An optimised valve-train and an all-new single-piece camshaft module.
Power outputs
New diesel engines will power the company’s future passenger cars and commercial vehicles with power outputs ranging from 100 PS to 240 PS.
“Ford’s EcoBoost created a new standard for petrol engines – smaller, more efficient with surprising performance. That same obsession to innovate for the customer is behind our new Ford EcoBlue diesel engine range,” said Jim Farley, chairman and CEO of Ford of Europe. “This new engine lifts fuel efficiency and reduces CO₂ by over 10 per cent in Transit, part of Europe’s best-selling commercial vehicle line-up, lowering costs for our customers.”
Clean-burning combustion system
New architecture delivers reduced friction and a clean-burning combustion system. After-treatment processes for exhaust gasses are more sophisticated and enable ultra-low emissions in line with stringent Euro Stage VI standards that will be introduced in Septmeber 2016, requiring a 55 per cent reduction in NOX emissions compared to Euro Stage V standards.
Controlled airflow
For the first time Ford will be using a new mirror image porting design for the integrated inlet manifold that precisely controls the flow of air into cylinders-with the clockwise airflow for cylinder numbers one and two, reversed cylinder numbers three and four.
Advanced turbocharging
A compact turbocharger has been designed to deliver more air at lower engine rpm compared to the outgoing 2.2 litre TDCi engine and up to 340 Nm of torque at 1, 250 rpm.
“Our first ever mirror-image inlet design in combination with an optimised combustion chamber layout helps us turn fuel into energy more effectively than any diesel engine we’ve ever produced,” Dr. Werner Willems, Ford technical specialist, Combustion Systems.