Electric turbochargers are finally coming to a production car near you.Garrett Motion is readying its first electric turbocharger for 2021, to be used on production vehicles. This will be the first real electric turbo ever to sit under the hood of a mainstream car or truck.Electric turbochargers arent really all that new even now, you can pick one up on eBay for a few hundred dollars and strap it to your Civic for some extra power, though theres no guarantee it wont grenade into a million pieces.Nor is Garrett the only industry player to consider electric forced induction. In fact Audi was the first to introduce an electric compressor on a production vehicle, on its SQ7, where it was used to eliminate lag on the 4.0-litre sequentially turbocharged diesel V8.Think of Audis unit more like an electric supercharger, running off electricity generated by the motor instead of a belt from the engine; its separate from the actual turbos. Garretts is a true turbocharger, however, as it uses an electric motor in between the two halves of the turbo to compress air into the engine before the hot exhaust gases get to the unit. This eliminates the small amount of time it takes for the exhaust gas to get around the various pipes and into the turbocharger.According to Garrett, the E-Turbo can spool the engine to target torque in one second, compared to the 4.5 seconds of a conventional turbo. It can also work in reverse, so to speak. Because the electric motor is built into the turbo, at higher RPMs when the exhaust gasses are flowing enough to turn the turbo by itself, the electric motor can use that energy to regenerate electric power for the
Origin: Electric turbochargers to enter production in 2021
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Fisker wants to enter the electric pickup field, too
If you captain an electric car company, you get to announce stuff by social media. Those are the rules, apparently. The latest to exercise their right to bypass the PR department with a major announcement is Henrik Fisker, self-proclaimed “Husband, Father, Risk taking, innovation loving, protocol challenging designer entrepreneur who turns dreams into reality, never gives up” and the founder and CEO of the U.S. EV startup Fisker Automotive, who recently Tweeted out a photo of a mystery electric pickup truck. “ALL automotive segments have to be electrified! After our Fisker electric SUV, we have already decided on our next 2 EV’s on the same platform!” Tweeted Fisker.ALL automotive segments have to be electrified ! After our Fisker electric SUV, we have already decided on our next 2 EV’s on the same platform! #fisker #EVs #ElectricVehicle #Automotive #sustainability #cool #FutureTech #Trending pic.twitter.com/0FRt0yolsR Henrik Fisker (@henrikfisker) August 7, 2019The image shows the rear end of what appears to be a dual-tone pickup truck with “FISKER” lettered across the tailgate. So, there’s another player in a game that has yet to start. Elon has Tweet-confirmed the upcoming arrival of the Tesla pickup truck, Rivian is cooking up its own American-made challenger with the R1T, and now Ford has unveiled an electric F-150 capable of towing a 1-million-pound train. There are no further details about the Fisker pickup truck, but Henrik teasedthe ‘affordable’ US$40,000 electric SUV on his Facebook page with an image and a promise to unveil it fully in December. Perhaps alongside a pickup prototype? Better hurry. The competition is growing.
Origin: Fisker wants to enter the electric pickup field, too
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