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Volvo Explains Next-Gen Drive-E 4 Cylinder Engine Range
Volvo's plan is to power its entire product offering with 4 cylinder engines, replacing all existing 6 and 8 cylinder mills. The new range, which was during development clubbed under the Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) name, will henceforth be referred to as Drive-E engines.
The aim is to improve efficiency and reduce impact on environment by using the smaller 4 cylinders units. Going forward, two four-cylinder engines - a common rail diesel and a direct-injected petrol engine will power the entire Volvo range. These will be suitably supercharged, turbocharged, or both, to improve performance depending on the product they will be used to power.
The four cylinder petrol engines will have a power output ranging between 140 HP to 300 HP, while the diesel units will range between 120 HP and 230 HP.
Volvo claims the Drive-E range of 4 cylinder engine will offer better performance than existing 6 cylinder engines and higher fuel efficiency than current 4 cylinder engines. "The smaller, lighter engines-by nearly 100 pounds on the higher performance engine -- also offer considerably lower emissions and higher fuel economy savings -- ranging from 13 to 26 percent depending on the engine to which they are compared," Volvo says. Fuel economy figures will soon be made available.
Volvo also explains the basic tech behind the development of the Drive-E engines. Most improvements have been achieved through common methods like the use of turbochargers, superchargers and direct fuel injection. Start/Stop system and regenerative braking will be another way of improving efficiency.
Reduced friction through the use of "ball bearings on the camshaft, high-speed continuous variable valve timing and intelligent heat management with a fully variable electric water pump" also help.
The Drive-E diesel engines, meanwhile, will use i-Art technology. In simple words it employs computer controlled fuel injection, which continuously adapts to improve efficiency.
Accompanying the new engines will be a fuel-efficient eight-speed automatic transmission. A six-speed manual will also be on offer though.
Lastly, Volvo explains that the future is hybridization. This would mean all its high performance cars will be hybrids. Hybrid 4 cylinder units capable delivering V8 like performance will be the future Volvo performance engines.
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