The Automotive Industry is Going Turbo on Almost Everything

In today's automotive industry almost every car is either going turbocharged or has a turbo option. Most performance cars are now switching from other forms of forced induction such as superchargers to turbochargers. Superchargers are beginning to become old news, because of their power robbing characteristics when compared to turbochargers. Superchargers are belt driven and they require power from the crankshaft pulley to make them operate, this is known as parasitic loss. Car manufacturer's ultimate goal is to provide safe and reliable horsepower with optimum fuel economy. Superchargers not only have problems in the horsepower engine robbing arena; they also are not known to cool the intake temperatures as efficiently as turbochargers systems. Most factory supercharger setups use two heat exchangers (similar to intercoolers) that circulate coolant throughout the system; one such exchanger will be placed in the air dam behind the front bumper and the other exchanger is sandwiched between the supercharger and the intake manifold. This is a very inefficient setup because the temperature of the coolant only gets so low with air passing through the first exchanger, still not providing an effective enough cooling regimen for optimal mechanical efficiency.

The cooler an engine is, the more efficient it becomes; providing more horsepower, longevity, and greater fuel economy. We want cool air going into the combustion chamber of an engine because it's more dense when compared to agitated hot air. The more dense the air charge going into the combustion chamber with fuel; the bigger the explosion. The bigger the explosion we have in the chamber then the more base mechanical efficiency we have. If an engine is more efficient, then it will provide more power and run cooler which also in turn increases fuel economy, because you're not losing any power to extreme temperatures and a less dense air charge.

Automotive manufacturers have begun switching to turbochargers (such as the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, which was formerly supercharged and Mercedes Benz Kompressor's) because they provide free horsepower; whereas superchargers need engine power to turn. Turbochargers don't require an engine to give them power to operate as they use the already spent exhaust gasses from the combustion chamber to do their work. Turbochargers are amazing pieces of technology that have come a long way since the seventies and eighties. There is such a vast array of turbochargers on the market that they can be applied to any size engine for whatever desired horsepower output. Turbochargers yield excellent fuel economy in regular driving scenarios because the air charge is slightly more dense and the air atomizes with the fuel better which makes for a more efficient burn in the engine. Turbochargers also run considerably cooler than supercharged engines for two reasons: one reason is because they are not sitting on top of the intake manifold heating up the intake plenum which lowers efficiency; the second reason is because turbochargers utilize air to air intercoolers and do not rely on an engines coolant temperature to cool them down.

Turbochargers are also great for customers that have a need for speed. It is very simple to increase the boost pressure on a turbocharged car as opposed to a supercharged one. A simple boost controller (bleed valve) can be place in-line to the turbochargers wastegate to create more boost pressure. Larger turbochargers and intercoolers are also extremely available in the aftermarket as well as upgraded fuel and metering devices. Turbochargers are used on a wide array of popular vehicles; tuner cars such as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Subaru Impreza STI are very popular turbocharged vehicles for aftermarket upgrades. Other manufactures such as Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche are very big on turbochargers for power and fuel economy. Mercedes Benz used to be all about superchargers until they changed their tune to turbochargers to provide more reliable power and fuel economy; BMW is fairly new to turbochargers, but they have been doing an excellent job with their new N55 engine that uses single or twin turbochargers to generate power. Acura is soon going to be using turbochargers quite a bit in the near future. Toyota and Nissan of Japan have been using turbochargers on their factory vehicles for years now and will be soon be hitting American soil. Turbochargers are very advantageous to the newly revised automotive industry and they will more than likely be an option on almost all vehicles in the very near future.

source:
http://www.caradvice.com.au/37362/nissan-to-turbocharge-future-engines-report/
http://www.caradvice.com.au/14533/mercedes-benz-going-turbo-hybrid/
http://www.autoobserver.com/2008/03/turning-to-turbo.html