TECHNOLOGY
TURBOCHARGING
THE FUTURE
Edited by Leon Louw
Turbochargers will continue to play a pivotal role in the future of the automotive industry.
Perhaps the
most common
misconception is
that turbochargers
are designed
to increase
the speed or
acceleration of
vehicles.”
28
APRIL 2020
T
he future is bright for the
turbocharger. This is according to
Bas Bonnier, general manager of
turbocharger operations at Mitsubishi
Turbocharger and Engine Europe (MTEE).
“If there’s one thing to be said with
absolute certainty, it’s this: the future of the
automotive industry is extremely exciting.
Innovation in engineering and technological
growth is exponential,” says Bonnier.
If on one side of the coin there is
excitement and great potential, however,
on the other side is uncertainty and
ambiguity. Government legislation on
vehicle emissions will continue to shape
the industry, in Europe especially, casting a
shadow of doubt on what the industry will
look like in the future.
If this analysis seems a bit bleak,
it isn’t, and certainly not for MTEE.
MTEE are part of the Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries (MHI) group, specialising in the
design, manufacture and distribution of
turbochargers for the automotive industry.
MHI and MTEE are technical engineering
companies. MTEE has a 20% market share
in the European turbocharger sector.
Turbochargers will continue to play an important role in engines way into the future.
“With European Union emissions
standards imposed on car manufacturers
– we’re currently on Euro engine 6
standards – and these standards getting
stricter with every increment, many are
speculating whether the combustion
engine, and along with it the turbocharger,
have a limited lifespan?
Turbos still have legs
“The resounding answer to this question
is: no, they do not. To understand this
question, there are a few misconceptions
surrounding turbocharger technology to
dispel,” says Chris Kambouris MD and
founder of TurboDirect SA, the official
and exclusive agents for Mitsubishi
turbocharges.
Perhaps the most common
misconception is that turbochargers
are designed to increase the speed or
acceleration of vehicles, subsequently
rendering the engine more inefficient
economically and thus more damaging
to the environment. This is not true. In
fact, the purpose of a turbocharger is the
exact opposite. A turbocharger works by
increasing the air intake capacity of an
engine, creating a more perfect internal
combustion. To take an example, an engine
without a turbocharger may have six
cylinders; fitting a turbocharger can reduce
this to four cylinders with no loss of power,
performance or efficiency. Effectively,
installing a turbocharger is ‘downsizing’ an
engine, reducing the amount of fuel needed
to power it, in turn reducing emissions.
With that in mind, it is immediately clear
to see that turbochargers are not obsolete
– the exact opposite is true. Today, there is
hardly any manufacturer in Europe without
a turbocharger; it is nearly impossible to
meet EU emissions standards without
fitting one.
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