A luxury car powered with diesel fuel? Sounds crazy, but Audi is out to prove that there’s plenty of life left in diesel power.
With the Audi A6′s new electric turbocharger, the engine is able to deliver the instant response that would be expected from a large-capacity petrol engine. Under the A6 prototype’s hood lies a new diesel engine based on the familiar 3-liter V6 Biturbo that uses an electric turbocharger that eleminates lag altogether .
Instead of relying on exhaust gases, the smaller turbo is driven electrically and will already by spooled up from a standstill when moving at low speeds. The effect is a neck-snapping acceleration from the line.
The switchover from the traditional turbo to electric is practically seamless. Engineers only need to work on making it more fuel efficient and fixing the slight dip in acceleration, which should be fixed by the time the engine goes into production.
Once Audi perfects the technology with its sedans, don’t be surprised to start seeing the turbocharger in its next generation of sports cars as well.
Source: Auto Express
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