Ford advancing with Bobcat twin-fuel engine, using ethanol to boost engine efficiency, power, mileage

In Michigan, Ford made presentations to the Department of Energy and the Society of Automotive Engineers to update them on its development of a twin-fuel engine, code named Bobcat. Unlike flex-fuel engines that use a blend of ethanol and gasoline, the Bobcat engine uses gasoline and injects small amounts of ethanol when higher octane is needed to prevent fuel detonation.

This allows the engine to operate at higher compression ratios and achieve greater mechanical efficiencies. Using this technique, ethanol adds to fuel economy and mileage — as opposed to the use of E85, which reduces fuel efficiency by burning high-octane ethanol fuel at lower compression ratios.

Ford’s engineering partner is Ethanol Boosting Systems, said that the “octane boost” system could realize up to 500 horsepower and 750 foot-pounds of torque from a 5.0 liter V-8 engine. In the boosting system, the vehicle would contain separate tanks for ethanol and gasoline.

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