BMW has presented a range of new technologies to help improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions from its vehicles.
At its ‘Innovation Day’ on Wednesday, executives told journalists about research into using solar energy and recovering waste heat from the engine and exhaust.
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BMW notes that even the most efficient engines convert only around a third of the energy in fuel to mechanical ‘work’ – the rest is lost in the form of heat. Engineers are looking at ways of using that heat to produce electricity. Such technology has been used by NASA during space flights for years, but the thermo-electric generation (TEG) of energy has not been considered useful for automotive applications until now. However, new materials have improved the performance of the technology making it suitable for use in cars.
To generate electricity in vehicles, a thermo-electric generator would be integrated into the exhaust system. With new materials it can generate up to 1,000 watts, where previously the maximum would have been 200 watts.
The energy used is ideal for increasing the performance of the brake recovery system already incorporated in BMW’s EfficientDynamics programme. It could also help enhance performance by providing more power during acceleration. TEG systems could help achieve a 5% reduction in fuel consumption.
BMW is also looking at improving efficiency by using solar energy. In central Europe a square meter of PV solar cells can produce around 200 watts of electricity. PV modules could be incorporated into roof, or the whole surface of the car. These could be used to help pre-warm engine fluids to reduce emissions during the cold-start phase, where emissions are high.
BMW says that one kilowatt hour (kwh) of electricity produced from the sun rather than from the engine would reduce fuel consumption by 0.3 litres per 100km.
It is also looking at using software to take information from the navigation system and various vehicle sensors to help the engine predict vehicle manoeuvres and improve fuel efficiency that way. But it is not yet sure what kind of fuel saving this might achieve.
