Ricardo announces ADEPT diesel electric powertrain project

4 September 2013

Ricardo announced a new project, Advanced Diesel Electric Powertrain (ADEPT), which will apply ‘intelligent electrification’ concepts, mild hybridization and waste heat recovery aiming to deliver full hybrid equivalent fuel economy and performance in a diesel passenger car.

The new ADEPT project builds on the ‘HyBoost’ project that demonstrated the ‘intelligent electrification’ concept in a high performance, low CO₂ gasoline powertrain. In the HyBoost project, Ricardo, Ford Motor Company, Control Power Technologies (CPT) and the European Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (EALABC) demonstrated a gasoline powertrain offering fuel economy benefits equivalent to a full hybrid, but at a projected cost premium of less than a diesel.

With the new ADEPT project announced today, the same partners will be joined by Faurecia Emissions Control Technologies UK Ltd and University of Nottingham, and aim to apply the intelligent electrification concept to a diesel vehicle—a Ford Focus. In doing so, they will explore the advantages that can be derived from the use of a 48V architecture, considered ideal for cost effective harvesting of kinetic energy, combined with synergistic electrical ancillaries, thermal systems and waste heat recovery technologies.

Vehicle drivability and performance attributes will be optimized through the application of a belt starter generator (BSG) capable of providing torque assist where required to augment engine performance. The partners of the project aim to demonstrate a powertrain with uncompromised performance and less than 70 g/km CO₂ emissions as measured over the European Drive Cycle, but at a projected production cost significantly lower than a comparable full hybrid electric vehicle.

The ADEPT project is supported by funding from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, with balancing contributions from the project partners.

Source: Ricardo