Economies of scale: a smaller engine leads to big carbon cuts…
Fuel efficient cars, whether they be hybrid, dual-fuel or biofuel, are becoming more and more popular and Ma2T4, a father-son enterprise, is focused on developing a newer, greener hybrid car. They recognised that a downsized (smaller) engine along with regenerative braking (where energy generated by braking is stored and reused rather than wasted) would add up to massive energy efficiency gains. However, they needed to find a way of linking the two up, so that the energy stored by regenerative braking might be used to help the smaller engine produce more power.
They decided to use a supercharger to provide boosted air which would allow the smaller engine to produce more power. That in itself was nothing new – the true innovation came with deciding to power the supercharger with energy produced by the car during regenerative braking and storing the air from the supercharger for boosting the engine later when it is needed.
This Supercharger Air Hybrid only requires some minor modifications to a car already equipped with a downsized engine so that it can be built at very low cost. It also captures a greater proportion of the regenerative braking energy. This makes it more efficient than an electric hybrid vehicle and less complicated too in not having any large battery, electric motor or generator. Such a subtle alteration to the car could produce a substantial fuel efficiency improvement, with up to a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with a standard car and if it went global, 10m carbon tonnes of cuts per year.