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Mercedes makes diesel quiet and powerful with Bluetec engine
Green, green, green. While hybrid vehicles have captured all the headlines, the most interesting new way to go green is Bluetec, a diesel technology currently available in the new Mercedes-Benz E-320. Unlike other diesel-powered vehicles, the Bluetec engine doesn't make the car smelly or noisy, and it has more than enough power to blast the sedan from 0 to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds. The kicker: it gets terrific mileage as well — 37 mpg for highway driving. Yes, this is happening in a Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan with a sticker price of $57,835. I guess even people with money to burn don't want to see it go up in smoke.
How does the Bluetec engine stay efficient and green? Follow the link for a rundown on the nuts and bolts.
Diesels have traditionally been noisy and smelly, but what's kept them on the scene is impressive energy efficiency — 20 to 40% better than the gasoline alternative. Today, efficient diesels hold significant market share in Europe.
So why is the Bluetec engine a potential solution? First off, it kills the noisy, slow and smelly through advanced engineering. The Bluetec is new from the ground up — an ultra-modern, 72-degree, V-6 diesel with four valves per cylinder, dual overhead camshafts and centrally located piezo-electric fuel injectors. An engine-driven pump sprays fuel directly into the center of the combustion chamber, and each injector is precisely positioned in the aluminum cylinder head to ensure even dispersion of fuel as its flame front spreads concentrically across the combustion chamber. These injectors operate at an astonishing 23,000 pounds per square inch of fuel pressure to ensure clean and rapid fuel detonation. The result is a quiet, powerful luxury-car engine.
By gregsfc at 5:04 PM ON 06/23/07
The author makes it seem as though Mercedes-Benz is the only car company producing such highly-refined diesel cars. In reality, however, nothing further could be from the truth. In fact, many automakers, including U.S. automakers, are producing high-tech., highly-refined diesel powertrains which are sold in Europe 51% of the time when new cars are purchased.
The days of inferior diesels are gone. Every new diesel hitting the market, including the ones for our heavy-duty pickup market, are superior powertrains in every respect. Diesel Power Magazine just featured the Ford Super Duty with the all-new 6.4 liter Power Stroke Diesel against the biggest, baddest gas-guzzler Ford makes (a 6.8 V-10). According to the results posted by DPM, the diesel beat the gas guzzler in a 1/4 mile dragrace; beat the gasser fuel economy by almost 9 mpg; bested the gasser on the dyno by 90 horsepower and over 300 lbs of torque; and actually ran quieter at 65 mph cruise and at full acceleration.
Volkswagen, not Mercedes-Benz (Daimler) will actually be the first automaker to offer advanced exhaust treatment combined with highly-refined engine systems to bring the U.S. the first, fifty-state emission compliant diesels that will meet the tough, new tier 2, bin 5 EPA emissions standards.
While Daimler, BMW, Audi, and VW will all introduce cars/SUVs in late 2008 that will use this showcased, SCR technology; Volkswagen will actually introduce a different technology, one that is better suited for smaller diesel engines, before this E320 BlueTec with SCR gets off the ground. This is because our EPA held up SCR-type technologies for reducing NOx by taking one year to decide whether or not they would allow such a system that requires the consumer to have a resevoir filled every so often so that the vehicle would continue emissions compliance.
The generic term for the technology VW is using for four cylinders is called LNT (lean NOx trap) and will be employed with a CR 2.0 I-4 engine that will produce around 140 horsepower and 236 lbs of torque. This technology will not require any extra measures by the consumer as the exhaust-treatment system will produce its own ammonia to abate NOx. VW has announced that the new TDI engine will be available in the VW Jetta TDI and VW Jetta SportWagon in the first quarter of 2008. A new, upcoming VW SUV, a Tiguan, will also get this TDI engine shortly thereafter. The two cars should improve fuel economy by around seven miles per gallon from the outgoing, 1.9 liter, while achieving 40 more horses and 59 more lbs of torque. As with all diesels, any blend of biodiesel can be used without sacrifice to further reduce petroleum consumption. Considering that the outgoing Jetta TDI led all American compact cars in fuel economy when VW suspended its production in Janauary, 2007; this new diesel should be a real hit.
Expect that Mercedes-Benz will use this 3.0 V-6 with SCR technology in the E320, R Series, ML series and GL series vehicles for sale in all fifty staes. Jeep has also used the non-bluetec version, called CRD, in some of the Grand Cherokee trims; and Dodge is using this same engine (without BlueTec) in the Sprinter. Mercedes-Benz currently sells the E320 BlueTec in forty-five states, however, the advanced NOx-abating system in the current BlueTec is not the SCR-type technology featured here, as that technology was not EPA approved in time for Mercedes to meet production schedules for 2007.
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gregsfc:
The author makes it seem as though Mercedes-Benz is the only car company producing such highly-refined diesel cars....More »