DETROIT – FEV Engine Technology showed a number of fuel-saving technologies at the Society of Automotive Engineers Congress in Detroit, this week. The German-based company that has its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills is heavily involved in the research and development of new alternative fuel technologies.
FEV is an independent engine and powertrain systems research, design and development company. It designs, prototypes and develops advanced gasoline-, diesel-, and alternative-fueled engines, as well as advanced vehicle powertrain concepts, electronic control systems and hybrid-electric vehicles.
Among the products shown by FEV were advanced gasoline and diesel engines that can provide greater fuel economy, fewer emissions, and better performance. FEV has also developed a new diesel-hybrid ? in a cross-over utility vehicle ? that can get 50-percent better fuel economy than comparable vehicles that are on the road, today.
FEV Vice President Bob Last pointed out that those are only two of the products and technologies the company is working on. He believes the alternative fuels and the auto industries have to keep an open mind about which alternative fuel “is going to be the right alternative fuel.”
Of course, replacing petroleum or at the very least, reducing the United States? dependence on foreign oil is one of the prime objectives of alternative fuel development. But as a Tier-One auto industry supplier, Last said FEV realizes that auto industry OEMs have to be convinced that they will see a healthy return on investment before they commit to any of the six or seven alternative energies that are being developed.
“Replacing a fuel infrastructure is not something that can happen over a couple of years,” he said.. “We need to have technologies of choice. There is not going to be one magic bullet. There is not one alternative fuel that is going to rise to the top and replace petroleum.”
He believes that it will be a combination of different solutions that will provide the answer to the search for a viable alternative fuel for transportation. Last also thinks that some work needs to be done by both auto industry suppliers and OEMs to determine what the top two or three alternative fuels might be.
Last also thinks there is a place for the federal government in that research and development effort.
“The government can play a role in defining the marketplace,” he said. “It can also help provide strategic assistance, direction and in some cases, funding.”
But the free market and consumers can also drive the development effort. FEV President/CEO Gary Rogers believes that markets such as Europe and Japan might actually set the pace for alternative fuel development because both have seen historically higher prices for fuel.
“Consumer demand is now shifting the priorities in North America,” he said. “The technologies that we are seeing in Europe and Japan will be coming over here in a few years.”
And, Rogers also thinks that market-specific factors such as driveability, vehicle acceleration, passing power, the ?corporate sound,? and the perceived enjoyment of the driving experience will affect alternative fuel development.
“Those factors tend to be unique to the local market in which the vehicle is sold, as opposed to pure performance attributes such as power or torque,” said Rogers.
This story was written by Mitechnews.Com staff writer Rod Kackley, who covers Southeast Michigan. If you have story ideas for Kackley, you can email him at [email protected]
