Green Car Congress In Newcastle

Controlled Power Technologies (CPT), a company specialising in CO2 reduction for the automotive industry, will present a number of affordable ‘micro-hybrid’ solutions for reducing carbon emissions at an international ‘Green Vehicle Congress’ being held this week in Newcastle.

Delegates from China, Germany, India, Italy, Korea and the US have been invited to attend and engage with UK companies.

"The industry needs immediate solutions at a price the motorist is prepared to pay," said CPT chief executive, Nick Pascoe.

"This means achieving major fuel savings, if possible without introducing significant change to the vehicle or engine design.”

The industry has less than two years to ensure all new cars sold in Europe meet a fleet average of 130g/km requiring a 16 per cent reduction from current levels.

CPT is actively involved in these developments, but in the short term sees stop-start as the most likely near term technology to enter the automotive mainstream and anticipates it becoming a standard device on virtually all vehicles, especially for tackling congested urban environments where the fuel and CO2 benefits can be significant.

Stop-start technology currently accounts for less than 5 per cent of new car sales, but will increasingly be offered by car makers says the CO2 reduction specialist.

"Only by maximising the number of stop-start events can fuel consumption and CO2 emissions be significantly reduced," said Mr Pascoe. "Its potential for energy recovery under braking is also considerable."

SpeedStart can restart an engine in half the time of a conventional starter motor and is currently the best stop-start technology able to cope with ‘driver change of mind’; an all too frequent occurrence when drivers suddenly have the opportunity to drive on, but with conventional stop-start systems the engine has already reached the point of no return and can no longer be prevented from shutting down before it can be restarted.

SpeedStart also allows the driver to leave the vehicle in gear, meaning it’s unobtrusive and there is no change of driving behaviour required of the driver.

No matter how low the engine revs, the 2kW booster remains highly responsive and fast acting. This crucial difference means the technology is perfectly suited to maintaining vehicle performance and driveability - now widely recognised as a critical marketing issue for down-speeded vehicles with taller gearing or more radical engine downsizing.

Completing the line-up of CO2 reducing technologies is CPT’s innovative TIGERS turbo-generator for exhaust gas energy recovery, which is currently under development. Coupled to an exhaust driven turbine the air or water cooled device is intended to generate electrical power during steady state cruising.

Exhaust gases provide an efficient and underutilised method of power regeneration, particularly for a throttled gasoline engine, and can further help improve fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions.

(PR)