Article on upcoming car engine innovations

[delanvital]

"Using a combination of variable valve-control, fuel injection and turbocharging, Daimler is developing an entirely new type of engine. It can switch between operating as a petrol engine, with agility and power, to operating as a diesel, with economy and torque. The DiesOtto engine, as Daimler has called it, starts as a petrol engine with spark plugs igniting the mixture of fuel and air in its cylinders, and remains as a petrol engine when high performance is needed. But at low and medium speeds the engine switches into diesel mode, in which the fuel is ignited by compression and heat alone. A 1.8-litre four-cylinder test version of DiesOtto fitted to a prototype Mercedes S-class saloon produced plenty of power, but also returned an average fuel consumption of 5.3 litres per 100km (equivalent in America to 44.4mpg)â€"extremely good for a such a big car. The vehicle’s emissions were also lower." more stuff here from the economist

[Aquilifer]

So what do you do at the fuel station? Stop at two pumps to get both petrol and diesel. Somehow I feel that people get annoyed by this :g:

[delanvital]

So what do you do at the fuel station? Stop at two pumps to get both petrol and diesel. Somehow I feel that people get annoyed by this :g:

True, but if you get half the amount of gas station stops overall, perhaps worth it? Anyhow, much other good stuff in the article, this was one of several ideas.

[T-Bag]

44mpg? Hardly worth the effort. It's a 1.8ltr engine, I've got a 2.0TD which does well over 50mpg (using proper gallons) and can put out 130bhp when needed...it accelerates as fast as most petrols of similar size. It's not the most sporty thing in the world...in fact it's a Citroen Xantia. But you don't need to develop a new engine to get performance, it's already there...but in America there is a negative image of diesels and they have to try and con them into buying them.
It doesn't even get away from the biggest problem...you won't be able to buy petrol and diesel at a reasonable price in the not too distant future...where's the ethanol/bio-fuel/hydrogen fuel cells.

Edit: Just worked out roughly what 44mpg of American works out in genuine gallons. It's somewhere around 53mpg because an American gallon is only 3.7 litres. So basically their engine performs on par with a car which is 8 years old and wasn't special then.

[Thulsa Doom]

It's early days for it, although AutoExpress reported it a while back.

Like batteries, it will improve.

[delanvital]

44mpg? Hardly worth the effort. It's a 1.8ltr engine, I've got a 2.0TD which does well over 50mpg (using proper gallons) and can put out 130bhp when needed...it accelerates as fast as most petrols of similar size. It's not the most sporty thing in the world...in fact it's a Citroen Xantia. But you don't need to develop a new engine to get performance, it's already there...but in America there is a negative image of diesels and they have to try and con them into buying them.
It doesn't even get away from the biggest problem...you won't be able to buy petrol and diesel at a reasonable price in the not too distant future...where's the ethanol/bio-fuel/hydrogen fuel cells.

Edit: Just worked out roughly what 44mpg of American works out in genuine gallons. It's somewhere around 53mpg because an American gallon is only 3.7 litres. So basically their engine performs on par with a car which is 8 years old and wasn't special then.

What you are missing is the sheer size of the car in combination with whatever "plenty of power" in mercedes s-class terms are. I reckon that car has greater bhp that what you mention and weighs considerable more. S-class normally starts at 230 bhp and runs up to approx 600 and weights 2 to 2,5 tons. The thing also to mention is that this technology is not something of the future, it appears to be presently tested. Mpg in these cars are no where near what you have in yours, normally. But with this engine they are. At least, according to the article.

[T-Bag]

Yup, was just saying that high efficiency diesels around, a google tells me the Avensis manages upto 81.3mpg. Weighs in at 1,970kg. Admitedly it is only 113BHP though.
Engines which run on fossil fuels should not become "the next big thing". A car designed from scratch to run on veg oil would be good (but would put me out of business converting them). There's just too much money left in fossils no matter how close to the end we get.

(Cars which can deal with high levels of sulphur will probably be big soon too when the high quality petrolium reserves can't serve everyone)

[delanvital]

Engines which run on fossil fuels should not become "the next big thing".

AFAIK their point is that all these initiatives will make them die with grace and not meant as a long-run challenge to electric cars of various power sources.