Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy, USA



Ricardo Plc appears to be adhering to an "it takes a village" approach to ratcheting up US fleetwide fuel economy levels to the higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards the federal government set for 2025. Last year, the US government finalized the new CAFE standards, which call for increasing fleetwide fuel economy starting in 2017 and ending at 54.5 miles per gallon (about 40 mpg in "real world" terms) by 2025.

The UK-based technology consulting group, in presentations at the IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC) in Michigan, said the goals can be reached with "minor" electrification, as opposed to the wholesale changes that some green car advocates are proposing as necessary.

Ricardo, under what it calls its HyBoost program, says an engine with the fuel economy of a 1-liter engine and the performance of a 2-liter engine can be built using a combination of lightweighting, electric supercharging, regenerative braking and stop-start functionality.

Ricardo launched the HyBoost project in late 2009, saying it'd be able to cut emissions by as much as 40 percent, compared to traditional engines, through its combination of methods. Check out Ricardo's press release below.Continue reading Ricardo says only 'minor electrification' needed to reach 2025 CAFE standards

Ricardo says only 'minor electrification' needed to reach 2025 CAFE standards originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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