A new £800k centre focused on the development of low carbon turbocharged engines has opened at the University of Bath. Realising that alternative fuels such as hydrogen and electric power will not be able to entirely replace fossil fuels for mass market vehicles in time for the UK’s 2020 carbon targets, the new centre in Bath aims to develop new downsizing technologies that can be applied to both petrol and diesel engines. This will allow them to reduce fuel consumption while still giving the performance of a large engine.

Dr Chris Brace, a leading automotive researcher from the Powertrain and Vehicle Research Centre, within the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: “By incorporating turbocharging into smaller engines, we can maintain power while significantly decreasing the size of the engine and the amount of fuel required to run it.”

The centre is carrying out its work in collaboration with Ford and Jaguar Land Rover, as well as turbocharger manufacturer Cummins Turbo Technologies.

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University of Bath