The world's first serial ethanol car, Fiat 147hit Brazilian roads in 1979. This car capped decades of experimentation in the country with sugar cane (and later with corn and second generation sugarcane waste) ethanol as a domestic fuel. When a Chinese automaker BID presented plug-in hybrid intended for Brazil in Octoberequipped with a flex-fuel engine that allows drivers to choose any gas to fuel ratio. ethanol or access to the plugin electricityThe move felt like the latest chapter in a long national story.
New engine developed for the company's most popular compact SUV Song AboutThis is the first plug-in hybrid engine. dedicated to biofuelsAccording to Wang Chuanfu, founder and CEO of BYD.
Margaret Wooldridgeprofessor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, says the promise of the engine is not in inventing a completely new technology, but in making it accessible.
“This technology has existed before,” says Wooldridge, who specializes in hybrid systems“But switching fuels is expensive, and I expect the combinations in this engine to be quite expensive. BYD's real innovation is that it brings it into a price range where regular drivers in Brazil can actually choose the ratio of ethanol to gasoline as well as electricity.”
BYD's affordable hybrid innovation
BID Vehicles Song Pro with this new engine were initially priced at a promotional price. about 25,048 US dollarswith a list price of approximately $35,000. Another plugin for comparison hybrid carToyota 2026 Prius Prime, starts with $33,775. The engine is a product BYD investment of US$18.5 million and collaboration between Brazilian and Chinese scientists. This complements the history of ethanol use in Brazil, which began in the 1930s and gradually transitioned from ethanol-only vehicles to flex-fuel vehicles, providing consumers with a set of tools to respond to ongoing fuel price changes drought like Brazil experienced in the 1980sor emissions targets.
An engine switching from gasoline to ethanol needs a sensor that can match two different air-fuel mixtures. “Integrating this control system, especially in a hybrid architecture, is challenging,” Wooldridge says. “But BYD seems to have designed it in a cost-effective way.”
By using a smaller hybrid engine, the company could likely design an engine that is optimal for a smaller speed range—a narrower, specific range of speeds and power output—avoiding some of the efficiency compromises that have long plagued flex-fuel engines, Wooldridge says.
In general, standard flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) have internal combustion engine and can run on gasoline and any mixture of gasoline and ethanol with a content of up to 83 percent, according to the US Department of Energy. FFV engines have only one fuel system and in most cases use the same components as gasoline-only vehicles. To compensate for the differences in chemical properties and power output of ethanol compared to gasoline, special components modify the fuel pump and fuel injection system. In addition, FFV engines have engine control modules. calibrated to account for the higher oxygen content of ethanol.
“Flexible fuels give consumers flexibility,” Wooldridge says. “If you use ethanol, you can operate at a higher compression ratio, allowing the molecules to be compressed into a smaller space, resulting in faster, more powerful and efficient combustion. Increasing this ratio improves efficiency and reduces knock, but if you also include an electric drive, the system can remain optimally efficient in different modes,” she adds.
Jennifer EaglinBrazilian energy historian Ohio State Universityin Columbus, says BYD is tapping into something deeply rooted in the culture of Brazil, the world's seventh most populous country (with about 220 million people).
“Brazil has a robust and widespread ethanol-fuel system,” says Eaglin. “It's not surprising that a company like BYD, recognizing this infrastructure, would innovate to give consumers more options. This is not futuristic – it is a continuation of a long national experiment.”
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