5 March 2009
Turning Waste Exhaust Into Electricity?
By Eric Descarries
Nowadays, just about any engineer involved in automotive research has the task to come up with new ideas to either save fuel or make today’s cars much more efficient. Some toy around with exotic fuels, others look at electrical power for help, while others still try to recapture some of the energy already used. This is where German automaker Volkswagen comes into the picture. Its engineers have developed a thermoelectric generator that uses the waste exhaust heat and turns it into electricity.
Well, the idea is not necessarily new since BMW also worked on the project recently. Yet, Volkswagen can recuperate some waste heat to generate up to 600W of electrical power. This power can be used to unload some of the engine’s generator load. Consequently, it improves the engine’s power and efficiency. According to a report from the International Thermoelectric Society, such a system can reduce fuel consumption by 5% since 600W is about 30% of the typical electric load of a regular car.
Volkswagen has yet to introduce its system on production vehicles—introduction is probably still a few years off—yet this concept is proof that a few little improvements here and there can add up to significant fuel economy.
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