ICE2030

European Union legislation calls for a significant reduction in CO2 emissions from cars. At the same time, there is a risk of driving bans for vehicles with combustion engines. Electrified powertrains play an important role in achieving the required targets. As the combustion engine continues to play an important role in this, it must be further improved. A highly efficient combustion engine makes a decisive contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. Alternative fuels also offer the possibility of CO2-neutral operation.

The aim of the research task is to explore the limits of the efficiency of spark-ignition engines in an optimized hybrid powertrain by using hydrogen to increase combustion performance while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. As a follow-up project, "ICE2030" builds on the results of "ICE2025+: Ultimate System Efficiency".

As part of this project, the ivb is working on increasing the efficiency of the combustion engine. The focus of this project is on high lean operation (λ ≥ 2) of the petrol engine. This is to be made possible by adding hydrogen to the combustion process. Other technological components include: long-stroke design (s/D = 1.5) of the test vehicle, high-pressure petrol injection, tumble flap, Miller control times, external exhaust gas recirculation, increased ignition energy and extremely high compression ratios. The aim is to achieve an efficiency of 50 % through suitable combinations of the above measures. As in the previous project, the measurement data is used by the IFS (University of Stuttgart) to create a full engine model. The vka (RWTH Aachen) is investigating alternative fuels to increase efficiency and CO2-neutral mobility. The results of the institutes will be incorporated into a model of a hybrid vehicle by the vkm (TU Darmstadt) to estimate the overall efficiency.