- A few weeks ago Kaynen, one of our writers here on "B2B"
pitched the topic of electric turbos.
And I was like, that's a cool idea, but we can't.
Those things are a scam!
And then our other writer, Claire, was like,
"No, they're for real, we should definitely do that."
And then I was like, I respect both of your views,
but I don't believe there's such a thing
as an electric turbo.
I showed them a Mighty Carmons video
proving they were a scam,
but then they told me Audi has been using them
for a couple of years.
And then I showed them a Cletus video
with an electric turbo, but it made the car slower.
But then they showed me different Cletus video
where it made the car faster.
So I did a little more digging
and found out there was some truth to their claims.
So I did what any adult was do,
and that is admit my mistake
and agreed to make this episode.
Today we're gonna cover the physics
of traditional turbo chargers, talk about parasitic losses,
and explain how this once-upon-a-time eBay scam
has miraculously become a legit piece
of power-boosting technology.
Or has it?
Let's go.
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Now let's get back to some "B2B", baby.
To understand electric turbos,
we gotta understand traditional turbos.
We all know that internal combustion engines
make power by igniting a mixture of air and fuel.
The more air and fuel that is burned,
the more power that can be produced.
If you want more power, you need more air.
More air, plus more fuel, equals James!
- More power, baby, more power, baby!
More power, baby, more power, baby, more-
- So how do you get more air?
With a compressor.
They come in all shapes and sizes,
but they all share the same purpose
of jamming more air into your engine.
But that compressor has to be powered by something.
Superchargers with are conceptually similar to turbos
are hooked up directly to the crankshaft,
while turbos are driven by exhaust gasses
flowing out of the engine in through a turbine.
That turbine is directly linked to a compressor fan.
So as exhaust gasses spin the turbine
the compressor spins, pulling in extra air.
Simple enough, you guys are now skilled
on how to turbos and superchargers work.
So conceptually electric turbochargers
should work in a similar way but instead of being powered
by exhaust gasses or the crank shaft,
they get powered by an electric motor via the battery.
Seems like a reasonable way to power your compressor.
So why doesn't it work?
Many people might argue
that the parasitic losses are too great,
that the power required to run the electric turbo
was more than the power gained from it.
If that was a little confusing, don't worry,
Jerry Berry's here to explain.
Let's say you've got a car that,
without any forced induction,
produces about 200 horsepower.
Now let's add a compressor
that needs 20 horsepower to operate.
In the case of the supercharger,
that 20 horsepower load will be applied to the crankshaft,
essentially taking 20 horsepower from the engine
that could've been going to the wheels.
This is known as parasitic loss.
The good news is that the extra air you pump in
lets you burn more fuel, resulting in more power.
In this case, 100 horsepower more.
So once everything is all said and done,
your 200 horsepower engine is now producing 280 horsepower.
Not too shabby.
You've gotta lay down $16 a share at AMC,
let it sink a little, sell some,
then re-buy back at a lower price
and wait for it to go back up to the moon! (laughs)
Now what if we use the turbo
on the same 200 horsepower engine instead of a supercharger?
Well, a turbo doesn't pull its power from the crankshaft,
but from exhaust gasses being pushed out of the engine.
This causes back pressure,
which does place a load on your engine,
but in our case that might be as little as five horsepower.
The other 15 horsepower is coming from energy
that would've otherwise been going out the exhaust.
So in the end, you're up to 295 horsies, even better.
A supercharger doesn't tap into that free, recycled,
would-be wasted energy like the turbo does,
which is why turbos are so much more efficient.
So what would these parasitic losses look like
in an electric turbo?
If we used our example above,
the 20 horsepower required by our compressor
would convert to about 15 kilowatts.
That's already a big problem,
because your average alternator
can't even crank two kilowatts of power.
But lets say that they made an alternator
that could put out 15 kilowatts.
We still have another problem.
Alternators aren't very efficient.
A decent one is about 60% efficient,
so that brings us about 25 kilowatts of load to the engine,
or about 35 horsepower,
significantly more than the equivalent
supercharger to turbo charger.
However, after that 100 horsepower gain,
you would still have a net positive gain in power.
The physics and math technically work out.
Theoretically, an electric turbo is totally possible,
but, and there's always a but, we have another problem.
Getting 15 kilowatts out of a 12 volt system,
and most cars are running on 12 volts,
draws a lot of current, 1250 amps to be exact.
That's reaching the levels a Tesla P100 draws,
and that is the entire car.
This is just a little baby 15 kilowatt turbo.
Doesn't make sense.
If want to fix this we would have to bring in
a higher voltage system with a separate
generator, battery, and cabling.
Which, as you might have guessed,
adds a lot of weight and in the end
is gonna be less practical.
and probably way more expensive
than just sticking with a conventional
supercharger or turbo charger.
Battery tech is pretty good these days, though,
and it makes it more feasible, at least for smaller turbos.
Audi has released a few cars with electric turbos.
They come with a 48 volt system in order
to power the electric turbo's seven kilowatt motor.
However, this electric turbo is supplementing
the car's other traditional turbos.
This is a common trend among OEMs exploring this tech,
and it makes sense.
An electric turbo can kick on quickly
and provide instant boost.
While a conventional turbo has to spin up
from the exhaust gasses, which can take a lot of time.
You can skip the lag with an electric turbo,
then switch to the conventional turbo once it's spooled up.
Another approach to making an electric turbo
is just an electric motor onto a conventional turbo.
You can use the electric motor to get the turbo
to spool up quickly and then let the exhaust take over.
The turbo even acts as a generator during deceleration.
So yeah, all of this is impressive and cool and all,
but are those 12 volt aftermarket systems totally bogus?
Well, not entirely.
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Today!
- There are some aftermarket electric turbos that are legit,
but they might not work the way you think.
These E-turbos come with a 48 volt battery
that your car charges,
and then you discharge that battery when you want to boost.
So you definitely do get boost,
but it's not sustained boost.
It can only run for a maximum of four minutes.
Now four minutes, you can do a lot
of fricken' sick burnies in four minutes.
So that's plenty of time to show off to your buds,
or your girls, or your bud's girls.
But you've gotta let your battery
cool down and recharge after.
And to get those four minutes back.
You're going to have to wait 40 minutes.
There it is, there's the catch, we figured it out.
So, how on earth did electric turbos
leap from eBay scam to legit?
Well, most of the OEM E-turbos
are more likely Electronically Assisted Turbos.
And these aftermarket ones aren't a scam,
but they're not as legit as they seem at first glance.
In the end, getting power directly from the crankshaft,
or better yet from wasted exhaust,
is just going to be more efficient.
The facts are the facts, though.
Is it a turbo, yes.
Well, a compressor, really,
but is it solely run on electricity, yes.
Does it give you boost, yes.
These aftermarket electric turbos
may have a lot of downsides,
but if you wanna just make more power,
there's actually an aftermarket turbo
that'll let you do that.
If I'm being for real, you guys, it's pretty awesome.
Also, just to clarify, I wasn't wrong in that meeting,
I just wasn't right.
Okay, there's a difference.
Thank you guys so much for watching this episode of "B2B."
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