Automakers Turning To Turbos To Make Cars More Efficient

As car makers begin to offer more and more electric and hybrid vehicles, there is another form of technology that manufacturers are utilizing to make their cars and trucks more efficient. Rather than adding batteries or plugs, they are throwing on turbochargers. While these parts are often used as a way to enhance a car's performance, turbos can also be helpful in boosting power in smaller engines while maintaining good fuel economy.

Turbocharging has become an affordable, as well as popular way for manufacturers to keep their vehicles fuel efficient, especially their pickup trucks. After facing some criticism for ditching it's popular V-8 engine, Ford recently announced that it sold it's 1 millionth F-Series truck to be equipped with an EcoBoost turbocharged V-6 under the hood. Combined, Ford's 2.7 liter and 3.5 liter EcoBoost V-6s make up 60 percent of current F-150 sales.

Turbochargers utilize two small fans to force more air into a standard internal combustion engine. When the driver hits the gas, the fans force a mixture of fuel and compressed air into the cylinders. This creates more power because the engine is burning more fuel, so it can get power to the wheels quicker. This is ideal for smaller engines because automakers can create more power while still utilizing a smaller engine with fewer cylinders burning fuel.

While they may not get the same fuel savings as a hybrid or plug-in electric vehicle, Kevine Riddell, automotive analyst at LMC Automotive says turbocharging, is "one of the more popular alternatives" to going through the added expense and labor of producing these alternative fuel vehicles. "Engine downsizing has become a big thing to produce the same amount of power with a smaller motor," Riddell said.

Only eight percent of cars had turbochargers on their engines back in 2010. As of last year, that number just about tripled to 22 percent. LMC expects this total to continue to climb, hitting 38 percent by 2020.