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Volvo Unveils 450 HP "Triple Boost" 2L 4-Cylinder Engine Concept

Turbocharging technology has come a long way since its early days, but lag is still a problem in high-output applications. Simply put, the larger the turbocharger, the more boost it produces, but also the more time it takes to start spinning. Volvo says it's found an amazing solution to this problem with its new Triple Boost Technology that's been applied to a 2-liter 4-cylinder petrol engine with no less than 450 hp.
Triple Boost Drive-E Powertrain 9 photos
Photo: Volvo
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So how does it work?

The Volvo engine is not a tri-turbo one, like BMW's now famous diesel 3-liter for M Performance cars. Instead, two parallel turbochargers are fed  by the third unit which is an electrically powered turbo-compressor. This ensures they spin up much faster when you need them, essentially eliminating turbo lag, at least according to Volvo.

“There are several high power small size applications where one large turbo is used to create a high level of power available from other manufacturers, but the driving experience suffers due to slow engine response. We felt that with our heritage of being among the first car companies to embrace and offer a broad range of turbo technology since 1981, that we could improve this,” says Michael Fleiss, Vice President of Powertrain Engineering at Volvo Car Group.

Volvo is committed to downsizing

The Triple Boost Drive-E Powertrain basically produces more power than the 4-liter V8 in the previous generation BMW M3, a performance car by any measure. As you'd expect, doubling the level of power density means Volvo still has some way to go before putting this system into production.

However, the latest generation of Drive-E engines have shown the Swedish automaker is truly committed to reducing emissions and fuel consumption across the model range. At 190 hp, their new 2-liter D4 diesel is not only one the most powerful but also the cleanest engine in its class.

Volvo already has a twin-charged 2-liter engine (supercharged and turbocharged) in production, the new T6 Drive-E that replaced their inline-6 and is available on the S60, V60 and XC60, producing over 300 horsepower. On the brand new XC90, the T6 powerplant rated at 320 hp and a hefty 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque.

“When we launched the Drive-E powertrain family, our aim was to deliver the most advanced 4-cylinder engines in the industry based on emissions and fuel consumption relative to performance and drivability. We knew that 320 hp in our petrol configuration was just a starting point. The 450 hp High Performance Drive-E Powertrain Concept, demonstrates this ambition and the versatility of the Drive-E Powertrains,
” says Dr. Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President for Research and Development at Volvo Car Group.

The triple threat

Volvo aren't the only ones experimenting with the idea of triple charging. A few months ago, Audi unveiled a concept called the RS5 TDI to celebrate 25 years of diesel engines. It uses a 3-liter V6 with two normal turbochargers and another unit that essentially works like a compressor, spooled up by electricity not exhaust gas, which helps it fill low end torque gaps.

As we've already mentioned, BMW has a tri-turbo engine 3-liter diesel, available on the M550d sedan and estate, X5 M50d, X6 M50d and 750d.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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