Existing hybrid technology uses electrical energy stored in a battery to power an electric motor connected to an internal combustion engine, but there are other ways of harnessing electrical energy to help save fuel. Engineers in the UK have developed a new system where electrical energy can be used to drive a supercharger and boost performance.
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We’ve come across a fairly decent review of the new upcoming 2009 Audi S4. Audi has swayed away from the traditional all motor or turbocharged applications, and by the sounds of it, they got supercharging down very quick. The S4 will be almost 30% more fuel efficient then it’s outgoing brother with the 4.2 V8, which is a nice change.

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BMW’s EfficientDynamics chief engineer mentioned in an interview that BMW is working on a system that is designed to take excess heat in the turbocharger system and convert it to electricity. Thermal power generation has also been shown previously by Honda, but has not been tested and tried by any European manufacturer. Mercedes has vowed last summer to explore converting it’s full line-up to turbocharged applications and Audi is hard at work at employing both Superscharger and Turbocharger systems amongst it’s lineup. However thremal power generation has yet to be mentioned by either one of those companies as a means to reduce emissions and increase power.

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