Mercedes-AMG’s electrified turbocharger comes from F1, could change turbos forever

Turbochargers are fantastic technical parts. They take energy from an internal combustion engine and convert it into additional power with very little loss of efficiency. Historically, the problem has been that turbochargers have had to choose whether they are small and responsive but limited in performance, or whether they are large and sloppy but capable of performing tremendously.

Over the years, there have been several attempts to overcome this compromise, with devices such as sequential turbos and even double charging (ie coupling a compressor to a turbocharger) having limited success, but with high costs and added complexity. Thanks to its wild success in Formula 1, Mercedes-AMG now believes it has a new solution: an electric motor, but not like the one you are thinking of.

“We have clearly defined our goals for an electrified future. To achieve them, we rely on discrete and highly innovative components and assemblies. With this step, we strategically supplement our modular technology and adapt it to our performance requirements,” said Tobias Moers, CEO from Mercedes-AMG, in a statement. “As a first step, this includes the electrified turbocharger – an example of the transfer of Formula 1 technology to the road, with which we will bring turbocharged internal combustion engines to an unprecedented level of agility.”

Well, most of you have probably seen the stupid plastic “electric compressors” that you can buy in sketchy online stores, but that’s not it. The Mercedes system uses a tailor-made electric motor that can bring the turbocharger’s impeller close to its speed of 170,000 rpm without waiting for the exhaust gases to do the job.

One of the other advantages of this electric motor system is that the turbo can be kept at speed even when the car is stopped and the driver applies the brakes, so that the acceleration is not delayed when he is lying on the thin pedal on the right. The system can even use the electric motor to recover energy, similar to how regenerative braking works in electric cars.

Of course, it is especially important to keep an electric motor bolted to a turbocharger – not to mention the other sensitive electronics that are required for this system to work – in this hellishly hot environment. To improve the life of the system, the whole thing is water-cooled, including electronics.

Mercedes has confirmed that the first engine to use this technology will be the four-cylinder M139 – the hottest version of it a brain-breaking 416 hp. This new electric turbo system won’t add any extra power in itself, but it should make a big contribution to making this tiny 2.0-liter engine terror much more responsive.

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