Does your vehicle have an E-Booster or E-Turbo? If not, it could help with performance. Either technology, along with other solutions like VNT or E-Compressor, could be a solution to the frustrating experience of turbocharger engine lag. Electric boosting technology can improve boost pressure and increase engine response when you’re at low engine speeds.
Garrett Motion is one of the industry’s leading manufacturers in turbochargers and accessories. They have released their latest technology to make the most out of your hybrid, fuel cell, or traditional gas vehicle. Learn everything we know so far about Garrett products.
Garrett Products
Garrett Motion is an automotive technology producer based in Switzerland. They manufacture not only turbochargers, but also other automotive performance accessories.
Their next-generation turbocharger accessories augment vehicle performance without decreasing fuel efficiency and reducing exhaust emissions to eliminate engine lag. Garrett has expanded their portfolio to include the following products:
Electric E-Turbo
Garrett offers 48-volt and 400-volt electric turbo, or E-Turbo, that combines a high-speed electric motor to the turboshaft of your hybrid vehicle to provide impressive boosting capabilities. This system can reach up to 200,000 rpm and eliminates lag starting at idling through the entire speed range. Garrett expects to be the first to market with this electric E-Turbo based on Formula 1 technology.
Electric Compressor
The electric compressor, or E-Compressor, from Garrett provides electrically assisted boosting for mild and full hybrids with turbochargers. The E-Compressor has a high-speed motor like the E-Turbo, but the motor spins the compressor wheel faster to increase transient engine response, making engine lag a thing of the past.
Compared to past generations of the E-Compressor, this new iteration delivers more power despite its smaller and lighter stature.
E-Compressor for Fuel Cells
The E-Compressor for hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles is an innovative technology for fuel cell vehicles. The E-Compressor delivers a boost by regulating air volume into the fuel cell stack. The electric compressor plays a significant role in enhancing the power density, efficiency, and life cycle of the fuel cell stack while offering a new expander design, creating better energy recovery, and lowering operating costs.
Garrett offers the E-Compressor in 400-volt for passenger vehicles and 700-volt for commercial vehicles.
Variable Nozzle Turbine (VNT)
Garrett’s VNT reduces environmental impact while increasing transient performance. How? The VNT controls the exhaust flow against the turbine by using inlet vanes that sync up with the boost requirements of the different engine speeds.
Garrett has been a leading innovator in this field by evolving design and extending its abilities past traditional combustion engines like diesel and gasoline applications.
What Is Turbocharging?
Sports cars initially were the only vehicles that used turbochargers, but auto manufacturers discovered that consumer vehicles could benefit from them as well. Why? When a car’s engine has a turbocharger, they can increase the engine performance without diminishing the vehicle’s fuel economy. More and more, you’ll see everyday vehicles with turbochargers.
How Does a Turbocharger Work?
Essentially, a turbocharger is an air pump that pushes oxygen into the engine, giving it more fuel to create more power. But turbochargers only work at higher rates of speed, meaning the turbocharger doesn’t affect idling or slower speeds. This discrepancy creates engine lag, a frustrating effect responsible for the delay between pressing the gas pedal and feeling the engine respond.
Garrett products listed above help with engine lag. But there is some confusion about E-boosters and E-Turbos: Are they the same thing? To explain their similarities and disparities, understanding engine lag first can help.
What Is Engine Lag?
An E-Booster, E-Turbo, and other Garrett products like E-Compressor and VNT are meant to prevent engine lad. Essentially, they are akin to a cup of coffee to your vehicle’s turbocharger; they step in while your turbocharger is gathering energy. While a turbocharger forces more oxygen into your engine, giving you more power, turbochargers have one downfall: engine lag.
When you press on the pedal, you might notice a delay in your car’s response. This is where the turbocharger accessory comes into play. It augments the turbocharger, stepping in at the lower speeds to give your energy an immediate boost. Only a second or two later, the turbocharger jumps in, and your vehicle is performing as you want it to—and you never have to experience the frustration that comes with lag.
Are E-Booster and E-Turbo the Same Thing?
E-Turbos can sometimes be confused with E-Boosters. What’s the difference between an E-Booster and an E-Turbo? They’re both options to add to engines to eliminate lag, but there are some notable differences.
E-Booster
An E-Booster is a device that improves boost pressure and engine response at lower speeds. But unlike an E-Turbo, it is separate from the turbocharger and is able to operate independently.
But when a driver presses on the accelerator, the E-Booster kicks into action, delivering an instantaneous boost through a bypass valve. This valve is responsible for directing the compressed airflow that powers both the E-Booster and turbocharger, providing engine response.
As the E-Booster works, the turbocharger is spinning to match the E-Booster’s speed. Once it does, the bypass valve sends the air to the turbocharger, and the E-Booster is switched off. Then, the bypass valve closes after the engine hits the required RPMs.
E-Turbo
An E-Turbo connects to the turbocharger; it’s not a separate device. It’s a high-speed motor that works alongside the turbocharger. So how does it help when your car is in low RPMs? An E-Turbo spins the compressor, and taking air from that, and injects it into the engine until the turbocharger reaches the correct RPMs. From this process, the E-Turbo also recovers any wasted energy from the turbocharger, reducing fuel consumption.
Essentially, both the E-Booster and E-Turbo help the turbocharger at low RPMs and improve drivability. How do you know which your car needs? An E-Booster is less complex than an E-Turbo, but an E-Turbo yields better performance when you factor in fuel efficiency.
Order Garrett Parts
Garrett Motion is one of the leading names in innovative turbocharger technology. Turbo Turbo is a Garrett turbo dealer and offers a range of Garrett products, including turbochargers and accessories. Contact us with any questions about everything we know so far about Garett products. We’ll help you find the right turbocharger and accessory that’s best for your vehicle.
