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1.0L EcoBoost: How Small Can Ford Go?

Ford has officially begun production of an engine with the greatest power density to ever be offered in a Ford engine. No, this isn’t going to be another fire-breathing V8. But rather a turbocharged 1.0L EcoBoost engine.  1 liter. And three cylinders.

Initially the engine will be offered with a power rating of 125 PS (or 123 horsepower), a torque rating of 170 NM (125 lb-ft) and emit 114 g/km of CO2. Following the 125 PS rated engine will be a 100 PS model offering outright best-in-class fuel emissions of 109 g/km.

The 1.0L Ecoboost will sport an inline three-cylinder configuration with dual-overhead Ti-VCT camshafts and a small single turbocharger. The premise of this engine is to offer the power of a comparable 1.6L naturally aspirated engine in a smaller package, but with less CO2 emissions and better fuel economy.

Initially, the 125PS engine will be found under the hood of the European Ford Focus and it is estimated to have combined fuel economy of 5.0L/100Km, which would work out to about 47 miles per gallon as Americans know it. There are also plans to put the 1.0L engine in the Ford C-Max and B-Max as well as other vehicles around the world sporting the Blue Oval.

Production will begin at the Cologne, Germany plant with an expected output of 350,000 engines  per year with the the potential to increase to as much as 700,000 engines a year when Ford’s new engine plant in Craiova, Romania goes online.

It would be nice to see this powerplant in the U.S. though mostly not under the hood of something as heavy as the Focus. Most likely this would be a great engine for the B-Segment Ford Fiesta. Surprisingly, the 3-cylinder keeps the performance that you expect from a larger naturally-aspirated engine with less front end weight for better handling. The only thing that may hold this engine back is the price to bring an odd number in-line engine to the refinement level of even engines.

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COLOGNE, Germany, Nov. 9, 2011 – Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally today launched volume production of Ford’s smallest petrol engine – a 1.0-litre, turbocharged, direct injection EcoBoost engine that will debut in Europe in early 2012 and ultimately be available worldwide.

Ford announced that when the 1.0-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine debuts in the European Ford Focus, it will produce 125PS while delivering ultra-low petrol CO2 emissions performance of 114g/km – a level unmatched by Focus competitors.  A 100PS version of the same engine will deliver outright best-in-class petrol CO2 emissions of 109g/km.

“The new 1.0-litre EcoBoost – and our entire family of EcoBoost engines – represent technology breakthroughs that deliver power, fuel efficiency and low CO2 emissions through turbocharging and direct injection,” Mulally said. “These engines are delivering to our wonderful Ford customers the fuel-efficient vehicles they want and value and, in turn, contributing to the reduction of CO2 and fuel consumption.”

Mulally was joined by Hannelore Kraft, prime minister of Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany, and Elfi Scho-Antwerpes, mayor of Cologne, for the event. Ford said it invested €134 million ($200 million) to develop a special high-tech line at the Cologne Engine Plant to build the engine. The plant’s 870 employees will build up to 350,000 units a year of the new engine.

European production capacity could increase to up to 700,000 units per year as production of the new small EcoBoost engine at Cologne is joined by Ford’s new engine plant in Craiova, Romania, in manufacturing the new 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine in early 2012. In the years ahead, Ford anticipates production to expand outside of Europe to deliver availability for customers around the world and global production of up to 1.3 million 1.0-litre EcoBoost engines per year.

The new small EcoBoost petrol engine

This new EcoBoost engine delivers performance to rival a traditional 1.6-litre engine and with significantly improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. The 1.0-litre EcoBoost cylinder block can fit onto a sheet of A4 paper but delivers up to 125PS and 170Nm peak torque (with 200Nm overboost), giving it the highest power density of any Ford production engine to date.

“Ford’s commitment to Germany as a high-tech manufacturing location is significant,” Mulally said. “Nowhere outside of the U.S. do we have a stronger design engineering and manufacturing presence than we do here in Germany.”

The small and powerful new EcoBoost is set to debut in the European Ford Focus in early 2012, and will deliver unrivalled petrol fuel economy of 5.0 l/100km and emissions of just 114g/km CO2 in 125PS form, with a 100PS version offering best-in-class CO2 emissions of 109g/km. The engine also will feature in the hot-selling Ford C-MAX, and in the new Ford B-MAX, which enters production in 2012. Further global applications for both the 125PS and 100PS variants will be announced by Ford later.

The 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine was developed by Ford experts across Europe, including engineers at Ford’s European Research and Advanced Engineering Centre in Aachen, Germany, and the Dunton Technical Centre, UK.

“The new 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine is a true collaboration from start to finish with expertise from Ford specialists across Europe leveraged in designing both the engine and the cutting-edge facility in which it will be produced,” said Stephen Odell, chairman and CEO, Ford of Europe.

“This will be reflected in the class-leading European CO2 emissions of the new 1.0-litre EcoBoost Ford Focus when it debuts in early 2012; low emissions that will be achieved alongside the spirited and refined performance that customers expect from Ford.”

High-tech EcoBoost production

The advanced EcoBoost production facility at Ford’s Cologne Engine Plant was designed by Ford’s Manufacturing Engineering team, Dunton, UK, using Ford’s Virtual Manufacturing laboratory, to offer maximum flexibility and efficiency. Nearly 100 new machining units and a 580-metre purpose-built assembly line have been installed.

Fifty-five automated and 14 semi-automated processes are used, alongside 90 work stations for skilled employees, helping to ensure the highest standards of quality and consistency in production. The technology is capable of machining to an accuracy of 10 microns, 10 to 20 per cent the width of a human hair.

Ford has introduced new manufacturing techniques that reduce the volume of coolant required when machining aluminium engine parts to just four or five millilitres per component from a previous requirement of up to two litres, a reduction of more than 99 per cent that contributes to a reduced environmental footprint from manufacturing.

New “cold testing” technology allows completed engines to be tested without being started – reducing fuel usage and CO2 emissions from the process by 66 per cent – while 100 per cent of the remaining energy required to run the plant comes from renewable sources. Total electricity demands have been reduced by 66 per cent compared with production of Ford’s 4.0-litre V6 engine, which ends today at Cologne Engine Plant.

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