福特新引擎：小身材，大能耐

    在近期一项不太为人所知的研发中，福特汽车公司（Ford）宣布，它已获得美国环保署（EPA）对其在其畅销车型“探索者”（Explorer）上搭载的一款新引擎的认证。

    新引擎是涡轮增压四缸结构，是福特汽车称为“EcoBoost”的缸内直喷内燃机新家族的一员。凭借这台引擎，两轮驱动的“探索者”登上了市场上最省油的七座SUV宝座。

    一般来说，SUV行驶里程数排名就像上周泰格•伍兹的比分一样具有新闻价值 。而“探索者”的高分证明福特公司缩小引擎尺寸这一饱受争议的决定——尤其是针对其轻型卡车而言——是正确的。这种缩小是通过减少汽缸数，同时增加涡轮增压器以弥补损失的马力和扭矩实现的。

    汽车制造业正面临着进一步提高燃油经济性的挑战，“探索者”的这一成就强化了传统汽油引擎在应对这一挑战中的作用。到2025年，美国汽车必须符合联邦法律规定的每加仑燃油行驶54.5英里的燃油经济性标准。目前，丰田汽车（Toyota），日产汽车（Nissan）和通用汽车（General Motors）等汽车制造商正在争相打造充满异国情调的电池驱动的汽车，福特汽车却反其道而行之，成为传统引擎的领跑者。自亨利•福特1932年推出福特V-8引擎以来，这可能是福特首次在这方面拔得头筹。

    Ecoboost的成功在福特公司备受推崇的产品研发主管德里克•库扎克的功劳簿上再添一笔。夸夸其谈的汽车业大佬们一度引得各路媒体纷纷追捧，但温和低调的库扎克却已在少有人关注的情况下取得了一系列重要的成就，正是这些成就在福特的复兴中起到了关键作用。

    库扎克对Ecoboost青睐有加，因为这台引擎能在各类车型上广泛运用，从小型汽车到卡车，无一例外。同时，它经济实惠：他曾计算过，消费者有望在约30个月内收回其在四缸EcoBoost引擎上的初始投资。他说，相比之下，一台柴油机平均需要7年半收回投资，而混合动力引擎则需要近12年才能收回投资。

    EcoBoost 的诞生并非一路坦途。研发之初，福特正处于在传动技术上落于人后的时期。当时，汽车业正陷入低谷，艾伦•穆拉利刚刚走马上任担任首席执行官，因此，这台引擎的研发招致一片质疑，认为福特针对燃油经济性标准和温室气体排放问题选择了最廉价的解决方案，而当时，众多境况稍好的竞争对手正通过研发燃料电池力求实现更大的抱负。

    2008年，福特公司对外宣布EcoBoost技术，其目标显得雄心勃勃。福特预计，四缸到六缸的涡轮增压缸内直喷引擎将带来高达20%的燃油经济性，减少15%的二氧化碳排放，以及相对于体积更大的活塞式引擎更出色的驾驶性能。更有甚者，公司宣称在未来5年内，新引擎将在50万辆新车上广泛搭载。

    到了2009年，这些目标逐渐变得清晰起来。福特宣布，其高性能车Taurus SHO将用一台3.5排量的EcoBoost V-6引擎取代老款V-8引擎。新引擎能输出强劲的365匹马力和350磅英尺扭矩——对一台V-6来说这两个数字是颇为可观的。

    今年早些时候，这种转变已经形成席卷之势。福特宣称，其全尺寸F-150皮卡的买主，一个此前一直被认为是固守胃口惊人的V-8引擎永不放手的群体，现在已经开始纷纷转而购买EcoBoost V-6引擎。

    鉴于当前经济形势不振、油价稳稳地盘踞在每加仑4美元的高位，这台引擎的吸引力是显而易见的。搭载2.0排量EcoBoost四缸引擎的两驱车“探索者”在高速公路上每加仑油可行驶28英里。与标准的V-6引擎相比，EcoBoost“探索者”在高速公路上每加仑可多行驶3英里，在市区每加仑也可多行驶3英里。根据福特公司的数据，这台车每加仑行驶英里数比本田公司（Honda）的“飞行员”（Pilot）和“大切诺基”（Jeep Grand Cherokee）要多5英里，比雪佛兰（Chevrolet）的Traverse要多4英里。它也比一些中型车有更好的高速公路燃油经济性，比如斯巴鲁（Subaru）的“翼豹”（Impreza）。

    没人会把EcoBoost当成终极科技成果大肆吹捧——这个荣誉要归属于某种形式的电动技术。但它无疑是极为成功的过渡性技术，同时它也表明，在解决提高燃油经济性这样重大、复杂的问题上，聪明机智与机敏独创同等重要。

    译者：清远

    In a little-noticed development recently, Ford announced that it had received EPA certification for a new engine in its best-selling Explorer.

    The new engine is a turbocharged four-cylinder, part of a new family of internal-combustion power plants with direct injection that Ford calls EcoBoost. With the EcoBoost four-cylinder, the two-wheel drive Explorer now ranks as the most fuel-efficient seven-passenger SUV on the market.

    SUV mileage ratings would ordinarily be as newsworthy as last week's Tigers' scores. But Explorer's high numbers vindicates Ford's controversial decision to downsize its engines -- notably for its light trucks -- by reducing the number of cylinders and adding turbochargers to compensate for the lost horsepower and torque.

    The Explorer's achievement reinforces the role of conventional gasoline-powered engines in meeting the challenges of greater fuel economy. American automobiles must meet a federally mandated fuel-efficiency standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. While manufacturers like Toyota (TM), Nissan, and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) are competing to build exotic battery-powered vehicles, Ford has become a leader in conventional engines for perhaps the first time since Henry Ford introduced the Ford V-8 in 1932.

    The success of EcoBoost is another win for Ford's highly-regarded product development chief Derrick Kuzak. At a time when more flamboyant car bosses are attracting scads of media attention, the mild-mannered Kuzak has built a solid string of successes with little notice that have played a key role in Ford's recovery.

    Kuzak likes EcoBoost because it can be deployed across a wide variety of vehicles, from small cars to large trucks. And it's affordable: He's calculated that customers can expect to recoup their initial investment in a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine with fuel in approximately 30 months. By comparison, he says a diesel would take an average of seven and a half years, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup.

    The road to EcoBoost hasn't always been smooth. Its development came when Ford (F, Fortune 500) was a laggard in powertrain technology. It coincided with the automaker's dark days and the arrival of Alan Mulally as CEO, leading to skepticism that Ford had chosen the least-expensive solution to fuel economy standards and greenhouse gas emissions while better-heeled competitors were satisfying grander ambitions by researching fuel cells.

    Ford's claims for the technology when it was announced in 2008 were ambitious. It projected that turbocharged direct-injection engines in four- and six-cylinder sizes would produce up to 20% better fuel economy, 15% fewer CO2 emissions, and superior driving performance versus larger displacement engines. Moreover, it said it would install the new motors in half a million vehicles over the next five years.

    The claims began to gel in 2009 when Ford revealed that its high-performance Taurus SHO, would swap out its old V-8 with a 3.5 liter EcoBoost V-6 that produced a healthy 365 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque -- big numbers for a V-6.

    The shift became a landslide earlier this year when Ford revealed that customers of its full-size F-150 pickups, heretofore thought to be wedded to their thirsty V-8 engines for eternity, were now buying nearly as many EcoBoost V-6s instead.

    At a time when the economy is sagging and gasoline prices seem stuck at $4 per gallon, the attraction is easy to see. With its 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, the two-wheel-drive Explorer gets 28 mpg on the highway. Compared with a standard V-6 version, the EcoBoost Explorer gets three more miles per gallon on the highway and three miles per gallon better mileage in the city. According to Ford, it beats Honda Pilot and Jeep Grand Cherokee by five mpg and Chevrolet Traverse by four mpg. It also delivers better highway fuel economy than some mid-size cars, such as the Subaru Impreza.

    Nobody is touting EcoBoost as the endgame -- that honor belongs to electricity in one form or another. But it has become a remarkably successful bridge technology -- and it demonstrates that cleverness is as important as ingenuity in solving big, complex problems like improving fuel economy.