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C VanDorne
I know I'm sounding like an annoying research director here but the timeline, ...
chanj
I believe Honda has made Natural Gas powered vehicle for a while. I have seen a ...
Fiat focusing on natural gas before electric cars
Sylvie Barak
5/21/2012 3:06 PM EDT
Though not the flashiest Italian car manufacturer, automotive firm Fiat has long been a staple of the country’s industrial sector, providing vehicles to a wider mass market than its local brethren: —the Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis that cater only to the elite.
As such, the firm’s research and development center, with a main base in Orbassano, Turin, is constantly thinking up ways to reinvent its automotive products in cost effective ways, from their physical design to their fuel efficiency, safety features and beyond.
Established in 1978 as the Fiat Group reference center for innovation, the Centro Ricerche Fiat (CRF) is responsible for almost all of the company’s technological growth. Its 1,000-strong staff (600 of whom are engineers) is permanently engaged in looking to substitute car components and materials, while maximizing sustainability, safe mobility, telematics, mechatronics and even optics.
“Italy loves cars and of course many young engineers love working on cars,” said general manager of the CRF, Stefano Re Fiorentin.
Besides its main site in Orbassano, the CRF boasts three decentralized branches in Bari, Trento and Foggia, with one more site dealing exclusively with the advanced research of optics and plastics for lighting systems at Udine.
Over 1,000 industrial partners, including universities and various research centers across the world, serve to swell the CRF’s ranks and propel it even further forward. The center also absorbs engineers from scholarship programs it has in association with Turin Polytechnic and Windsor University in Canada.
Currently holding a total of 2,860 patents (both granted and pending), the CRF can take direct credit for a number of important innovations in Fiat cars, mainly in terms of powertrains, the Diesel Common Rail System (Unijet and multijet) and the new TwinAir engine.
The center’s engineers spend much of their time designing Fiat’s future powertrains, chassis and bodies, as well as the related electronics needed in-car.
Integration of electronics with mechanics is a key part of the work, said Re Fiorentin, with “integrated approaches” being the center’s buzz word, and meaning the combination of various disciplines to get the best performance.
In terms of hi-tech in-car connectivity, the center is also responsible for Fiat’s set of Blue&Me connectivity products, driving advisor and magic parking driver assistance systems, as well as the Eco drive navigation product suite.
Undoubtedly, however, the CRF remains mainly focused on problems of propulsion, as petrol supplies dwindle globally.
As such, the firm’s research and development center, with a main base in Orbassano, Turin, is constantly thinking up ways to reinvent its automotive products in cost effective ways, from their physical design to their fuel efficiency, safety features and beyond.
Established in 1978 as the Fiat Group reference center for innovation, the Centro Ricerche Fiat (CRF) is responsible for almost all of the company’s technological growth. Its 1,000-strong staff (600 of whom are engineers) is permanently engaged in looking to substitute car components and materials, while maximizing sustainability, safe mobility, telematics, mechatronics and even optics.
“Italy loves cars and of course many young engineers love working on cars,” said general manager of the CRF, Stefano Re Fiorentin.
Besides its main site in Orbassano, the CRF boasts three decentralized branches in Bari, Trento and Foggia, with one more site dealing exclusively with the advanced research of optics and plastics for lighting systems at Udine.
The Phylla solar concept car, a CRF initiative
Over 1,000 industrial partners, including universities and various research centers across the world, serve to swell the CRF’s ranks and propel it even further forward. The center also absorbs engineers from scholarship programs it has in association with Turin Polytechnic and Windsor University in Canada.
Currently holding a total of 2,860 patents (both granted and pending), the CRF can take direct credit for a number of important innovations in Fiat cars, mainly in terms of powertrains, the Diesel Common Rail System (Unijet and multijet) and the new TwinAir engine.
The center’s engineers spend much of their time designing Fiat’s future powertrains, chassis and bodies, as well as the related electronics needed in-car.
Integration of electronics with mechanics is a key part of the work, said Re Fiorentin, with “integrated approaches” being the center’s buzz word, and meaning the combination of various disciplines to get the best performance.
In terms of hi-tech in-car connectivity, the center is also responsible for Fiat’s set of Blue&Me connectivity products, driving advisor and magic parking driver assistance systems, as well as the Eco drive navigation product suite.
Undoubtedly, however, the CRF remains mainly focused on problems of propulsion, as petrol supplies dwindle globally.
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hm
5/21/2012 9:25 PM EDT
@Sylvie: This concept is very popular in country like India. Sometime, they buy a brand new car and on day one, they convert it for CNG. It is very cost effective way of driving car for them. Hope Fiat make this approach more refined and efficient.
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SylvieBarak
5/22/2012 12:14 AM EDT
Interesting! I didn't know that. But it makes sense, since it doesn't require a lot of re-engineering of the engine....
good stuff!
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The MicroMan
5/22/2012 3:27 PM EDT
While this article meanders around, I've often wondered why natural gas hasn't been the new fuel-of-choice for cars. In the US there is plenty of it and as mentioned it is an easy switch from our conventional engines.
Why are we chasing electric cars which require an entire changeover of the infrastructure to use (gas stations, repair techniques), lug around a thousand pounds of expensive, nasty battery, and will bring down our power grid when any sizable population is using them. Electricity isn't very portable in any quantity.
I've been puzzled when various programs for CNG- or LPG (liquified petroleum gas)-powered public transportation have quietly drifted away. If someone would test and warrant my car, I'd change to CNG in a minute.
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SylvieBarak
5/23/2012 2:15 AM EDT
It's a fairly easy switch to make....
sorry you felt the article meandered around the point. The point is, Fiat is doing this, and it's not complicated. Hope that clarifies things.
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C VanDorne
5/23/2012 10:05 AM EDT
Sylvie, another interesting tangent here is the Crysler affect. Recall that Fiat owns Mopar now. That is after BHO's union palm- greasing, bond-holder hosing bankruptcy "deal" with the Italian mini-car maker. Anyway, perhaps you could follow up with how much of the Dodge/Chrysler product line might go CNG after this technology infusion.
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SylvieBarak
5/23/2012 1:07 PM EDT
That's a good point... I'll dig into it and let you know! Thanks!
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SimulinkJocky
5/22/2012 4:56 PM EDT
The point about there being 100 years of available natural gas doesn't make me feel wonderful. We've only been using these fuels for about 100 years and now we only have another 100 left? That's only one lifetime. We'll use it all up and wonder what happened. Our grandkids will be cursing us.
It's time to be much more interested in renewables of all sorts, this switch to natural gas is just a stopgap.
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C VanDorne
5/23/2012 10:06 AM EDT
Sombody needs to thoroughly research the assertion that "petro supplies are dwindling globally." That reaks of being yet another one of these convenient common-conventions that gets accepted as fact but is easily challenged.
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SylvieBarak
5/23/2012 1:09 PM EDT
While that's true, it can't be denied that petrol is a finite resource, and it's good that alternatives are being examined. Could be we have another 100 years of petrol, could be 200. Either way, it's going to run out. And get more expensive in the process. I don't know if CNG is the fix, but it's an intermediary step towards a viable alternative.
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C VanDorne
5/23/2012 4:25 PM EDT
I know I'm sounding like an annoying research director here but the timeline, any timeline - I've heard 500 years - is what I think needs to be challenged. I wish I could recall it better (too much beer, not enough sleep) but I have in the back of my head a Cornell University study that changes the paradigm on so called fossil fuels: that they aren't at all "fossil" and are instead a product of a continuous nutural process in Earth's core.
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Daveschof
5/23/2012 4:55 AM EDT
LPG powered cars have been around for quite a while, and certainly here in the UK conversions are common. I personally drive a LPG converted Smart, and get the price equivalent of 100miles/imperial gallon at motorway speeds. Whilst filling stations are not as common as for petrol/diesel there is a significant refuelling infrastructure in place, and I've never found myself running out of gas and having to use petrol. Some manufacturers are offering LPG versions from new.
True, LPG is another fossil fuel and as such can never be sustainable but at least the CO2 emissions are lower. As it is a technology that is ready NOW, it can at least make a difference in the short term.
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chanj
5/23/2012 2:01 PM EDT
I believe Honda has made Natural Gas powered vehicle for a while. I have seen a couple on the street. There are multiple reasons it doesn't get popular.
1) The gas station is limited.
2) The safety is always a concern to most people. A couple years back, Hong Kong government has passed a law requirement Taxi (aka Cab) to be LPG powered vehicle. There were growing concerns what if the vehicle run into a serious accident. Will there be any catastrophic explosion? There hasn't been yet. Nonetheless, I believe it stays in the back of most people's mind.
The limited supply of gas station, charge pump will be the primary reason to keep alternative fuel vehicle to be popular, at least for some years.
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