Volkswagen presents its new 1.5 TSI engine featuring the Miller Cycle operation

The manufacturer Volkswagen introduces its new move in petrol engines. It has a displacement of 1,500 cubic centimetres and is called EA211 TSI evo.

This new powertrain, presented at the International Vienna Motor Symposium, is an evolution of the Group’s current 1.4 TSI engines, which produce 125 and 150 hp. Volkswagen states that its new engine will initially be offered with outputs of 130 and 150 hp and, although it does not reveal which model will debut it, the first to use it could be the facelifted Volkswagen Golf expected next year.

The main distinguishing features of this petrol powertrain are the use of supercharging via a variable-geometry turbo, something not very common in petrol engines and used almost exclusively by Porsche, and the internal Miller cycle operation.

The Miller cycle is a way of working very similar to the Atkinson cycle, with the main difference that supercharging is added. In this way, it takes advantage of the high efficiency of an Atkinson engine with a compression ratio of 12.5:1, in this case, and the greater airflow provided by supercharging.

This improves torque up to 200 Nm and, besides increasing its peak figure, it is constant over a wider range of revs with a very flat curve. As a result, ride comfort and engine response improve, since we do not have to change gears so often to obtain the necessary acceleration. As we can see in the upper chart for the 130 hp variant, maximum torque is available from 1,300 rpm and remains constant up to 4,000; after that it begins to fall gently as it crosses the power line.

Volkswagen explains in its press release that the fuel consumption improvement over the current 1.4 TSI is 10%, an aspect also helped by the ACT cylinder deactivation system during periods of low demand. The developers of this new powertrain have paid special attention to minimising internal friction, one of the main reasons energy is usually lost. Furthermore, the direct petrol injection system is of the common-rail type and reaches pressures of up to 350 bar.

Source | Volkswagen