The Automobile Division Prize for the Environment recognizes the most outstanding paper contribution made in the previous year in this area. The winning HyBoost paper was originally presented at the Sustainable Vehicle Technologies conference held in November 2012. (Earlier post.) The award of the prize to the paper’s authors was formally made at last night’s meeting of the Automobile Division at the Institution’s headquarters in Birdcage Walk, Westminster.

The winning paper described the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) sponsored HyBoost project, a collaborative research programme to develop an ultra-efficient optimized gasoline engine using a concept that Ricardo terms “Intelligent Electrification”.

The demonstrator vehicle produced by the project used a highly downsized 1.0L boosted engine in conjunction with relatively low cost synergistic ‘12+X’ Volt electrical management system and electrical supercharger technologies. This successfully delivered fuel economy and CO₂ equivalent to a full hybrid powertrain, with performance equal or better than the baseline 2.0L vehicle but at a projected cost premium significantly less than a diesel.

Moreover, the project highlighted a potential pathway to delivering less than 85 g/km CO₂ as measured over the NEDC. Ricardo was supported in the HyBoost project by a consortium comprising Ford Motor Company, Controlled Power Technologies, Valeo, the European Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium, and Imperial College London.