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The IRVW II ''(„Integrated Research Volkswagen“)'' is a modified
The IRVW II ''(„Integrated Research Volkswagen“)'' is a modified Volkswagen Passat (B2)
The Volkswagen Passat (B2) is an automobile which was produced by German manufacturer Volkswagen from 1981 to 1988. It was the second generation of the Volkswagen Passat. The platform was slightly longer than the preceding Passat (B1). As with th ...
from 1980. It was built for research on fuel economy in automobiles
The fuel economy of an automobile relates distance traveled by a vehicle and the amount of fuel consumed. Consumption can be expressed in terms of volume of fuel to travel a distance, or the distance traveled per unit volume of fuel consumed. S ...
.
It had a 1300 cc engine, 997 kg weight and top speed 160 km/h (99 mph). It was developed under Ulrich Seiffert Ulrich (), is a German given name, derived from Old High German ''Uodalrich'', ''Odalric''. It is composed of the elements '' uodal-'' meaning "(noble) heritage" and ''-rich'' meaning "rich, powerful". Attested from the 8th century as the name of A ...
by Ernst Fiala.
Releasing the accelerator shuts down the engine and the vehicle automatically changes the vehicle into gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...
. It saved up to 2 l/100 km
The fuel economy of an automobile relates distance traveled by a vehicle and the amount of fuel consumed. Consumption can be expressed in terms of volume of fuel to travel a distance, or the distance traveled per unit volume of fuel consumed. S ...
compared to not using the ''Formula E''. The engine was automatically restarted by using the accelerator. A similar feature was later known as the start-stop system
A vehicle start-stop system or stop-start system automatically shuts down and restarts the internal combustion engine to reduce the amount of time the engine spends idling, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions. This is most advanta ...
. Depending on the road terrain
Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...
conditions, it was possible to cover up to half of the way in gliding mode. Since gliding was not taken up into legislation of consumption and taxation, automatic engine shutdown made not its way into production. The additional costs for the new car would have been amortized by saving gasoline in two years average use. After the 1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
and the 1979 oil crisis, the concept marketed as ''Formula E'' stood for energy saving and expanded the features of the IRVW II. A green indicator light with an upward pointing arrow in the cockpit recommended the driver to shift up the manual gear box
Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...
. Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
used this indicator in the 2000s in series. In the ''e-gear'', the then newly installed in cars fifth gear in manual transmission
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...
s, a reduction in engine speed was achieved, but not on the vehicle speed, due headwind at this speed. An ''Ecometer'' showed in ''e-gear'' consumption in l/100 km.
The catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...
was already present in 1975 in the US. It was required at this time in 1980, but not on the European market, where leaded fuel
Tetraethyllead (commonly styled tetraethyl lead), abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula Pb( C2H5)4. It is a fuel additive, first being mixed with gasoline beginning in the 1920s as a patented octane rating booster that al ...
which is not compatible with the catalytic converter, disappeared in 1987 from the filling station
A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.
Gasoli ...
s in West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.
In 1995 Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
filed the patent on a concept that includes gliding without drivers attention, but also a planetary gear
An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the two gears and rotates the planet and sun gea ...
set and electric drive,{{Cite web, url=https://patents.google.com/patent/JP3168895B2/, title = ハイブリッド駆動装置 the predecessor of the Hybrid Synergy Drive
Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD), also known as Toyota Hybrid System II, is the brand name of Toyota Motor Corporation for the hybrid car drive train technology used in vehicles with the Toyota and Lexus marques. First introduced on the Prius, the tec ...
, known as a major concept of hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids.
The basic princip ...
s which also keep the internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
operating inside the economic area of the consumption map
A consumption map or efficiency map shows the brake-specific fuel consumption in g per kWh over mean effective pressure per rotational speed of an internal combustion engine.
The x-axis shows the rotational speed range. The y-axis represents the l ...
.
References