It’s always good to try early prototypes of new technology, because although some fall by the wayside, plenty don’t. One such clever device is the electrically powered supercharger, generally used in conjunction with a traditional turbocharger to banish turbo lag, initially on diesel engines but now on petrol, too.
With the current trend towards down-speeding of engines (lower revs to reduce friction losses), they’re even more relevant. Low revs equal reduced exhaust energy – worse on diesels because the exhaust is cooler in the first place. The trend to engine downsizing has a similar effect.
One of the first major manufacturers out of the traps with production electric supercharging was Audi, which showed a prototype A6 with an electric supercharger system in 2013. Positioned between the turbo and engine, the electric supercharger was bypassed most of the time until the engine management system detected exhaust pressure was too low to deliver decent response from the turbo. At that point, valves in the exhaust would open to bring the electric supercharger on stream, giving almost instantaneous boost.
It was pretty cool and the engineer riding shotgun could switch the system on and off to show how laggy the engine felt without the electrical assistance. At the time, the 48V system needed to drive the compressor motor was still a few years off, but now electric superchargers are in production with several manufacturers, including Audi, Mercedes-Benz and, as of earlier in 2019, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) with a new straight six petrol Ingenium engine.