/ 9 1995 Ul rich Seiffe rt, Leopold Mikulic, Fritz Indra, Karl Koll mann, Bert Breuer, Karl Wojik Visions for Fuel Consumption and Emissions. Discussing the “3-liter car” The 7th “Engine & Environment” conference in August 1995 focused on technical feasibility and reasonableness of the “3-liter car”. In his opening lecture, CEO Prof. Helmut List said: “We aim to look at the “3-liter car” from a holistic perspective at this conference and actually include all aspects in our deliberations – technological aspects, aspects of product design, market aspects, purchasing behavior, aspects of legislation. And we are going to ask ourselves the questions what political and fiscal incentives will be needed to ensure the breakthrough of the 3-liter car.” The experts‘ answers to the issue of technical feasibility of the “3-liter car” in terms of motorization, transmission and vehicle weight was as follows (in excerpts) in 1995: “In the next 20 to 30 years, the piston engine will be the main drive – also for the 3-liter car. The gasoline engine is at a disadvantage as far as fuel consumption is concerned, but it will continue to play an important role provided it is equipped with new technologies. Lean burn engine concepts, for example, will stand a chance. And the concept of the direct injection gasoline engine is particularly helpful to improve the critical part-load fuel consumption.” (Dr. Leopold Mikulic, Mercedes Benz AG) “The direct injection diesel engine – and AVL is one of the pioneers here – offers a technological concept that will bring us closer to the 3-liter car. The challenge that engineers will have to overcome is to transfer this engine technology with the most favorable fuel consumption to correspondingly small engine displacement. An injection system rich in energy will therefore be key. Due to space and flexibility requirements, the Common Rail system is a promising candidate for the 3-liter car. “ (Dipl.-Ing. Karl Wojik, AVL; Noboru Hikosaka, Isuzu Advanced Engineering Center) “One of the central influencing parameters is the test weight of the vehicle. In order to consume 3 l/100 km in NEDC, the weight will have to be brought down to approximately 700 kg, without compromising on today’s safety standards and without any significant disadvantages in terms of convenience. Here lies one of the biggest challenges – we could call it ‘intelligent lightweight design’.” (Dr. Karl Kollmann, Mercedes Benz AG) The participants of the final panel discussion (Prof. Dr. Hans Peter Lenz (Vienna University of Technology), Prof. Ulrich Seiffert (Volkswagen AG), Dr. Leopold Mikulic (Mercedes Benz AG), Prof. Dr. Bert Breuer (Darmstadt University of Technology) and Dr. Fritz Indra (Adam Opel AG), chaired by Prof. Dr. Günter Hohenberg of Darmstadt University of Technology, agreed: “If defined correctly, the 3-liter car is reasonable and technically feasible. Acceptance will be limited and it will only stand a chance on the market if the appropriate political framework conditions are provided in time.” Experts from Austria, Germany, Japan and the USA at Grazer Congress
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