Social Responsibility

Delphi Completes Validation Testing for Third Generation E85 Injector

Delphi recently completed validation testing for its improved Multec^® 3.5 E85 flex fuel injector, testing for parameters such as performance, cycle-durability, corrosion, temperature and humidity extremes. E85 fuel is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Integrated into the fuel rail, this injector allows for increased flow capacity for ethanol and is designed with additional resistance to ethanol corrosion.

Demand for ethanol-friendly products began in the 1980's with governments, the automotive industry and consumers demanding more environmentally friendly vehicles and energy independence.

Why ethanol?

When following the energy path of the fuel from generation to use in the car (a "wells-to-wheels" analysis), bio fuels — fuels derived from recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts — have an inherent advantage. On a net basis, they produce less Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) than petroleum because they absorb the compound while growing.

In the case of ethanol fuel derived from corn kernels — like in the United States — it is potentially CO₂ neutral, meaning that the same amount of CO₂ is extracted from the atmosphere as is added to it during the cycle of growing the corn, processing it into fuel and finally using it to power our vehicles. CO₂ and other Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are not completely eliminated, though, due to the use of natural gas-based fertilizers to grow the corn, petroleum-based fuels used in farm equipment and in ethanol distribution and the use of other fossil fuel-based energy in fuel processing. Today, according to Argonne National Laboratory, corn kernal-based ethanol reduces CO₂ emissions by 40 to 45 percent and total GHGs by 20 to 30 percent. However, in the future, shifting to cellulosic-based ethanol (corn cobs, corn stalks, switch grass, wood fiber, etc.) and engines optimized for ethanol could potentially reduce total GHGs by 85 percent or more.

New regulations by the European and U.S. governments aimed at reducing consumers' dependence on imported petroleum and minimizing CO₂ emissions also make a strong case for developing ethanol-friendly products.

Although the European Union (EU) has successfully reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases by just under 5 percent from 1994 to 2004, CO₂ emissions from road transport have increased by 26 percent during that same time. In response, the EU committed in to take measures to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve fuel efficiency from light-duty vehicles with a view of reaching the EU objective of 120 g CO₂/km by 2012, compared to the average new car of 160 g/km. Going even further, the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) has established a research target of "improvements in vehicle efficiency [that] will deliver as much as a 40 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions for passenger cars for the new vehicle fleet in 2020" — an average of 95 g CO₂/km.

In the United States, President Bush recently announced during his January 2007 State of the Union Address a goal to reduce gasoline usage over the next ten years by 20 percent, with three-quarters of that reduction coming from renewable and alternative fuels.

Why Delphi?

Delphi responded to the demand by proposing the appropriate technologies and launching its family of ethanol-friendly products.

Delphi has been manufacturing fuel injection systems for gasoline engines since the late 1950s. Currently, Delphi produces 130,000 port fuel injectors per day. We began working with ethanol fuel in the late 1980s to support the Brazilian auto industry's move to use ethanol made from locally-grown sugar cane as fuel. By 1991, Delphi was supplying fuel systems for vehicles that could run on E100 in Brazil.

E85-compatible vehicles, specifically 4-cylinder compact pickup trucks, equipped with Delphi technology debuted in the U.S. market in 2000. This was the first E85 flex fuel injector for the U.S. market. Since that time, Delphi has supplied its E85-compatible technology to more than 2 million vehicles in the United States.

Delphi's improved Multec 3.5 E85 flex fuel injector is unique in that it is constructed and sized to permit the use of flexible fuel; that is, it can run on either 100 percent gasoline or a blend of gasoline and ethanol, up to 85 percent ethanol. In addition, an optimized set of materials was chosen to provide the required resistance to ethanol corrosion, which is also simpler and less expensive than previous generations.

Improvements were also made for increased flow capacity. Because ethanol contains 30 percent less energy than gasoline, meeting the fuel requirements of a flex fuel engine requires an injector capable of flowing 30 percent more ethanol than gasoline fuel to the engine, while still being able to maintain low idle-speed fuel required for gasoline operation (high linear flow range). This helps minimize cost and, more importantly, aligns with our energy strategy in North America — where the use of E85 fuel systems is targeted — to promote transportation products which will relieve our dependence on foreign oil and minimize the generation of carbon dioxide.

Today, Delphi's ethanol-friendly products include: fuel injection systems, electronics and software and fuel modules.

Now that validation is complete, Delphi will work with our customer on the development of their specific requirements and validation against those requirements. Development of the necessary manufacturing processes are also underway.