The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) is an automatic transmission setup that uses no set gear ratios to give us optimal power and performance from our vehicles. These transmissions were developed originally to increase the fuel mileage we receive from our smaller cars, and they have worked perfectly over the years. While these transmissions have a place in the industry and have been great for giving us more for less, the advances made in traditional automatic transmissions have started to make it so the CVT is becoming obsolete. That being said, there may be a better way to use the CVT that will keep it around for a while longer.
What would happen if we used a CVT for the purpose of increasing engine performance rather than as a way to get power to the wheels of a car? That was the question British transmission specialist Torotrak set out to answer and what they discovered and came up with could be the CVT that we see in the future, causing other parts of the engine to become obsolete instead. Their use of the CVT could replace the turbocharger or supercharger under the hood of cars in the future.
What Torotrak was able to come up with is nothing short of genius. This new CVT is spun by a belt which is connected to the engine’s accessory drive system. This means the power is put to the engine to help boost the performance. In this setup there is also a conventional transmission included to help make sure the power from the engine is put to the wheels. This new CVT setup can get through the ratio of gears in very little time with a ten to one ratio which only takes 0.4 seconds to get through the gears.
This new CVT setup is being called the V-Charge and it is quieter than a supercharger and cooler than a turbocharger. This system takes only ten watts of electrical power to operate versus the 48 volts needed for electrically powered superchargers. The new V-Charge system can spin between 10,000 and 100,000 rpm in a way that will push more power into the engine and give the engine much better overall performance to make it easier to have improved fuel mileage and increased power under the hood. Another beautiful part of this system is the fact it only weighs 13.2 pounds, making only a small increase is weight to any vehicle it’s added to.
Is this system the future of automotive technology? With the current backing of the British Government and Ford Motor Company, the Torotrak V-Charge technology is expected to be licensed to be used in regular production of vehicles and will not be sold as an additional item you can put in your vehicle. Which automaker will most likely start putting this V-Charge system under the hood? That’s yet to be determined, but you can bet Ford will have first crack at it since they are one of the partners to develop this new item.
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