Cars have become more powerful despite getting smaller engines due to turbochargers. But how does it do that?

Turbochargers have been around for quite a while. Believe it or not, General Motors was the first to introduce turbos for their vehicles in 1962 with the Oldsmobile Turbo Jetfire. Turbos add tons of power without requiring a bigger engine, and it works off the same exhaust gases your vehicle already produces.

Turbos are brilliant achievements of engineering that have quickly proliferated across the automotive industry. It started as a rare performance upgrade limited to high-end luxury and sports cars but is now a ubiquitous add-on that increases efficiency.

Read on to find out more about how turbos work.

Turbochargers date back to 1905, when Alfred Buchi was granted a patent for an early turbocharger. It's amazing how the technology dates back more than a century, especially considering how much of a boom turbochargers are experiencing now.

Interestingly enough, early turbos were developed with an airplane's performance in mind. Internal combustion engines use air and fuel ignited in the motor's combustion chamber down on the piston, allowing the motor to generate power.

Before turbos, the only way to increase an engine's power was to increase displacement. By making the combustion chamber physically bigger and expanding the entire motor, or by adding more cylinders, engine manufacturers can burn more fuel and air, thus increasing the engine's power output. That's why the famous saying "there's no replacement for displacement" became a staple in the automotive world.

But, there's a more efficient way to add power without having to increase displacement: turbochargers. These devices allow an engine to generate more power without physically increasing displacement, proving there is absolutely a replacement for displacement.

The best high-performance EVs prove the saying wrong as well. One example is the ultra-quick Lucid Air, which is faster than classic V8 muscle cars while running on electrons.

Simply put, a turbocharger is an air compressor powered by the engine's exhaust gases. This compressor allows the engine to gulp in more air, thus allowing the engine to put more fuel in the combustion chamber without adding more displacement. In the case of aircraft, turbochargers are a very convenient application.

As a plane continues to climb, the air becomes less dense; thus, the same engine will make less power at higher altitudes than it did closer to sea level. This is a huge problem, but turbochargers provide a great solution.

Turbochargers added to aircraft engines allow more air to be pushed into the engine than would normally be possible at high altitudes, solving the issue of power loss when flying. Like naturally-aspirated (NA) airplane engines, NA cars also suffer from performance loss at high altitudes compared to turbocharged engines.

Turbochargers are air compressors, so as the name implies, a turbo does one job: compress air and stuff it into the engine. The way it accomplishes this task is relatively simple. An engine produces exhaust gases due to the combustion that powers the vehicle, and turbos use this combustion to power a turbine which eventually leads to the compression of air shoved into the engine.

The great thing about a turbo is that it recycles exhaust gases to power the compressor mechanism. Turbos are divided into two halves: the hot region, in contact with the exhaust gases, and the cold region.

What this means is that one of the halves (the hot one) is connected to the exhaust manifold. As hot air is displaced from the engine, it spins a turbine contained in the hot half of the turbocharger, which in turn spins the compressor fan housed in the cold region of the turbo.

These two spinning elements are connected through a shaft, which allows the hot side turbine to spin the cold side compressor as the exhaust gases come rushing in. As this process occurs, the turbocharger's hot side begins to glow red-hot, which is why turbochargers are often seen with one side all rusty and the other pristine.

This is due to the extreme temperatures the hot area of the turbo experiences from the exhaust gases. The exhaust gases allow the cold side compressor to spin and suck in air, compressing it and shoving it back into the engine. This produces more power in theory.

However, compressing the air also generates heat, which negates the benefits of the compressor. The solution is to add an intercooler between the turbocharger and the intake manifold. This allows the air entering the combustion chamber to cool down, increasing performance. That's why you see some turbocharged cars with hood scoops, which use the passing air to cool the compressed air.

Turbochargers might present some lag as the turbo spools up. That's because it needs exhaust gases to get it up to speed before it can actually provide boost to the engine. Some aftermarket car part companies also make anti-lag systems to solve the lag issue. However, they're expensive and are usually only used by professional racing teams.

Wastegates are also essential components that allow air pressure to be liberated before it spins the turbine, preventing catastrophic engine failure. If wastegates weren't present in turbocharger systems, the engine could potentially over-spin the turbine and push too much pressure into the engine bay. This is a completely unwanted scenario that could result in catastrophic engine failure.

Manufacturers have adopted turbocharging across the board in their vehicle lineups, primarily for efficiency. Nevertheless, enthusiasts still think of turbos as their go-to source for added power in your vehicle.

Thanks to turbochargers, modern four-cylinder engines perform about as well as old-school V8s in terms of power while delivering better gas mileage numbers. Many manufacturers have turned to turbocharging their vehicles as of late—even Ford added downsized turbocharged engines to their F-150 pickup trucks to make them more efficient.

The verdict is still out on whether these engines are better or more durable than bigger displacement engines. But, one thing is sure: with the onslaught of hybrid cars and EVs, even turbos might be unable to save the internal combustion engine.

Alex is a major car nerd who loves programming, writing and playing the piano. He graduated with a bachelor's in Computer Science and currently enjoys freelance writing full-time.

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