Supercharging has interesting roots (pun intended) in the automotive world. The idea of pressure-feeding air into an engine for a car is only a few years younger than the automobile itself. The first production examples were available on Mercedes models in 1922, and it has only become more popular since. As with many examples of technology, there were some interesting attempts at supercharging that didn’t last and ended up on the side of the long road that is automotive history. One such example is the Latham axial flow supercharger.

Supercharging an engine relies on the crankshaft to drive on a compressor that forces air into the intake, effectively increasing the volumetric efficiency of the engine by cramming more air into the cylinders than it would pull in on its own during the vacuum created by the intake stroke. The most common forms of superchargers are centrifugal, roots, screw, and scroll. Before the market settled on the common types we’re familiar with today, there were several efforts to create the next best thing. Norman Latham of West Palm Beach, Florida, hoped his new product would be a must-have performance bolt-on.

Latham’s idea was to create an axial supercharger. This is essentially a turbine, where the supercharger housing contains “fans” that can create positive manifold pressure. Latham’s design went into production in 1956 and was sold until 1965. It was radically different than a roots or centrifugal supercharger, yet also combined a few of the better parts of each. A centrifugal supercharger was a bear to tune 70 years ago because carburetors were still the most popular way of mixing the air and fuel entering an engine.

Carburetors rely on the incoming air to pull in the fuel into the airstream from the float bowl. If the throat of the carburetor is under pressure rather than vacuum, that fuel draw doesn’t work very well. This made centrifugal superchargers finicky. Roots-style blowers could more effectively be set up to draw air through carburetors, but the size and location made packaging tough. Latham used the long and low design of the axial supercharger to put the blower low and further forward with the carbs off to the side, keeping a lower profile. The air and fuel are drawn in through two or four carbs, depending on the model, before being compressed through the turbine and then fed into the intake manifold.

The problem is that axial compressors tend to be less efficient than the more popular styles of supercharging. Their peak efficiency orrurs during a very narrow window and prefer steady-state running at that speed rather than changing RPM quickly like most automotive engines tend to do. It was a solution, but we know now that it was not the best solution.

The design still caught people’s attention though. After an eight-page spread in the June 1956 issue of Hot Rod things seemed to take off. Over 600 Latham superchargers were built and are now highly sought after. The company was sold in 1982 and transitioned to producing a modern interpretation of the axial design. The vintage units stand as an interesting reminder of the times when its innovation was almost as rapid as the cars it was going into.

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Once limited to high-performance cars and airplanes, turbocharging has since become as ordinary as power seats. So much so that few customers using the technology every day understand what it is, how it works, or how it differs from its boosted cousin: supercharging. Boost is shorthand for the positive combustion chamber pressure created by a turbocharger or supercharger. Also known as forced induction, the point of this process is to direct additional air into the engine. More air means there can be more combustible fuel, all of which leads to more power.

My dad gave me his zippy red 2009 Chevrolet HHR SS, which features a boost gauge on the A-pillar. It’s fun to watch the boost gauge spike as the turbocharged 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine kicks out 260 horsepower. It made me wonder: How did boost start? Where is it going now that electric vehicles are in the mix? Let’s find out.

But first, why does boost matter?

The point of boost, regardless of its form, is to increase power and/or torque. And for a lot of people, boost is synonymous with high performance for its own sake. Going fast is, in a word, fun.

Speed releases adrenaline, the hormone that causes your heart to beat faster and blood vessels to send more blood to your brain and body. If it sounds kind of like falling in love, that’s because it is. Popular culture reinforces this connection, from the Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider to the Fast & Furious franchise.

“Speed is something that has a very positive value in our society and if you look at car commercials, you can see the emphasis placed on going fast,” Leon James, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, told NPR. “So in a lot of movies and lyric songs, children are exposed to that … it is the fact that we are culturally trained to have this relationship with speeding.”

When it comes to boost, though, turbocharging an engine isn’t all about power. Initially, inventors and engineers worked toward making engines more efficient, and in the case of aircraft, less prone to loss of power at altitude.

How superchargers and turbochargers got their start in aviation

The first attempt to use forced induction in a combustion engine dates back to 1885, when Gottlieb Daimler patented what would now be called a supercharger. Early production automobiles, however, generally only employed natural aspiration—intake air with pressure equal to that of the atmosphere. Once forced induction technology truly arrived and sufficiently evolved in aviation, it was appropriated for use on the road.

Swiss engineer Alfred Buchi filed a patent in 1905 for a unit that forced air into a diesel engine with a compressor driven by exhaust gasses. Twenty years later, Buchi showed that his turbocharging system could create a power increase of more than 40 percent. Meanwhile, turbochargers (then called turbo-superchargers) were applied to large marine diesel engines. In 1923, two German passenger liners were outfitted with turbodiesels and demonstrated the utility of this technology.

“The ships’ 10-cylinder engines were able to muster 2,500 hp, while their normally aspirated counterparts could only produce 1,750 hp,” John Lehenbauer wrote for Motor Trend.

In the same era, an engineer named Sanford Alexander Moss and his team mounted a turbocharged V-12 and a dynamometer on the bed of a Packard truck. In 1918, they shipped the entire rig from Dayton, Ohio to Colorado Springs, Colorado and drove the truck 23 miles up the then-unpaved Pikes Peak Auto Highway. Once they reached the summit, Dr. Moss and the crew started testing the turbo V-12 setup at 14,000 feet above sea level to show how turbocharging counters power loss at high altitudes.

“Moss’s experiments decisively proved the merits of turbocharging,” Don Sherman wrote for Hagerty in 2022. “Baseline sea-level tests conducted at McCook had the Liberty producing a maximum of 354 hp at 1800 rpm. Atop Pikes Peak and without the turbo, output plummeted to 230 hp.”

Two years later, in 1920, a turbocharged 12-cylinder Liberty was installed in a Le Pere biplane and successfully flown to 33,000 feet. While the technology advanced too late for use in the First World War (1914–1918), fighter and bomber planes were subsequently built with turbochargers and set off into the skies en masse during the Second World War, faster and more efficient than before.

The birth of boost in cars

Technically, both superchargers and turbochargers are air compressors that push more oxygen—a key ingredient of combustion—into the powerplant. A supercharger is positioned in front of the internal combustion process, as part of the intake, and is driven by a belt from the engine’s crankshaft. It spins, creating a vacuum that pulls and squeezes air into the engine on its intake stroke. This air movement, in part, accounts for the high-pitched whistling sound typically described as a whine.

A turbocharger operates on a similar principle, instead using the car’s exhaust stream to spin a turbine. The turbine’s action then produces compressed air for the intake.

Turbochargers are generally more efficient [than superchargers], as the source of energy for the compressor of a turbocharger is the turbine versus the crankshaft. Powering the supercharger (via a belt) requires some power draw, while the turbine of a turbocharger is placed in the exhaust system where this energy is mostly otherwise released out of the tailpipe.

The 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire Rocket not only has one of the coolest names in car history, it was the first production passenger car with a turbocharger. The unit was a bit high maintenance, however, requiring a half methanol/half distilled water injection between the carburetor and the turbo to run properly. Unfortunately, the Jetfire Rocket only lasted one year, but it and the turbo ’62 Corvair Monza made a big impression.

By the 1970s, turbochargers gradually became more predictable and reliable, and Formula 1 picked up the scent. The relationship between turbo boost and racing is probably the most prevalent reason we associate turbos with primarily with performance.

Widely known as the “godfather of turbo,” Gale Banks experimented with turbocharging marine and car engines throughout the 1970s, kicking off an aftermarket craze for GM’s 6.2-liter diesel and influencing the genesis of the Buick Grand National. A long time land speed racer, his engineering pushed the twin-turbo, big-block “Sundowner” 1968 Chevrolet Corvette to 240.738 miles per hour at Bonneville in 1982, laying claim to the title of “world’s fastest passenger car.”

Eventually, the technology trickled down, and for the 1989 model year even Chrysler minivans boasted a turbocharged four-cylinder.

High performance, but also high efficiency

Turbocharging is useful for performance, but it can also be a boon in pursuit of fuel economy and efficiency. Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained, er, explains it this way:

“The benefits [of using a turbo] are very real: The engine is smaller, it weighs less, it has [fewer] moving parts, you’ve got less friction, you’ve got less pumping loss,” he says. “So depending on the loading scenario on that engine and how you’re driving it, you can actually get really good fuel economy with small turbocharged engines.”

During the oil crisis of the 1970s, the automotive industry pursued turbos in earnest as a way to meet regulatory demands for improved fuel economy figures. By 1978, Mercedes-Benz launched the 300DS with a relatively fuel-efficient turbodiesel, all in a luxury package. Today, even mainstream cars from the Ford Escape to the Honda Civic use turbocharged engines to maximize performance and continually improve EPA-rated fuel economy.

There is, however, a misconception when it comes to turbocharged vehicles and fuel efficiency, says Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group. Taking a naturally aspirated engine and simply adding a turbocharger on it will not improve fuel efficiency, the company says. The key is to also downsize the engine’s displacement; for example, if you compare a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder to a turbocharged 1.4-liter, the smaller engine could potentially match the performance figures of the larger non-turbo setup and still consume less fuel.

Turbo cars of today are much smoother and more drivable than many from the past. Jeep’s engineering team says that’s due to myriad advancements in turbomachinery, in addition to improvements concerning the rest of the powertrain geometry.

“Turbocharger-specific items such as VGT (variable turbine)/twin scroll turbines, low inertia rotor groups, and electric actuation are significant contributors,” said Michael Schmidt, a Stellantis engineer. “This reduces turbo lag and allows for torque generation at much lower revolutions per minute, preventing downshifts, (quicker/smoother/more linear response).”

Toyota’s chief engineer Sheldon Brown further contextualizes the evolution of turbos” “In the past, turbos were big and gave a performance boost later during the acceleration (lag),” Brown says. “Modern turbos are optimized to a smaller size with smoother air delivery to the chamber. Together with small transmission gear steps (8- and 10-speeds) they can provide smooth driving performance that feels like a large displacement engine, with the fuel economy and emissions performance of a smaller engine.”

Bursts of boost

Sometimes, a burst of speed is necessary—when passing, for example, or merging onto a highway. In these situations, anemic powerplants (not naming any names here) can struggle to summon sufficient power on demand for necessary maneuvers. Electric motors have changed the game in that aspect, since this technology provides near-immediate torque at low rpm.

Engineers specializing in EVs are now adapting to consumers’ expectations of “boost” by playing with electric motor software. Press the brightly colored Boost button on the steering wheel of a new Genesis GV60, and the all-electric system snaps the leash off the dual motors. For a glorious, hair-ruffling ten seconds, the GV60 gooses the horsepower from 429 to 483 and the torque jumps from 479 lb-ft to 516 lb-ft.

It’s not just pure-electric cars that can enjoy this benefit, however. The new Dodge Hornet R/T, a plug-in hybrid, includes a “PowerShot” feature, which gifts the driver a temporary boost of 30 horsepower from the rear-axle electric motor if they pull both shift paddles while in Sport mode and press the accelerator past the detent.

For something a little more extreme, pick any movie from the Fast & Furious series to witness the ludicrous boost from a tank (or ten) of nitrous oxide. Even casual drag racers might install nitrous, which splits into oxygen and nitrogen, adding more oxygen to the combustion process.

HowStuffWorks explains: “Nitrous oxide has another effect that improves performance even more. When it vaporizes, nitrous oxide provides a significant cooling effect on the intake air. When you reduce the intake air temperature, you increase the air’s density, and this provides even more oxygen inside the cylinder.”

Speaking of temperature, an intercooler plays an important role in any forced-induction setup, sending compressed air through a series of fins and coils to lower its temperature. Stuffing more air into an engine has consequences, after all, and the intercooler keeps the environment from overheating.

“If you take a plastic bag and close it with some air and squeeze it but don’t pop it, what do you notice?” asks Schmidt. “It gets hot! This is a downside to compressing air, and engines do not like hot air. They can make more power when they are fed colder/denser air; this is why we use intercoolers.”

What’s next? If the current crop of high-powered gas and electric cars are any indication, people still want big power and performance. For bursts of speed on demand, software is an invaluable tool. In the Kia EV6 GT for example, toggling between drive modes changes the dynamic significantly: Eco mode keeps it mild at 286 hp, while Sport can kick out as much as 429 hp. Down the line, as engineers figure out how to make EVs more efficient, charge more quickly, and go further, we’d bet that the nature of speed—and bursts of it—will continue to evolve.

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Hennessey’s new supercharger kit boosts C8 Corvette to 708 hp

Intake: Texas tuner John Hennessey has released a supercharger package that boosts the Chevrolet Corvette C8 to levels that, he says, surpass the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. The C8 Corvette Stingray coupe is shipped with an LT2 6.2-liter V-8 engine that, in stock form, delivers 490 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. To “unleash the untapped potential of the American small-block V-8,” Hennessey’s team fits a high-flow centrifugal supercharger, an air induction system with an air-to-water intercooler, and an optional enhanced cat-back exhaust. Completed with updated high-performance engine software, the “H700” pumps out 708 hp and 638 lb-ft—a 44 percent increase in horsepower and a 37 percent increase in torque over the factory rating. In terms of power output, Hennessey says the supercharged H700 Corvette C8 Stingray even outshines Chevrolet’s flagship C8 Z06, whose naturally-aspirated, 5.5-liter LT6 flat-plane crank V-8 engine produces 670 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque.

Exhaust: The complete Hennessey Supercharged H700 Corvette C8 Stingray upgrade package includes the supercharger, intercooler, engine tune, lightweight wheels, cat-back exhaust, and graphics priced at $49,950. Plus, of course, the car. A power-only package, with just the supercharger upgrade package and warranty, is offered for $34,950. Considering the price of a base C8 Corvette now rests at around $65,000, you’re looking at an all-in price of around $100,000. A base Z06 costs $106,395; which would you prefer?  — Steven Cole Smith

Nissan targets 2028 for EV with solid-state batteries

Intake: Nissan wants to produce electric vehicles with solid-state batteries by 2028, according to a new report from Autocar. The company is working on a pilot plant to produce the batteries by 2025 and intends to ramp up production by 2028 for the first application. Solid-state batteries will offer far superior energy density and much faster charging times, which should result in dramatically increased range and even less time spent charging while on the go. ‘We think we have something quite special and are in a group leading the [solid-state battery] technology,” said David Moss, Nissan’s senior vice-president of research and development in Europe while talking with Autocar.

Exhaust: Remember that bold convertible Nissan showed off a few days ago? Perhaps we’ll get one of those with a solid-state battery that promises 400-plus miles of range one day. The small electric pickup that Nissan is reportedly considering would also be a great candidate for the new battery tech. Nissan may be in a great position, but they’re not the only brand working on solid-state battery tech, as Car and Driver noted. Ford, BMW, Toyota, and a few others are also exploring what is widely considered to be the next big leap in battery technology—and those automakers might have it even earlier. — Nathan Petroelje

Ford has an engineering problem that’s crushing profitability, says CEO

Intake: Ford missed out on roughly $2 billion in profits last year, and CEO Jim Farley has been candid about the reasoning behind that. According to a report from Automotive News, Farley said that Ford currently has a glut of engineers relative to its competitors. “It takes us roughly 25 percent more engineers to do the same work statements as our competitors,” Farley said on Cars & Culture with Jason Stein, a Sirius XM radio show. The surplus personnel isn’t the only reason for missed profits, however; other avoidable expenses and supply chain issues also contributed to the scant bottom line. Farley has pledged to cut $2.5 billion in costs this year and said that job cuts are on the table, but he also told industry analysts that all options are on the table to help scrub costs out of the company, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Exhaust: Ford led the industry in total number of vehicles recalled in 2022, its second straight year atop a list that no automaker wants to rank high on. That Ford is apparently using 25 percent more engineers to make product decisions that still result in this many recalls is all the more troubling. Expect Ford to figure it out, but don’t expect it to be a swift or easy course correction. — Nathan Petroelje

Moto Morini gears up for U.S. return

Intake: Moto Morini, the storied Italian motorcycle maker, is in the process of recruiting dealers who would be ready to re-introduce the brand to America. Founded by Alfonso Morini back in 1937, the company first made its name with 125cc two- and four-stroke bikes, and by kick-starting the career of racing legend Giacomo Agostini. In the 1970s the company upsized with a range of  V-Twins, and the 350cc 3 1/2 gained a strong following. A decade later the business was in decline, however, and sold to Italian rival Cagiva. From there on it passed through several owners, and an early-2000s revival failed to take hold. Owned by China’s Zhongneng Vehicle Group since 2018, Moto Morini now offers two bikes: the classic naked Seiemmezzo (6 1/2) which comes in street and scrambler style, and the X-Cape adventurer. Both are powered by 61-hp, 650cc parallel twins and could be back on U.S. roads before the end of 2023.

Exhaust: “Moto Morini is ready to make an immediate and lasting impact in the American two-wheel market,” says the firm. Three decades after the name last appeared atop a dealership door in the U.S.A., it will be a big ask to get riders to consider Moto Morini as a serious Ducati alternative, but at least they seem to finally have the backing that will be required. — Nik Berg

New Mercedes-Benz eSprinter hints at electric vanlife of tomorrow

Intake: Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the new eSprinter, the first all-electric van that it will build for as many as 60 markets globally in the coming years. It’s the first electric Sprinter to reach American shores as well; Merc says it will arrive in the U.S. and Canada in the second half of 2023. Initially, it will be offered only in its largest configuration: a long wheelbase, high-roof cargo van that will fit the largest version of the Lithium/Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery on offer, a 113-kWh setup. Mercedes says that on a simulated WLTP test cycle, this configuration achieved a range of 248.5 miles and that on a simulated version of the WLTP city test program, it achieved 311 miles. You’ll be able to choose from two electric motors, the first good for 100 kW (134 hp) of peak output, the second good for 150 kW (201 hp) of peak power. Peak torque on both motors will be 295 lb-ft. The battery will be able to go from 10 percent to 80 percent full in just 42 minutes on a 115-kW DC fast charger, but you can also charge it using AC current at your home at a rate of up to 9.6 kW per hour. The new eSprinter will be produced in three locations: Charleston, South Carolina, Düsseldorf, Germany, and Ludwigsfelde, Germany.

Exhaust: While we’re just seeing the cargo van version right now, that impressive 488 cubic feet of space can easily be put to use by the enterprising folks that like to convert these boxes into rolling homes on wheels. Expect the all-electric vanlifers to be here before you know it. — Nathan Petroelje

Vinfast throttles back on U.S. plans

Intake: Vinfast, the Vietnamese auto manufacturer of electric SUVs that had big plans for the American market, appears to have dialed back. The company has cut 80 jobs in North America, including that of the chief financial officer, reports Bloomberg via Automotive News. Vinfast said the restructuring was aimed at “better serving customers in the region,” and that it has been working with local service providers to improve efficiency. “This also leads to the streamlining of our North American operations and there are certain departments affected by this,” the EV maker said in an email.

Exhaust: Maybe, but canning your CFO while you are planning an American IPO for the company, if indeed Vinfast still is, isn’t a confidence-inspiring move. They had planned to have nearly 1,000 Vinfast vehicles in the hands of consumers last November, but it has been delayed until late this month. – SCS

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Pressurizing the intake charge of an engine is a sure-fire way to make more power, and many enthusiasts will say there are two options for achieving this goal—turbocharger or supercharger. The fact of the matter, however, is there’s more nuance to it than that. Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained on YouTube dove into the minutia of four types of superchargers in his latest video.

In it, Fenske both compares and explains each of the four supercharger types. In his signature whiteboard style, he outlines how a roots, twin-screw, centrifugal, and electric (yes, really) supercharger functions. Despite accomplishing the same task, each does it slightly differently, and therefore there will forever be debate about which is best.

The first—and probably best-known—style is roots, which uses two rotors to capture air and pass it into the intake manifold. The second version is very similar to the roots design, but the rotors take a different shape. The twin-screw design evolves the roots design to shape the rotors into complimentary shapes so that the air is compressed as the rotors turn. Both of these designs are positive displacement, which means that they displace a fixed amount of air per revolution—and thus move the torque curve of an engine up across the board.

The other two variations on the supercharger theme are not positive displacement, meaning they take what the torque curve and make it a steeper slope as rpms climb. While it is technically two different types, the centrifugal and electrical are extremely similar. The key difference is the method of spinning the compressor wheel—either the engine’s crankshaft or an electric motor. The inefficiency of the electric supercharger is eclipsed by the convenience of having it spool up boost on demand—so long as you have a sufficient battery charge.

The debate on which is best will persist forever. The simple why-can’t-we-all-get-along response is that they are simply tools to accomplish specific tasks. Any toolbox should have more than one style of pliers, and when engineers have access to four types of superchargers, we enthusiasts stand a better chance of getting our hands on a factory car that whines when we hit the loud pedal. The aftermarket is no different. Determine which is best for your specific project and go out in the garage and get it installed.

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