Harvester Gas Engine Fuel Octane Rating

[Jrgunn5150]

The idea that the Harvester will utilize some wild and zany engine architecture is hilarious.

It takes less than 50 hp to run the genset needed to produce the electricity needed for the stated range extension.

It's just going to be some off the shelf industrial thing, meant to sit and run on the governor all day on cheap fuel.

And higher octane fuel burns slower, thusly reducing knock. There's nothing "better" about it, if you do have some zany architecture that can advance cam timing, increase boost, etc, there are gains in HP from higher octane. If you have a tractor engine, it will never know the difference.

 

[timmyhil]

The idea that the Harvester will utilize some wild and zany engine architecture is hilarious.

It takes less than 50 hp to run the genset needed to produce the electricity needed for the stated range extension.

It's just going to be some off the shelf industrial thing, meant to sit and run on the governor all day on cheap fuel.

And higher octane fuel burns slower, thusly reducing knock. There's nothing "better" about it, if you do have some zany architecture that can advance cam timing, increase boost, etc, there are gains in HP from higher octane. If you have a tractor engine, it will never know the difference.

Idk about if it will be an off the shelf generator. Jamie from Scout has said it will be a engine from VW s parts bin and it will most likely a 4cyl. Most VW engines do run Regular.

 

[timmyhil]

Sounds like the schooling is run by the oil industry so they can sell gas that costs 70 cents more per gallon lol

Usually they are. Since we mainly work on Engines now we are slowly getting more training on EVs

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Idk about if it will be an off the shelf generator. Jamie from Scout has said it will be a engine from VW s parts bin and it will most likely a 4cyl. Most VW engines do run Regular.

If it's from VW, it's going to be the smallest 3 cylinder TSI, which even at like 60hp, is more than enough to run the genhead needed for the range extender.

They're also super compact.

The V10 TDI would be neato and all that, but companies don't make successful launches by overkilling their design goals for funsies.

 

[MrZappo]

Absolutely no reason it'd take premium

Other than all of the reasons it could.

Turbo, higher compression? Aren't these reasons ? Since we have no idea which engine yet ?

 

[blmtnc]

Premium may also be recommended due to the extended time the generator may not be run. Higher octane fuel will buy more time before 'old gas' with lower octane may cause damage.

Is why I use only ethanol free in my Volt, which will be more important than octane rating and additive package in terms of long term storage staleness.

 

[hozer]

Other than all of the reasons it could.

Turbo, higher compression? Aren't these reasons ? Since we have no idea which engine yet ?

It's being used to charge a battery. If your engine needs premium to produce electricity. Enormous wiff, should be able to run on farm gas like 99.99% of ICE generators do.

It's not going to run compression that requires premium, promise

 

[timmyhil]

It's being used to charge a battery. If your engine needs premium to produce electricity. Enormous wiff, should be able to run on farm gas like 99.99% of ICE generators do.

It's not going to run compression that requires premium, promise

Ya never know what they have planned. BMW i3 REX used premium and it had no tubro.

 

[blmtnc]

It's being used to charge a battery. If your engine needs premium to produce electricity. Enormous wiff, should be able to run on farm gas like 99.99% of ICE generators do.

It's not going to run compression that requires premium, promise

It's really going to depend on the engine configuration. If they go with a "larger" displacement naturally aspirated triple or four there's no reason the octane requirement should exceed 87, especially in an application like this. But, if they do something weird and run a micro displacement turbo triple with high enough boost, it'll need 91. I don't think this is the route they'll go, especially given the application, but time will tell.

 

[blmtnc]

Ya never know what they have planned. BMW i3 REX used premium and it had no tubro.

What compression ratio did that engine have? Wasn't it derived from a parallel twin motorcycle engine? I know all the bikes I've ever owned needed 90 or better. Combination of compression ratio and RPM operating range driving that requirement.

 

[timmyhil]

What compression ratio did that engine have? Wasn't it derived from a parallel twin motorcycle engine? I know all the bikes I've ever owned needed 90 or better. Combination of compression ratio and RPM operating range driving that requirement.

10.6:1 compression ratio

 

[blmtnc]

10.6:1 compression ratio

Interesting, that alone with digital engine management wouldn't mandate premium. I wonder what BMW's reasoning was on the requirement.

 

[timmyhil]

Interesting, that alone with digital engine management wouldn't mandate premium. I wonder what BMW's reasoning was on the requirement.

“A BMW REx (Range Extender) typically requires premium gasoline because most BMW engines are designed to operate optimally with higher octane fuel, which helps prevent engine knocking and ensures smooth performance, especially in the small, high-revving engine used in the range extender, which can be sensitive to lower octane fuel quality.”

Had to look it up my self. Even though i work on them ever once and awhile. I do know that some REx Engines did use regular depended on what year.

 

[blmtnc]

“A BMW REx (Range Extender) typically requires premium gasoline because most BMW engines are designed to operate optimally with higher octane fuel, which helps prevent engine knocking and ensures smooth performance, especially in the small, high-revving engine used in the range extender, which can be sensitive to lower octane fuel quality.”

Had to look it up my self. Even though i work on them ever once and awhile. I do know that some REx Engines did use regular depended on what year.

"High revving", back to the motorcycle comparisons. If they're regularly running that engine over 8K RPM then mandating premium with that compression ratio is a hedge against someone putting regular in there that may not be advertised octane or otherwise contaminated that lowers octane rating. Provides some margin to preserve the engine and avoid warranty claims I'm guessing vs. being a hard requirement. Unless they're zinging that engine to 10K RPM.

 

[timmyhil]

"High revving", back to the motorcycle comparisons. If they're regularly running that engine over 8K RPM then mandating premium with that compression ratio is a hedge against someone putting regular in there that may not be advertised octane or otherwise contaminated that lowers octane rating. Provides some margin to preserve the engine and avoid warranty claims I'm guessing vs. being a hard requirement. Unless they're zinging that engine to 10K RPM.

Shockingly its only 4,300rpm when generating.