BOSCH

Following the CPFL power plant, our next stop was BOSCH. Our visit was focused around the flex fuel engines that Bosch produces. Bosch specializes in a variety of products including household appliances, automotive parts, heating and hot water. As of 2011, it was named the worldwide leader in automotive components. From the start, this visit for me was the most interesting. Once we entered the first building at Bosch, we were able to see the different engines and innovations that they have worked on and are currently working on.

The map above shows the different areas of the world where Bosch has its sites. In person you can see the red dots with each location but it is not visible from the map!

Although we weren't allowed to take pictures, I snagged a photo of the planned flex fuel bike that Bosch is currently working on!

Before heading to Bosch, I was not really aware of what exactly a flex fuel engine was. Later on that day, I learned that a flex fuel engine is basically a way that cars can run on other forms of energy not only gas. Flex fuel engines mix ethanol and gasoline to allow the car to run. The downside to this however is that ethanol causes many problems. We learned that although ethanol is cleaner to burn than gasoline, the car does not have as much power than it would with gasoline. I also learned this during our presentations in class! During our tour, the Bosch representatives showed us different engines that they were working on to fix problems caused by flex fuel engines. One of these included the difficulty with burning ethanol in the cold. Because ethanol does not burn well, older flex fuel models were built with two tanks, one for ethanol and one for gasoline. Bosch however fixed this problem by creating a fuel injector that heats ethanol over a period of seconds. The fact that this fuel is made from renewable raw materials means that it has a notable positive impact on the carbon footprint. I also learned that Bosch develops flex fuels engines for cars in the U.S. Over the past few years, more cars in the U.S. have been created that run on gasoline blends of up to 85% ethanol. Bosch creates flex fuel engines for various markets, depending on the amount of ethanol each car can handle. Cars in Brazil can maintain 100% pure ethanol. Bosch's engine control unit automatically adjusts injection, ignition and other parameters to the respective ethanol admixture. When comparing flex fuel engines in the U.S. and Brazil, there are many significant differences. First off, flex engines in the U.S. are not that popular. Most gas stations do not offer ethanol and only about 40% of the vehicles in the U.S. have flex fuel engines. A surprising fact I learned was that most people don't even know that they have flex fuel engines.  Brazil on the other hand has about 90% of its vehicles equipped with flex fuel engines.Brazil as a country promotes the use of ethanol as an alternative energy produced from sugarcane and bagasse. Ethanol in Brazil is considered a profitable technology, also thanks to its location. The United States however is quite different because it is very expensive to produce sugarcane there hence why flex fuel engines are not as popular. The U.S. needs to come up with a different method of creating flex fuel engines, so we are not so dependent on gasoline. Flex fuel engines are overall a great idea however environmentally speaking, the fuels burned to create these engines are also harmful to the environment. Hopefully over the coming years, the problems with this form of energy can be altered. 

Here is a video on how the flex fuel engines work!

HOW IT ALL WORKS!