Subaru won’t be the only brand with ‘boxer’ engines for long, with Chinese giant BYD now looking at adding a flat-four to its repertoire.
In a video posted to Chinese social media website BiliBili, BYD’s engineers completed a teardown of a new turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, with two cylinder banks opposed 180-degrees from each other.
Designed to be used in vehicles underpinned by BYD’s quad electric motor ‘e4’ platform, the boxer engine provides advantages compared to a traditional vertically oriented inline four-cylinder engine.
The biggest plus for the boxer is its ability to be packaged low down in the car, providing a better centre of gravity and, in the case of a PHEV, potentially more storage space around where it is fitted.
According to CarNewsChina, the boxer engine has been tested in the BYD Yangwang U7 sedan, and is fitted within the front powertrain package, alongside two electric motors.
BYD claims the boxer engine is only slightly louder than the electric motors it sits between, while it also adopts racing-inspired features such as a dry sump, helping it to become even more compact.
While the engine’s primary role is to charge the onboard battery, CarNewsChina reports it can supply power directly to the wheels if needed, though specific outputs on how much it makes have yet to be detailed.
BYD’s adoption of the boxer engine effectively replaces Porsche, which had used a flat-four engine in the 718 Boxster and Cayman twins before the two models left production, ahead of going electric only.
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