Ford's Hydrogen-Powered Engine Could Save The Mustang V8

If you thought that Ford was all-in on EVs and nothing else, you were wrong. The brand doesn't want to leave anything on the table, as evidenced by a recent patent filing. Moreover, these new patents could be a way to keep the combustion engine going for longer than anyone thought it would. It'd be hard to sell the Ford Mustang without that legendary V8 under the hood, and these patents could help.

The patent documents filed with the USPTO were first discovered by Muscle Cars & Trucks. In it, Ford describes a turbocharged combustion engine running on hydrogen, capable of running in various states and combustion air ratios. This system would create leaner operating ratios than a traditional gasoline engine, mitigating some of the detonation risks associated with hydrogen as a fuel.

The patent describes a direct injection motor, allowing the fuel and air intake to be controlled independently of one another. In doing this, the hydrogen could produce 15% more power than gasoline, theoretically. The engine design from Ford proposes using exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to manage the combustion process, adjusting the lambda value depending on whether more power or torque is needed. By controlling lambda - which is the value given to represent a fuel's ratio with oxygen to complete a full burn - Ford hopes to prevent pre-ignition (engine knock) and maximize the efficiency of hydrogen, which is a relatively volatile fuel source. A higher EGR would reduce temperatures within the combustion chamber, reducing the chances of pre-ignition and creating a richer air/fuel ratio resulting in more torque. The EGR would adjust under low-torque demand to result in a leaner fuel/air mixture and more efficient running.