Jonathan Fry: Bosch Alternative Fuel Concept Receives Brazilian Innovation Prize

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Bosch Alternative Fuel Concept Receives Brazilian Innovation Prize

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Flexible management system for engines fuelled by petrol or alcohol
Resource conserving, clean technology
Significantly lower CO2 emissions

Bosch has been awarded with the Brazilian Ministry for Science and Technology’s product innovation prize – The ‘Technological Innovation Finep Award’ – for the ‘Flex Fuel’ engine management system. The award-winning Flex Fuel technology, developed by Bosch, enables vehicles to be fuelled by petrol, alcohol or a mixture of the two. Dr Bernd Bohr, Chairman of the Bosch Automotive Group commented “We are particularly pleased by the award, because it acknowledges our strategy for developing clean, resource-conserving technologies for every region in the world.”

Two types of fuel, based on ethanol manufactured from locally grown sugar cane, are popular in Brazil: petrol containing 22 percent alcohol and nearly pure alcohol. The highly concentrated alcohol is more economical than the ethanol-petrol mixture. With the Bosch Flex Fuel system, it is possible to use either fuel, and so save money. The environment benefits from the use of ethanol as a fuel, due to significantly reduced emissions of the carbon dioxide (CO2)

The first mass-produced vehicle to incorporate the new Bosch engine management system was the Volkswagen Fox Total Flex, introduced in Brazil in 2003. In 2005, 10 new vehicles fitted with the Bosch system went into series production. During the same period, total sales of newly licensed vehicles capable of using either alcohol or petrol amounted to more than one million vehicles in Brazil – a market share of more than 70 percent.

Research Material:
The Bosch Group is a leading global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology. In fiscal 2004, some 242,000 employees generated sales of €40 billion. Set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering,” the Bosch Group today comprises a manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service network of some 260 subsidiaries and more than 10,000 service centres in over 130 countries.

The special ownership structure of the Bosch Group guarantees its financial independence and entrepreneurial freedom. It makes it possible for the company to undertake significant up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future, as well as to do justice to its social responsibility in a manner reflective of the spirit and will of its founder. The charitable foundation, Robert Bosch Stiftung, holds 92% of the shares of Robert Bosch GmbH. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG.

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