Today's vehicles grow in complexity with every passing year.

Oxygen sensors, catalytic converters, engine control modules, and engines

themselves constantly undergo improvements to help vehicles operate

more efficiently.

One of the more recent and significant trends happening today is the growing use

of gasoline direct injection engines.

Let's explore why direct injection engines are a hot topic today.

A direct injection engine uses a different approach to deliver fuel to

the cylinder.

As an alternative to the port fuel injector, which delivers fuel past the

cylinder's intake valve,

the direct injection engine has fuel injectors that spray fuel directly

into the combustion chamber.

The gasoline direct injection engine is part of a long history of sophisticated

and innovative evolutions in the industry, all geared toward common goals:

Achieving better fuel economy.

Lowering emissions.

Increasing engine power.

In 1885,

Karl Benz invented the carburetor, which mixed liquid gasoline with air to form

a vapor that would combust and fuel the car.

For nearly a century, the carburetor was used and constantly improved on by the

automotive industry.

But starting in the 1980's, regulatory changes in admissions and

new customer expectations began driving changes to technology.

Governments set stringent limits on emissions, with specific requirements for

unburned fuel, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide emissions.

These restrictions initiated the use of the catalytic converter, which is still

used today to clean tailpipe emissions.

In addition, fuel injection was introduced as a more efficient method of

controlling fuel flow and ensuring small droplets.

Today, gasoline direct injection engines use the next generation fuel injector,

enabling engines to run leaner, with higher compression ratios, and with more power,

but while using less gasoline. Like many of today's sophisticated components,

gasoline direct injection engines work through complex computer-controlled

technologies to achieve the tightest of tolerances to deliver just the right

amounts of fuels.

These complex new technologies require fuels to evolve at a similar pace.

When injectors experience higher temperatures and pressures, it's just

that much more important to keep them functioning properly.

The right combination of advanced fuel additives are critical in keeping the

direct injection engine clean and efficient,

delivering the right quantity of fuel at the right time in the right position in

the cylinder.