The Saab 9-4X crossover concept is important as an example of the best current thinking on using bioethanol as an alternative fuel. Saab’s turbocharged engines, that run as well on ethanol based E85 as gasoline, put the company at the forefront of the debate over using ethanol as a fuel for transport. At the Detroit Motor Show, the concept served as the introduction to General Motor’s announcement that it has invested in a company that claims to have a process to make ethanol from industrial and agricultural waste at a cost of USD 1 (RMB 7.2) per gallon.

The BioPower engine

The 9-4X BioPower engine is a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine with a head and block of cast aluminium. The chain-driven dual overhead camshafts drive four valves per cylinder, with variable valve thming. The twin-scrolled turbocharger produces a maximum boost pressure of 1.2 bar, and the direct-injection engine makes a maximum of 400Nm torque on E85 and 353Nm with gasoline. E85’s higher octane rating allows a higher compression ratio, 10.5:1 on E85, compared with 9.2:1 when gasoline is used.

Saab says its current BioPower models are the best selling flexible fuel vehicles in Europe, although aside from the Scandinavian countries, E85 is difficult to find. Early enthusiasm for the fuel has been dampened by a variety of concerns: making ethanol from cereal crops like corn puts fuel in competition with food. In addition, it takes nearly as much energy to produce ethanol as the ethanol has in it, and water suppliers are threatened in some areas. Only in Brazil, where sugar cane is used as the source, is ethanol currently economically viable.

However, General Motors announced its investment in Coskata, a start-up company that intends to produce 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol from agricultural and industrial waste at a commercial plant by 2011. The company will use one-fourth of the water now used, and produce 7.7 units of energy for each energy unit used.

“In the future, using bioethanol produced from cellulose has the potential to significantly reduce the CO₂ emissions on a source-to-wheel basis compared to only using gasoline,” says Saab.

But for Saab, the new silhouette is also important for expanding its production volume and remaining as an active brand in the world. Carl-Peter Forster, the president of GM Europe,says there will be a “significant product expansion for the brand in the coming years”;while Jan Ake Jonsson, managing director of Saab Automobile, says:”Our target is to have the Saab brand represented in all major segments of the market.”

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萨博9-4X crossover概念车的重要性在于它是使用生物乙醇作为替代燃料的想法的杰出代表。萨博的涡轮增压发动机既可以使用汽油也可以使用基于E85的乙醇作为燃料，这使得公司一跃站上了使用乙醇作为运输燃料争论的前线。在这次底特律汽车展上，这款概念车配合着通用汽车公司的一项申明登场，申明申称通用公司已经对一家公司进行了投资，该公司宣称已经掌握了以每加仑1美元（7.2元人民币）的成本利用工业或农业废料生产乙醇的工艺技术。

生物能源发动机

9－4X生物能源发动机（BioPower engine）是一款2.0升四缸发动机，缸体缸盖由铝铸成。链传动的双顶置凸轮轴驱动着每缸四个气门，具有可变气门正时功能。双涡卷涡轮增压器（twin-scrolled turbocharger）能够产生最大1.2巴的推进力。缸内直喷技术使得在使用E85燃料和汽油情况下分别能够产生最大400Nm和353Nm的转矩。E85较高的辛烷值允许更高的压缩比，使用E85和汽油的压缩比分别是10.5：1和9.2：1。

萨博公司称它现在的生物燃料模型是欧洲最热销的可变燃料汽车，尽管除了斯堪的纳维亚国家以外，很难获到E85。早期对于燃料的渴求已经慢慢被各种问题所困扰：以玉米等粮食作物为原料制造乙醇使燃料和食物之间的取舍发生了矛盾。另外，制造乙醇需要的能量几乎相当，水源供应在某些地区也成问题。只有在巴西将甘蔗作为原料乙醇制造才有利可图。

然而，通用汽车公司宣布了它在Coskata公司的投资，这是一家刚起步的公司，预计到2011年利用农业和工业废料能够生产5000万到一亿加仑的乙醇。公司将使用现在用水量的四分之一，并且每使用一单位能量将产生7.7单位的能量。

“和单纯使用汽油相比，未来使用纤维素制造的生物乙醇可以从原料端到使用端（ource-to-wheel）降低CO₂ 排放，具有巨大的潜力。”萨博公司说。

但是对于萨博来说，新的蓝图也很重要，公司需要扩大产能，还保持品牌活跃。通用欧洲总裁Carl-Peter Forster谈到“未来几年中这个品牌将飞速扩张”；而萨博汽车公司的常务董事Jan Ake Jonsson也谈到：“我们的目标是让萨博这个品牌在各个主要的细分市场中占有一席之地。”