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Push-Button Power: Cleetus Tests Out An On-Demand Electric Turbocharger!


Push-Button Power: Cleetus Tests Out An On-Demand Electric Turbocharger!

Here’s a fun trivia question: what do the V8 Interceptor from “Mad Max” and Dom Toretto’s Charger from the Fast and Furious franchise have in common? Fake-ass boost! Both of the movie cars had faked blowers. The Falcon’s was simply a gutted Weiand case that had nothing in it, but Toretto’s Charger had an electric water pump that spun the gear. But let’s look at Max’s setup one more time, because it’ll make more sense: in the movie, a flip of a toggle switch turned the blower on and when he flipped the switch, the Falcon gained a serious anger issue. This kind of thinking has led to people wondering if boost-on-command systems could be viable. Think about it: a supercharger or a turbocharger both require heavy modifications to work properly and both become major attachments to the engine. Either you scavenge exhaust gases and hope for the best or you take horsepower to make horsepower for a blower. Why can’t you just have power at the push of a button?

Cleetus might be looking at a solution. It’s called “Torqamp”, and for simplification purposes, it’s an electronic turbocharger. It works off of the same basic idea as an electric leaf blower: charge battery pack, hit button, and if you run out of juice before you recharge the battery up, you’re out of luck. It’s intriguing technology, but does it actually work? Well, to find out they have a rental car-spec Chevy Cobalt four-door that isn’t anything to crow about and the know-how to get everything bolted up. They have a dyno for hard figures and a section of road to get that seat-of-the-pants feel. Spoofware or actual option? You be the judge!


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5 thoughts on “Push-Button Power: Cleetus Tests Out An On-Demand Electric Turbocharger!

  1. thefatguy

    that’s AMAZING…I don’t know if its $2500+ amazing,
    but still–I cant believe how well it works! just crazy.

  2. nathan lee

    mad max toggle is from two speed diff . have not watched vid , but electric clutches are more common .

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