US car giant Ford Motor Company has teamed up with UK vehicle technology specialist Torotrak (LON:TRK) to help its V-Charge project.
Torotrak has developed V-Charge to add more compressed air to smaller engines to emulate the performance of bigger engines.
This has become popular with car manufacturers as it reduces carbon dioxide emissions while retaining superior fuel economy.
The company will use Ford supplied engine models for practical studies to understand the potential of the technology having completed the simulation phase in conjunction with the University of Bath.
The next stage for V-Charge technology is for it to be assessed against competitor supercharger technology with joint evaluation from Ford engineers, Torotrak and the University of Bath.
Adam Robson, Torotrak's Chief Executive said: “A great deal of good work has been done to advance our technologies towards production and our engagement with commercial partners reflects the increasing interest in our low cost technology solutions.”
Torotrak also said it has made significant progress against the objectives set out in its half year report and expects to have at least £7.5mln available in cash when the financial year to 31 March report is released in June.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange Torotrak said it is likely it will need extra funding in 2015 and 2016 in order to fund existing projects.