The Bobcat engine is a new 5.0-liter V8 with gasoline port injection and turbocharging. A second set of direct injectors is used to feed a small amount of ethanol directly to the cylinders. The ethanol is used primarily for charge cooling, allowing the engine to run at higher boost and compression levels. It also allows the engine to run much leaner. Normally, running lean causes higher combustion temperatures, thus increasing production of NOx. However, the ethanol helps to alleviate the NOx by reducing combustion temperatures, and according to the data, Ford has been able to increase the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) of a prototype E85 DI V6 engine from the standard 17 BAR to about 27 BAR.

BMEP is a measure of specific output of an engine independent of displacement. That BMEP of 27 BAR in a 3.5-liter V6 translates to a torque output of 553 lb-ft. Compare this to 350 lb-ft from a standard 3.5-liter Ecoboost and you know good things are on the way. Specifically, the 5.0-liter Bobcat can produce over 500 hp and 750 lb-ft of torque. That's the kind of torque number typically associated with big diesel engines and handily beats the 650 lb-ft of the 6.4-liter diesel currently offered in the Super Duty pickups.

Ford’s SAE presentation provides several range estimates for refueling a 5.0-liter Bobcat V-8 with a 10 gallon E85 tank and 26 gallon gas tank compared to a current Ford F-150 with a 5.4-liter V-8 and 26 gallon gas tank. Under mild driving conditions, the 5.0-liter E85 tank might have to be refilled only once every 20,000 miles and the gas tank refilled every 528 miles. Today’s 5.4-liter V-8 is said to have a 486 mile range under these conditions. However, an extreme towing scenario with the 5.0-liter V-8 pulling a fully-loaded trailer up a constant 6 percent grade could mean refilling the E85 tank as often as every 100 miles. That would be more often than the gas tank, which has an expected range of 243 miles under those conditions. Today’s 5.4-liter V-8 is said to have a 99 mile range under these conditions.

If the ethanol tank did run dry, the Bobcat engine could operate indefinitely with lower performance using only gasoline until a source of E85 could be found.

Under most operating conditions, however, Ford’s Bobcat engine could be the right powertrain at the right time to meet newly mandated corporate average fuel economy requirements that require fuel efficiency standard for all light trucks (crossovers, pickup trucks, SUVs and vans) to rise to 30 mpg by 2016, from 23.1 mpg today.

Will it work in the real world? Ford will try out its theories outside of computer simulations and the laboratory before the end of the year when a Bobcat engine is tested in an F-Series pickup for the first time.