Since we are Supercharger Performance, I knew that I’d have to talk about this topic sometime…I didn’t want to get into it though, without emperical evidence.

I am an engineer, I understand the math, I understand the arguements and the counter arguements about electric superchargers…One day I do wish to see a universal supercharger that doesn’t require beltwork… but for now, for most of us , we just need to SEE things to understand once and for all weather they work or not.

I mean it’s very hard to describe how a throttle pedal works in equations… how the angle pulls the cable and opens up the butterfly which causes more air to go into the engine, which makes it rev up…. but give a car to a chimp (not even a human) and after a while the chimp will figure out that more gas = more revs.

That’s imperical evidence for you and it comes from humans impressive ability to understand things that are so complex by just being able to witness them.

So away from the religious-philosophical aspect of things, the root of supercharger, turbocharger and nitrous oxide performance is overfeeding the engine with more air than it would naturally breathe. This takes the motor from being naturally aspirated to being focedly induced. The physical measure of forced induction is ‘boost’ or pressure differential and every engine that is turbocharged or supercharged or nitrous injected will have higher pressure in its manifold than atmospheric pressure because the turbocharger or supercharger is both overfeeding it with air, and that over feeding is causing the air to get compressed and the manifold pressure to rise.

So, do electric superchargers work ?

Everyone dances around this question but the difinitive answer to it is this:

CAN AN ELECTRIC SUPERCHARGER INCREASE MANIFOLD PRESSURE ?

This is not a complex question, if you put a 30 dollar boost gauge on a car and add an electirc supercharger you will know right away weather these things work or not. If the needle goes past  0 psi (atmoshperic pressure) into positive boost then yes electric superchargers work, if the needle is stuck at 0 psi just as it would be without the supercharger, then no the engine is not being force fed, there is no boost, and the thing does NOT work.

It’s such a simple question that you’d think EVERY e-charger manufacturer would prove to you (in something as simple as a youtube video) that with the engine running and the car moving, that their charger can create boost and is thus overfeeding your engine with more air. More air + more fuel = more power and that’s how things work.

Yet these videos don’t exist… (weird, right?)

I came across this on youtube and I applaud him being the first that I know of to debunk the axial fan supercharger… He’s using a Forceflow X4 which is supposedly the MOST powerful axial, and the ‘blower’ is claimed to flow i believe up to 800 CFM which should be able to pressurize a 3.0 liter nissan V6. However axial fans are known to have very low block off pressures (they are unable to trap air properly like a centrifugal does by expelling air at a 90* angle with it’s blades or a positive displacement does with a similar no-direct-return path for the air once it exits the blower)….

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hlFQ0RDl8

Imperical evidence… no need for math… there is NO boost…

If any manufacturer disagrees with this post … then I have one thing to say:

SHOW ME THE BOOST!