Cars, especially fast cars, represent an experience that touches all the senses except taste (because biting down on metal is ill-advised). Every vehicle has a sound–even EVs–that identifies the type of powertrain propelling it. Once you’ve heard a Toyota hybrid system, it’s hard to mistake that sonorous tone for anything else. Honda hybrids have a similar sound but with their own inflection, like a Georgia native’s accent versus someone else’s twang in Texas.
A supercharger has its own specific whine, especially inside muscle cars like a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Hearing a Hellcat go by may send chills up your spine (as it does mine) as your brain recognizes the 717 to 800-plus horsepower at the ready. The noise itself isn’t the main attraction, though. Power is the big reason automakers use superchargers from the factory, and it’s the same goal for wrenchers who want to boost their engines’ capacity for horsepower.
Superchargers, like turbochargers, are air compressors that feed oxygen to the engine. As part of the intake stroke, a supercharger pulls and squeezes air into the engine to create that beastly whine. Mobil oil explains the differences between turbocharging and supercharging as such: “Turbochargers use the vehicle’s exhaust gas; two fans–a turbine fan and a compressor fan–rotate from exhaust gas. Conversely, superchargers are powered directly by the engine; a belt pulley drives gears that cause a compressor fan to rotate.”
To really blow your mind, know that a car can be turbocharged and supercharged at the same time. These twin-charged vehicles are rare, but they’re out there.
Supercharger types
Superchargers were invented back in the late 1800s; prolific German inventor Gottlieb Daimler received a patent for supercharging an internal combustion engine in 1885. Today, there are basically three types of…
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