What is the Stop-Start Technology?

The stop-start system is one of the fuel economy and emissions reduction components of its “Efficient Dynamics” technology package and it has been featured in the four-cylinder engines developed by BMW.

The initial name was  Auto Start/Stop, and the way it works is the system automatically switches off the engine when the car comes to a standstill.  As soon as the driver puts in the clutch or depresses the gas pedal, the engine fires up automatically. Obviously, this solution works only on manual transmissions, …for now.

So moving past the introduction, the fellows at MotorAuthority report that BMW is expected to offer this technology in their six cylinder engines as well, starting in Europe, within the next 12 months.

It will obviously make its way into the U.S market, where major cities clearly have an issue with the stop and go traffic, and fuel savings can be substantial.

For example, with four-cylinder models regularly returning savings of around 4-6% , so I expect the six-cylinder engines to do better when it comes to gas savings.

[Source: MotorAuthority ]