Fiat celebrates 40 years of the world's first series-produced ethanol car

On July 5th, 1979, the first Fiat 147 powered by ethanol arrived on Brazilian streets. This date has become a mark in history. The Fiat brand was a world’s pioneer in the series production of the ethanol engine. Dubbed "Cachacinha" (which means “a small sugarcane liquor”) because of the characteristic odor exhaled by the exhaust, the Fiat 147 ethanol symbolized an important milestone for Brazilian automotive engineering, which from that day July 5th, 1979, engaged a march towards the development of technologies for vehicles that are more efficient and less polluting.

To celebrate its four-decade anniversary, there is nothing better than registering the first unit of ethanol accelerating at the Betim factory test track, just as it did 40 years ago and as if it had just come off the production line. The rare specimen - which at the time was sold to the Finance Ministry of Brasília - is nowadays part of the collection of Fiat classics and is practically original, without restoration. "It's exciting to see this car up close, not only because of the importance of actually being the first Fiat 147 powered by ethanol, but also because it is working perfectly with all the original vintage elements, such as cold start and choke, as well as preserving the red engine cover and the original paint, including marks from small kneads on the door”, says Robson Cotta, manager of Experimental Engineering, Laboratories and Prototypes at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).

Cotta works at Fiat since the early 1980s and he has many reasons to remember the "Cachacinha". “The first zero-km vehicle that I bought was the Fiat 147 powered by ethanol, therefore, to see in 2019 this copy of the first alcohol powered car brings a very good memory both from the personal and professional side, because of the challenges faced to develop and make alcohol powered cars work out in the country. Not only did it work, but also proved to be a winning technology. "

The development of the ethanol powered car

The history of the Fiat 147 powered by ethanol goes back to 1976, when the research and development of the engine driven by the sugarcane derivative began - the same year that the 147 powered by gasoline was launched in Brazil, becoming the first Fiat car manufactured in the country. "We were living the Pro-Alcohol era, a Brazilian program to combat the oil crisis," recalls Robson Cotta.

Still in 1976, in its first participation in the São Paulo Motor Show, Fiat exhibited a prototype of the 147 powered by ethanol with tens of thousands of kilometers rolled. The following year was dedicated to the technical improvement of the product, in addition to the production of new units that were being submitted to several tests.

In 1978, Fiat developed the 1.3-horsepower engine with 62 horsepower and 11.5 kgfm of torque, which during testing proved to be more suitable for the use of ethanol than the 1,050-horsepower 147. At the beginning of that year, three Fiats 147 were delivered to DNER (National Highway Department) to be tested on the Rio-Niterói Bridge policing. In September 1978, a Fiat 147 100% powered by ethanol performed what would prove to be the definitive test for the creation of the first Brazilian ethanol engine: a 12-day, 6,800-kilometer journey through the country, averaging more than 500 km daily, three thousand kilometers by land and climatic variations of more than 30 degrees.

In the motoring world, one of the great achievements of the Fiat 147 powered by ethanol was conquered by women. Considered the first major international rally held in the country, the 1979 Brazilian International Rally saw the Fiat 147 Rallye # 73 of the women's team Anna Cambiaghi (Italian) and Dulce Nilda Doege (Brazilian) finishing fourth in the overall standings and being the Brazilian car of better classification in the race that had no less than 2,200 km of route. They were part of Team Aseptogyl / Panthères Roses / Fiat Dealers.

Among the differentials, the compression ratio of the 1.3 engine was quite high, from 7.5: 1 in the petrol version to 11.2: 1, and the carburetion started to work with a much richer air-fuel mixture (with a higher percentage of fuel). That was the reason for its higher consumption - 30% higher. "The engine had a slightly larger power than the gasoline-like one due to the need to contain the fuel: 62 bhp versus 61. On the other hand, the higher compression ratio favored torque and therefore the pickups and accelerations in low or medium rotation. But the number that really mattered was the cost per kilometer, less than half the gasoline version, with fuel prices at the time”, says Cotta. Consumer interest in the Fiat 147 powered by ethanol is confirmed by sales figures. From 1979 to 1987, when it was commercialized in Brazil, 120,516 units were sold.

Challenges of a new technology

FCA's Engineering Supervisor, Ronaldo Ávila, who worked in the chemical laboratory of the automaker in the 1980's, closely followed the improvements of the 147 powered by ethanol. "My team analyzed the engine parts. It was a very big challenge: at first there was oxidation. In order for it to work with ethanol, the entire fuel system [fuel tank, pump, piping, carburetor, etc.] needed to be more robust to withstand extremely corrosive fuel”, he says.

After many tests, Fiat's engineering found a solution to protect engine parts: the use of chemical nickel. "This metal creates a layer of protection in the components, inhibiting the actions of ethanol", explains Avila. Another provision was the installation of an aluminized exhaust system.

For being the pioneer among ethanol cars, the Fiat 147 was also the first to face some characteristics of the fuel, such as low calorific value over gasoline. In practice, this meant the legendary greater difficulty in starting the engine on cold days. "To solve this problem, engineering has installed the cold start tank. A button on the dashboard triggers a bomb just like the windshield washer and it injects into the intake manifold enough gasoline to start the engine at low temperatures", Cotta says.  

 The legacy of Fiat 147 powered by ethanol

“At the time of the 147, the fuel injection system was the carburetor, which at first did not have such an effective treatment to contain the corrosion of ethanol. We have, of course, adopted materials that protected the component, but at the same time we worked to reach another technological level, which would pass through the double carburetor until the electronic injection”, recalls Fiat engineering supervisor Ronaldo Ávila. It was precisely the dual carburetor technology that in the early 1990s brought yet another historic achievement for the brand: the world's fastest and speediest car, the Uno Mille.

The evolution of the injection system has improved the mixing of air and fuel in the engines. With this, there were significant gains in performance and, at the same time, consumption reduction. For Ronaldo Ávila, the current cars of the FCA group are the right source for those who want to observe the technology advances achieved in 40 years since the debut of the Fiat 147 powered by ethanol. "They are synonymous with energy efficiency and they have extremely modern features. The Fiat Toro and the Jeep Renegade, for example, do not need the cold starting kit thanks to the preheating system of the injector nozzles and, in the turbodiesel variants, have a direct injection of fuel”.

FCA's Director of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance, João Irineu, confirms the high importance of ethanol for future FCA launches. "Ethanol was, is and will always be important to us. It is one of the elements of one of the pillars of strategic points of the brand and plays a very important role in reducing the greenhouse effect. We started 40 years ago with a carburetor system and today we work on turbocharging, direct injection and some other alternatives that will be incorporated into the ethanol engine to improve performance compared to the gasoline engine”.