UPDATE: 2026/08/07 2:50 PM
A Quick Solution For Many Performance Applications
CarBuzz spoke with SRT about the new eBoost tech and why it’s preferable to similar systems used by other automakers.
Stellantis performance brand SRT previewing something new and electric. Wait, don’t click away just yet, because this isn’t another attempt at an electric muscle car. It’s a new way to pump up the boost in turbocharged vehicles that works similar to what you’ll find on the latest Porsche 911s. Similar, but still notably different in an important way.
It’s called eBoost Air – a system that uses electricity to help reduce turbo lag, so the company can put even bigger turbos on its latest engines for more power.
SRT Adds An ‘E-Compressor’ To Deliver A Supercharger-Like Experience
SRT eboost Air turbo systemSRT
The new eBoost Air system isn’t exactly new, but it is new to Stellantis and the company is implementing it in a unique way. The idea is that a small electric compressor is mounted in an intake stream separate from the engine’s standard exhaust-driven turbos. If “electric compressor” sounds a lot like an electric turbocharger, you’re not wrong. However, speaking with SRT engineers, we were told this e-compressor is independent of existing turbo systems. And it does operate differently.
The electric compressor can spin regardless of engine speed or exhaust flow, generating boost immediately. It solves one of the biggest issues and compromises with turbochargers on street cars, and it could let the already massively capable Hurricane I6 engine – as well as future turbocharged engines – generate more power.
Once the engine revs increase and there is more air flowing through the exhaust, the conventional turbochargers make enough boost pressure. At that point, the intake system will bypass the electric turbo e-compressor which can shut off.
How Does This Make Anything Better?
SRT eboost Air turbo systemSRT
When an automaker’s engineering team is trying to decide what size of turbocharger it wants to fit, there are two very large and very conflicting goals: horsepower and drivability.
A turbocharger with a large-diameter impeller and compressor wheels can pack loads of air into an engine, even without higher boost pressures. But those large-diameter turbos need a lot of exhaust flow to spin them up. An engine running at lower RPM doesn’t have much exhaust flow to spin the turbos.
To make everything work, the turbo has to be sized to meet power goals, but also to make sure it can generate boost – called spooling – at low RPM. If the engine can’t, it falls flat until the turbo spools, which is turbo lag. A turbo that spins immediately and has no lag at all won’t support the airflow of higher horsepower demands.
SRT eboost Air turbo systemSRT
In theory, SRT’s eBoost Air system solves those conflicts. You can have massive turbochargers for big power, without drivability issues or lag because the e-compressor can help spin them up. SRT says the test engine feels like a supercharged V8 more than it does a powerful turbocharged engine.
A Quick Solution For Many Performance Applications
Speaking to CarBuzz during SRT’s eBoost presentation, SRT Propulsion Systems Vice President Joel Baker explained why adding a third device for boost was preferred over other systems like Porsche’s hybrid turbochargers, where an electric motor is mounted to existing turbos for mechanical spin.
“We are pursuing this path because it’s much more simple, quick, and elegant to employ into a vehicle platform to get us to a point where we could coordinate all the actuators necessary for an e-turbo. It takes a lot of control systems and a lot of hardware development, which turns into a lot of time. So I want something quick, fast, ready, now that answers this turbo lag, and this is it.”
-Joel Baker, SRT Propulsion Systems Vice President
As such, SRT’s solution seems better-suited to Stellantis models from Ram and Dodge, where there is more room under the hood than in a 911. It’s also probably cheaper, and it can be adapted to a very wide range of vehicles across the many brands in the Stellantis family.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Dodge Charger SixpackDodge
SRT isn’t claiming a max power figure yet, but we’re confident it could push the Hurricane HO beyond the current 550 horsepower maximum figure. That engine already has one of the highest power per liter figures in the world, so strapping on bigger turbos might transform it into a monster. Perhaps more importantly, it could also help wipe out the minimal turbo lag on the current Hurricane engine being used in a variety of Ram, Dodge, and Jeep models.
Could it beat the 700-horsepower 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8s? It might be able to. But it won’t matter, because Mopar fans have made one thing abundantly clear: It’s about the V8 noise, not the horsepower. The 5.7-liter Hemi V8 is eclipsed by even the lowest-tuned Hurricane in power and acceleration, but the company is still selling the V8 as fast as it can build it.
SRT has not said when this new invention might make production, but don’t be surprised to see it soon.
