For a while now, Bugatti was bragging about its hypercars but apparently it now concerns the air conditioning compressors, which are powerful enough to cool a big apartment.
Bugatti loves to find creative ways of bragging about its products. Don’t forget, this is the company that once told us the Chiron’s coolant circuit has 800 litres of water pumped through it every minute. And now, the VW Group-owned brand would like us all to know that the Chiron and Divo’s air conditioning condensers are powerful enough to chill “an apartment in Europe”.
How Powerful is the Compressor?
Fun fact of the day, apparently the Bugatti Chiron's AC system could cool an 80m2 apartment.
— Lawrence (@Butch_on_Racing) July 13, 2020
We’re talking about a decent-sized apartment, at that – one with an area of around 80 square meters, which is bigger than the average size of a UK home.
The reason the two Bugattis need so much A/C clout is largely down to the long, heavily-raked windscreen, which has nearly double the surface area of a “conventional compact car”. Factor in the optional (and apparently very popular) Sky View glass roof, and you have the potential for a very toasty cabin.
The Solution?
The solution is those two big condensers, which work together with a 10kW compressor. The system – which has 9.5 meters of piping due to the mid-engine layout of the hypercar – can compress 3kg of coolant every minute.
A Massively Powerful Bugatti Compressor
The compressor sits close to the exhaust system, so this needs its own coolant system so it doesn’t get adversely affected by heat soak. Also, the high speeds that the Chiron and Divo can achieve needed to be factored in when the system was designed.
Normally, air will enter a cabin just below the windscreen, but on Bugatti models, this will only happen if you’re going 155mph or faster.
“From this point onwards, there is a switch to negative pressure: a sophisticated control system with an additional ram-air flap and an optimized blower ensures that air continues to enter the interior,” the company says. Crikey.
“At first glance, our air conditioning system appears to function as a conventional system,” Bugatti’s air-conditioning tech chief Julia Lemke (pictured above) says, adding, “But it’s a real challenge to perfectly harmonize the highly complex system of a small-series hyper sports car so that it works impeccably even at maximum speed and engine load.”
Bugatti chiron pic.twitter.com/UK8IhlKLJS
— John (@John_Hutch77) July 17, 2020
Making sure the system worked properly involved a lot of seat time in the Chiron and the person doing that job seems to be having a good time while making money. Isn’t it?