Camless valve trains have long been investigated by several companies, including Renault, BMW, Fiat, Valeo, General Motors, Ricardo, Lotus Engineering who developed electro-hydraulic valve actuation in the late 1980s as a spinoff of their active suspension program (both utilised similar electro-hydraulic actuation and control), Ford, Jiangsu Gongda Power Technologies, and Koenigsegg's sister company FreeValve.
Additionally, because there is no chain connection between the crankshaft and the camshaft, the engine is lighter with fewer points of failure.
They are multifunctional in a way to release, shut off, mix, or distribute fluids with high reliability and fast processing.
Conventional mechanical camshaft actuation is capable of generating extremely high forces which, combined with very high stiffness/low mechanical compliance of a conventional modern valve train layout, are used to very accurately and consistently control the position the engine valves.
For example, prior to the FIA restrictions, Formula 1 engines ran at speeds of over 20,000 RPM and power outputs of over 330bhp/litre normally aspirated using a conventional camshaft and mechanical valve actuation; it is extremely unlikely that this high engine speed and output can be achieved with camless valve actuation.
The ECU can constantly adjust valve timing, height, and fuel/air mixtures to optimize efficiency for a given RPM/torque load.
It can sense when there is a high amount of NOx and SOx emission and change the timing to make the exhaust gas hotter or cooler.
developing a camless engine for passenger vehicles based on their proprietary Intelligent Valve Actuation (IVA) system.
Camcon has collaborated with Jaguar Land Rover to fit IVA onto an Ingenium 2.0-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine, and they jointly published results at the 2017 Aachen Colloquium.
[20] In March 2020, Koenigsegg Automotive AB announced its first four-seater car, the Gemera, which is powered by a sequentially turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-three engine in conjunction with three electric motors.
Working with the motor to propel the front wheels is what Koenigsegg calls the Tiny Friendly Giant (TFG) engine.