OK, you know things are getting serious when they start investigating cylinder deactivation in a triple.
Ford says they've been doing on-road testing of rolling cylinder deactivation in their 1.0L turbo, with a series of countermeasures to manage NVH:
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They fitted the prototype (Ford Focus) with a newly developed system that combined a dual mass flywheel, a pendulum absorber, and a tuned clutch disc; and is particularly effective at low revs. As well as enabling a wider operating range of cylinder deactivation, this system helped counteract any effect that the cylinder deactivation had on levels of noise, vibration and harshness.
Fuel efficiency improvements were recorded in homologated conditions and during test drives of the first prototype vehicle, for a typical commuter distance of 55 km on a combination of motorway, city roads and rural roads, in and around Cologne, Germany. The development is a collaboration with Ford’s engineering partners at the Schaeffler Group.
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The results: Fuel efficiency improvements of up to 6 per cent
The "rolling" deactivation approach means each cylinder takes turns being the deactivated one.
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The benefit is a more well-balanced temperature level inside the combustion chambers and consistent firing intervals for three-cylinder engines operating in deactivation mode.
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Source:
Green Car Congress: Ford exploring cylinder deactivation for 1.0L EcoBoost; testing shows up to 6% fuel efficiency improvement
And Ford:
https://media.ford.com/content/fordm...enhancing.html