Chris Cowland

Director of Advanced and Srt Power Train for Fiat Chrysler

- Jamie Kitman

HAILING FROM PETERBOROUGH in Cambridgeshire, England, but working today at Fiat Chrysler’s mega complex in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Chris Cowland jokingly refers to himself as a British import. He might be an import, but the fuels engineer still has what sounds like the most American job going as FCA’s director of advanced and SRT powertrain. In addition to his other duties as the man who helped bring the Dodge Hellcat’s 707-horsepower 6.4-liter supercharged V-8 beast of an engine to life, he’s a fuels engineer, an expert on the composition and operational properties of gasoline. He’s become a strong advocate for upgrading the quality of gasoline so that internal combustion engines can run cleaner in coming years, as the law demands.

Tell us a bit about how gasoline has evolved in the U.S. and what you’re looking to do.

CC: If we go back in history, gasoline really hasn’t changed a huge amount in the U.S. over the last 30 or 40 years. There were a couple of big changes. One came about for emissions, when we went from leaded fuel to unleaded fuel, which was to make feasible catalytic converters. That was in the ’70s, during the fuel crisis. Then, a few years ago, we had a reduction in sulfur content in gasoline, which again was to help after-treatment type devices, catalysts. But the biggest thing we’re really looking forward to now is a potential octane rating change.

You want higher-octane gas?