# Engine displacement

One complete cycle of a four-cylinder, four-stroke engine. The volume displaced is marked in orange.

Engine displacement is the swept volume of all the pistons inside the cylinders of a reciprocating engine in a single movement from top dead centre (TDC) to bottom dead centre (BDC). It is commonly specified in cubic centimetres (cc or cm3), litres (L), or cubic inches (CID). Engine displacement does not include the total volume of the combustion chamber.

## Definition

Engine displacement is determined from the bore and stroke of an engine's cylinders. The bore is the diameter of the circular chambers cut into the cylinder block.

${\displaystyle {\text{displacement}}={\pi }\times ({\tfrac {1}{2}}\times {\text{bore}})^{2}\times {\text{stroke}}\times {\text{number of cylinders}}}$

Which is equivalent to:

${\displaystyle {\text{displacement}}={\frac {\pi }{4}}\times {\text{bore}}^{2}\times {\text{stroke}}\times {\text{number of cylinders}}}$

### Examples

The 427 Chevy bore is 4.312 in, and the stroke is 3.65 in, therefore the displacement for this eight-cylinder engine is:

${\displaystyle 0.7854\times (4.312\ {\text{in}})^{2}\times 3.65\ {\text{in}}\times 8=426\ {\text{in}}^{3}}$

If the bore is 10.0 cm and the stroke is 5.00 cm with four cylinders, the calculation is:

${\displaystyle 0.7854\times (10.0\ {\text{cm}})^{2}\times 5.00\ {\text{cm}}\times 4=1570\ {\text{cm}}^{3}=1.57\ {\text{L}}}$

## Governmental regulations

Taxation of automobiles is sometimes based on engine displacement, rather than power output, fuel economy, emissions, or vehicle weight. Displacement is a basic fundamental of engine design, whereas power output depends a great deal on other factors, particularly on how the car manufacturer has tuned the engine from new. This has encouraged the development of other methods to increase engine power, such as variable valve timing and turbochargers.

There are four major regulatory constraints for automobiles: the European, British, Japanese, and American. The method used in some European countries, and which predates the EU, has a level of taxation for engines over 1.0 litre, and another at the level of about 1.6 litres. The British system of taxation depends upon vehicle emissions for cars registered after 1 March 2001, but for cars registered before this date, it depends on engine size. Cars under 1549 cm3 qualify for a lower tax rate.[1]

The Japanese method is similar to the European taxation by classes of displacement, plus a vehicle weight tax.

The United States, Canada (except Quebec[2]), Australia and New Zealand do not tax a vehicle based on the displacement of the engine. Engine displacement is important in determining whether or not smaller vehicles need to be registered with the state and whether or not a license is required to operate such a vehicle. A common threshold is 50 cm3.

In the Netherlands road tax is based on region, weight and fuel type (petrol / compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel or other (electric/hybrid/hydrogen)),[3] and in Sweden, road tax is based on vehicle weight. However, Swedish cars registered in 2008 or later are taxed based on carbon dioxide emissions.[citation needed]

Displacement is also used to distinguish categories of (heavier) and lighter motorbikes with respect to driving licence and insurance requirements. In France and some other EU countries, mopeds of less than 50 cm3 displacement (and usually with a two-stroke engine), can be driven with minimum qualifications (previously, they could be driven by any person over 14). This led to all light motorbikes having a displacement of about 49.9 cm3. Some people tuned the engine by increasing the cylinder bore, increasing displacement; such mopeds cannot be driven legally on public roads since they no longer conform to the original specifications and may go faster than 45 km/h.

Wankel engines, due to the amount of power and emissions they create for their displacement, are generally taxed as 1.5 times their stated physical displacement (1.3 litres becomes effectively 2.0, 2.0 becomes effectively 3.0), although actual power outputs are far greater (the 1.3-litre 13B can produce power comparable to either a 3.0 V6 engine or a turbocharged 2.0 inline-4 engine, and the 2.0-litre 20B can produce power comparable to a 3.5 to 3.8 V6 engine or a 4.0 V8 engine).[citation needed] As such, racing regulations actually use a much higher conversion factor.

## Automotive model names

In the automotive industry, engine displacement is frequently encoded in the auto manufacturer's model names. For instance, Nissan's Teana 350JM is a car with a 3,498 cubic centimetres (213.5 cu in) displacement engine. Motorcycles are often labeled similarly.

However, this nomenclature can be misleading. For instance, the BMW 3 Series (F30) 320i, 328i and 330i all have a 2.0-litre engine; the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (W205) C 200, C 250, C 300 and C 350 Plug-In Hybrid all have a 2.0-litre engine; and the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 has an 8.0-litre (quad-turbocharged W16) engine.

Lexus hybrid vehicles ("h") are marked higher than true engine size to signify the extra power from auxiliary systems. For example, the RX450h has a 3.5 L engine, and the LS600h has a 5.0 L engine.

## References

1. ^ Direct.gov.uk Archived 16 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine: The Cost of Vehicle Tax for Cars, Motorcycles, Light Goods Vehicles and Trade Licences.
2. ^ SAAQ. "Additional Registration Fee for Large Cylinder Capacity Vehicles". SAAQ. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
3. ^ Belastingdienst. "Hoeveel motorrijtuigenbelasting moet ik betalen?". www.belastingdienst.nl.