With the release of the 840 horsepower 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, along with it came quite a few industry firsts in the automotive marketplace. Items such as drag radials and a TransBrake have never been offered on a production car; until now. Another wicked industry first feature on the Demon is the SRT Power Chiller system. Very recently, Popular Science magazine awarded the system one of its 2017 “The Best of What’s New” awards.

“The Best of What’s New awards honor the innovations that shape the future,” says Joe Brown, Editor in Chief, Popular Science. “From life-saving technology to incredible space engineering to gadgets that are just breathtakingly cool, this is the best of what’s new.”

This state of the art system is truly the first on any production car. It diverts the air-conditioning refrigerant from the Demon’s interior to a chiller unit mounted by the low-temperature circuit coolant pump. Charge air coolant, after being cooled by ambient air passing through a low-temperature radiator at the front of the vehicle, flows through the chiller unit, where it is further cooled. The chilled coolant then flows to the heat exchangers in the supercharger.

When the engine is shut down between races, the After-Run Chiller keeps the engine cooling fan and low-temperature circuit coolant pump running to lower the supercharger/charge air cooler temperature, helping minimize heat soak effects which have been a pretty common problem in the past; especially in high temperature areas. The driver can track the supercharger coolant temperature on the 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen in the instrument panel and know in real time when the supercharger is at the optimum temperature. Thanks to the joint efforts of the air inlet, Power Chiller and After-Run Chiller systems; air intake temperatures have been proven to be up to 45 degrees Fahrenheit cooler!

“Creating a street-legal machine that is powered by an engine with unrelenting power and torque, specifically engineered for the drag strip, yet street legal and meeting all emissions, pass-by noise and SRT durability standards demands outside-the-box thinking,” said Chris Cowland, Director of Advanced and SRT Powertrain, FCA US LLC. “The technologies that make lower-volume SRT products special can deliver significant benefits in alternative applications. For example, while denser intake air and high-octane fuels are part of the recipe that makes the Challenger SRT Demon a head-turner, they can be just as important in meeting the challenges of improving fuel economy.”

Congratulations to all of the Dodge and SRT engineers for their well-deserved award. We look forward to seeing what else they have up their sleeves for future products.