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Ethanol shows promise as a renewable automotive fuel. However the widespread adoption of ethanol as a fuel rather than gasoline diluent is hindered by several issues including cost. The current study evaluates the comparative performance for ethanol and gasoline fuels in a multi-cylinder turbo-charged direct injection SI engine. In particular the study investigates the potential for high specific output with ethanol, an enabler for highly efficient and more market tenable powertrain solutions. Data indicate that the operation of a turbo-charged spray guide DI engine on pure ethanol can efficiently achieve very high specific output with some update to engine design. The ethanol direct injection or EDI approach shows overall significant potential for aggressive engine downsizing for a dedicated or dual-fuel solution.