Freevalve is a company that is part of the Koenigsegg conglomerate, and has a vision of an engine that dispenses with camshafts for crankshaft to valve timing. Electronic controllers replace the belt/chain and the camshaft itself. So there are fewer parts to move, less inertia, less weight: more power and less emissions with the same amount of fuel, up to 30% gain.
In the video we can see how the system works. The control unit counts on the rotation of the crankshaft and the position of each valve. The electrical impulses that are sent to the controllers result in air and oil movements to push the valves. The opening of the intake and exhaust valves can be programmed as desired, at any time, just like today's variable valve opening systems (VVT for friends). In fact, the system allows de facto selective cylinder deactivation.
This absolute control over the valves makes it possible to fine-tune the combustion. For a full load, full opening of the intake and exhaust valves is the way to go, but there are many more situations: low load, part load, cold engine... The main advantage of this system over any other VVT system is that there is no mechanical ballast called a camshaft. Does it reduce reliability? Well, camshafts are not exactly 100% reliable, electronic components of the right quality can be just as reliable, if not more reliable.
This is a prototype, a vision, it will be a while before we see it in series production cars yet.
