The turbocharger on a car applies a very similar principle to a piston engine. It uses the exhaust gas to drive a turbine. This spins an air compressor that pushes extra air (and oxygen) into the cylinders, allowing them to burn more fuel each second.ow a turbocharger works. The basic idea is that the exhaust drives the turbine (the red fan), which is directly connected to (and powers) the compressor (the blue fan), which rams air into the engine.