The hybrid has a 6 cylinder gasoline engine for it’s main powerplant.  That engine is integrated with a 44 kw (60 hp) electric motor. There is a rechargeable 10 kw usable lithium ion battery pack mounted in the rear. Mercedes points out that this battery location is “crucial” to maintain weight balance and allow a substantial size for the gas tank.

The heavy car can go from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds.  It drives purely on electricity when possible but the gas engine will go on any time power demands increase sufficiently such as with strong acceleration and hill climbing.

The on-board charger allows recharge in 4.5 hours at 120 V but is capable of accepting a fast charge at 20 kW in 60 minutes.

One blogger is argueing that no, we don’t.

To review the math, a gallon of gasoline releases 20.35 pounds of CO2 (9,231 grams) when it is burned in an internal combustion engine. So a normal car that meets current CAFE standards of 27.5 mpg is responsible for roughly 336 grams of CO2 emissions per mile. In contrast, an HEV like the Prius, which slashes fuel consumption by roughly 40% through a combination of recuperative braking, idle elimination and electric launch will be responsible for roughly 201 grams of CO2 emissions per mile.

The following table compares typical vehicle costs (without tax subsidies) and CO2 emissions per mile for each class of vehicle. It then goes two steps further and (a) calculates an average carbon abatement cost for HEVs, PHEVs and EVs, and (b) calculates an incremental carbon abatement cost for PHEVs and EVs. Both carbon abatement costs are expressed in dollars of capital spending per gram/mile of CO2 emissions.

He finishes off his arguement by saying that we’ll be plugging our cars into a lump of coal.  For the entire article go here

Personally, I think that anything that helps to reduce our need for oil is a step in the right direction.  Replacing our source of electricity is something that’s easier to do than replacing the powerplants for every car on the road.  The sooner we get to work on our cars the better off we’ll be.  Our grid will come over time with wind and solar getting cheaper.

Nissan is no exception, and they offer a hybrid Nissan Altima in their line up.  But they are currently sourcing the technology from continental rival Toyota, who is years ahead of most automakers with their prius.  Buying the technology from Toyota cuts into their margins.

And eventually the automaker is hoping to have electric vehicles that use no gas on the road.  Hybrid technology is a stepping stone to get there.

UPS hydraulic hybrid delivery truck

I try to cover a wide variety of topics here even though my main focus is on the Chevy Volt.  I’ve covered new forms of generating E85, the new Chrysler EVs, the toyota prius, and a few other topics.  These all had one thing in common though, they focus on us becoming a more fuel efficient country.  One that can help protect the environment and reduce dependency on foreign oil.  Of the cars talked about, they also all had something in common: they all use an electric motor to some how supplement the overall mileage achieved.

That’s why this story is particularly exciting for me.  A hydraulic hybrid doesn’t need the cumbersome batteries or electric motor.  It’s a lot simpler than that.  Now that doesn’t mean that it’s better, I believe that electric cars are our future.  We just need a small leap in battery technology to make that happen.  And until then hybrid systems remain something that isn’t all that efficient in bigger trucks.  Sure, Chrysler and GM have hybrid SUVs, but they aren’t going to haul all the things that a UPS or fedex or 18 wheeler needs to.

The theory behind the Heavy Duty hybrid is pretty straightforward.  The big trucks use really efficient diesel engines right now.  When up to speed they get pretty good fuel economy considering the weight they’re carrying.  The problem is getting the trucks up to speed.  Everytime they have to slow down for a stop sign or stop light they have to get going again.  It’s that initial acceleration that eats into the mileage of these trucks.  So for a delivery truck that runs around mostly in the city it won’t get optimum mileage most of the time.

That’s where the hydraulic system comes into play.  It uses the same braking that electric hybrids do, but instead of recharging the batteries this system pressurizes tanks.  The tanks store the pressure up until it’s time to accelerate and then release the pressure across a specialized transmission to aide the truck in getting up to speed.  This alleviates a lot of the lost mileage cause by stopping.

ford hydraulic hybrid

In the city these hydraulic hybrids could get 50% better fuel economy and reduce their emmissions by 40%.  The initial fleet is only going to be a few in operation in the Minneapolis, MN area.  But it’s more than none, and UPS has plans to roll it out to more locations later on in the year.

Ford has long been linked to a hydraulic hybrid version of their F150.  Most of those sources purport that the new Ford would get 60 mpg and would be released in 2008.  Obviously the release date is premature, but it would be nice to see this kind of application find it’s way into more mainstream autos.  The hydraulic system should be a lot cheaper than an electric hybrid system would with fewer parts to break.  It would go a long way to helping reduce the amount of gasoline we use in our trucks.

The inclusion of the low-interest loan guarantees is a victory for struggling U.S. manufacturers General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co, and Chrysler LLC, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerebus Capital Management LLC.  All three automakers have been lobbying congress for flexible low interest loans.  They claim that the current loans are too rigid with how they spend their money.  The Detroit three need more capital to fund research and technology like Chrysler’s ENVI products and the Chevy Volt.

“I’m not a fan of the American auto industry and I’m not a fan of this provision. But Congress authorized it and we’re providing the funding for it,” said Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat.

Included in the package is a tax rebate for people tha buy plugin hybrid vehicles. The credit starts at $2500 and goes up to $7500 based on the type of vehicle bought. The credit doesn’t phase out until the automaker has sold 250 thousand plugin hybrids.

Source: Reuters

“I’m not a fan of the American auto industry and I’m not a fan of this provision. But Congress authorized it and we’re providing the funding for it,” said Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat.

Included in the package is a tax rebate for people tha buy plugin hybrid vehicles.  The credit starts at $2500 and goes up to $7500 based on the type of vehicle bought.  The credit doesn’t phase out until the automaker has sold 250 thousand plugin hybrids.

Source: Reuters

What the EPA decides can have an important impact on how the Volt gets it’s ratings.  The Volt does have an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. That sounds a lot like the Prius hybrid.  The difference between the two is that the prius uses it’s electric motor at low speeds under light load and then kicks in the gas engine to turn the wheels.  On the Volt the electric motor is used exclusively to power the car.  The gas engine is used to power a generator to recharge batteries that will extend it’s range.

Some people have been saying that the Volt can make it through the current EPA testing with the ICE on only 15% of the time.  Using those numbers it would have an EPA estimate over 100 miles per gallon.  The issue GM has with the EPA right now is that the EPA wants the Volt to finish the test with it’s batteries at full charge instead of drained.  Under those circumstances the ICE would have to run constantly to recharge the batteries giving it a measly 48 mpg.

GM argues that since the Volt can be plugged into any 110 wall outlet that many people will never use gas on a daily basis.  Their main concern is that if the mpg rating is too low (lower than the Jetta and equal to the Prius) many people will not even consider the Volt since it’s price tag is in the mid 30′s right now.

Source: MotorTrend

I personally don’t think this will be an issue for the Volt.  It’s a car that is only powered by an electric motor, that makes it unique among the green cars (with the exception of the Tesla Roadster).  The EPA is doing a rating of miles per gallon, and electricity isn’t measured in gallons.  So if they’re going to crowbar the Volt into their current testing standards then this is what they have to do.

They probably should come up with something new though for cars like the Volt.  We’ll be seeing more of them in the future.

The first thing he explained when he got into the Volt was their reasoning for the battery range.  70% of people drive less than 40 miles per day which means that they can do their daily driving and then plug it in at night without using a drop of gas.  The Volt also has regenerative braking, so every time the brakes are used the car is recharging the batteries.  When the battery level gets too low a 1 liter 3 cylinder gas engine kicks in and drives an electric generator to recharge the batteries.

Scott Settlemeyer talks about the Volt and othe fuel efficient vehicles in the GM line-up