Category: Hybrid

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Autocar test the BMW i8 hybrid sports car [VIDEO]

Autocar's in-house race driver Steve Sutcliffe tests the BMW i8 in Scotland.

The i8 has a transverse mid-mounted 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine that drives the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox. An electric motor acts as a starter motor but can also fill in any torque gaps in the engine’s delivery. The front axle is driven separately by an electric motor and two-speed gearbox to create a car of incredible flexibility and complexity.

In eDrive mode the i8 is a zero-emission, front-wheel-drive machine with a useful 129bhp and 184lb ft, a top speed of 75mph and a range of 23 miles. In Comfort mode the i8 is a plug-in hybrid that’s quiet, refined, has a range of up to 310 miles and can be charged from zero to 80 per cent inside two hours.

Select Sport mode by simply moving the gear selector from ‘D’ to ‘S’ and the i8 transforms again. Now the internal combustion engine and electric motor combine as effectively as possible to deliver maximum power, noise and excitement. So configured, the i8 generates 357bhp and 420lb ft. It also tightens its damping, reduces the electric power assistance for the steering and manages the car’s balance by manipulating drive to the front axle for ultimate agility and engagement. The numbers say the i8 combines 135mpg and 49g/km on the one hand or 0-62mph in 4.4sec and 155mph (limited) when driven like a sports car should be.

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Toyota Prius Plug-in TRD sets Nürburgring lap record [VIDEO]

Three-digit records are nothing new at the Nürburgring, the go-to location when car manufacturers want to prove the pace of their latest models, but until now, these feats have always been about miles per hour, not miles per gallon.

Toyota turned tradition on its head when it took its Prius Plug-in hybrid to the track, setting out to show not how fast the car could go, but just how little fuel it could use on a single lap of the notorious Nordschliefe.

A first-of-a-kind Nürburgring record was in its sights, but with no help from any clever technical tweaks or trick bodywork. Instead, Toyota designed a genuine, real-world test with the car running in traffic during a public session and complying with all the circuit rules, including the 60km/h minimum average speed.

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Next Generation Toyota Prius To Get Electric All-Wheel Drive

Automotive News reports the next generation of Prius, set to begin production in December of 2015, may get an all-wheel drive option in addition to its default front-drive layout.

“I think we will possibly do it,” said Koei Saga, senior managing officer in charge of powertrain development, speaking about all-wheel drive. Saga also says that there will be two different battery options available with the 2016 Prius, a low-cost nickel-metal hydride unit or a more expensive lithium ion pack.

The choice of two batteries could possibly deliver a low-cost version using the tried-and-true nickel-metal hydride technology that Toyota has used since it launched the Prius in 1997. And for those wanting longer electric-only driving range, a larger-capacity lithium ion pack could be offered as an upper trim model with a higher price.

The 2016 Prius will ride on a new platform, making the car lighter, smaller and more efficient. ”The batteries will be renewed. Everything will be revised. And I think we will come up with a fuel economy that will surprise everyone,” Saga said.

It looks like the top selling Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV may get some AWD competition.

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Next Generation Toyota Prius To Get Electric All-Wheel Drive

Automotive News reports the next generation of Prius, set to begin production in December of 2015, may get an all-wheel drive option in addition to its default front-drive layout.

“I think we will possibly do it,” said Koei Saga, senior managing officer in charge of powertrain development, speaking about all-wheel drive. Saga also says that there will be two different battery options available with the 2016 Prius, a low-cost nickel-metal hydride unit or a more expensive lithium ion pack.

The choice of two batteries could possibly deliver a low-cost version using the tried-and-true nickel-metal hydride technology that Toyota has used since it launched the Prius in 1997. And for those wanting longer electric-only driving range, a larger-capacity lithium ion pack could be offered as an upper trim model with a higher price.

The 2016 Prius will ride on a new platform, making the car lighter, smaller and more efficient. ”The batteries will be renewed. Everything will be revised. And I think we will come up with a fuel economy that will surprise everyone,” Saga said.

It looks like the top selling Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV may get some AWD competition.

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Bugatti mulls hybrid follow-up to Veyron supercar

Bugatti, the maker of exotic supercars such as the 1,200-horsepower Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, is considering a model that some might feel contradicts the ethos of the extravagant brand: a hybrid.

The French manufacturer, owned by Volkswagen, has developed the blueprint for a 2015 follow-up model to the $1.7 million limited-series Veyron that may sell out this year, two sources at VW group with knowledge of the matter said.

The two-door model may rely on a 1,500-horsepower, 16-cylinder engine and will probably be limited to about 450 cars, the same as the expiring Veyron, the sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Bugatti's new chief executive Wolfgang Duerheimer, a former R&D boss at Audi and Porsche who returned to the French brand on June 1, favours a hybrid version of the brand's next model, the sources said on condition they not be identified because the matter is confidential.

Ultra-luxury nameplates such as Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche are embracing electric powertrains after being on the cutting edge for years in upgrading chassis and engine electronics while striving to trim CO2 emissions.

Hybrid systems used in McLaren's P1 model and Porsche's 918 Spyder work to boost performance and fuel economy.

"Moving to hybrid propulsion seems like a logical next step" for supercar-makers, said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Centre of Automotive Management near Cologne. "By curbing emissions and boosting performance, they can justify building more of these cars."

The new model will beat the 431 kilometres (268 miles) top speed of Bugatti's Veyron Super Sport, which lost the title of the world's fastest production car in February to the Hennessey Venom GT, sources said.

"The new model will not be less exciting than the Veyron," a spokeswoman for Bugatti said, without being more specific. "Our customers have certain expectations."

Wolfsburg-based VW acquired the Bugatti brand in 1998 along with Lamborghini and Bentley Motors to create a stable of high-end carmakers. VW doesn't break out Bugatti's earnings in quarterly or annual reporting, but a company source says the brand has been loss-making for years on high development costs for the Veyron.

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Bugatti mulls hybrid follow-up to Veyron supercar

Bugatti, the maker of exotic supercars such as the 1,200-horsepower Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, is considering a model that some might feel contradicts the ethos of the extravagant brand: a hybrid.

The French manufacturer, owned by Volkswagen, has developed the blueprint for a 2015 follow-up model to the $1.7 million limited-series Veyron that may sell out this year, two sources at VW group with knowledge of the matter said.

The two-door model may rely on a 1,500-horsepower, 16-cylinder engine and will probably be limited to about 450 cars, the same as the expiring Veyron, the sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Bugatti's new chief executive Wolfgang Duerheimer, a former R&D boss at Audi and Porsche who returned to the French brand on June 1, favours a hybrid version of the brand's next model, the sources said on condition they not be identified because the matter is confidential.

Ultra-luxury nameplates such as Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche are embracing electric powertrains after being on the cutting edge for years in upgrading chassis and engine electronics while striving to trim CO2 emissions.

Hybrid systems used in McLaren's P1 model and Porsche's 918 Spyder work to boost performance and fuel economy.

"Moving to hybrid propulsion seems like a logical next step" for supercar-makers, said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Centre of Automotive Management near Cologne. "By curbing emissions and boosting performance, they can justify building more of these cars."

The new model will beat the 431 kilometres (268 miles) top speed of Bugatti's Veyron Super Sport, which lost the title of the world's fastest production car in February to the Hennessey Venom GT, sources said.

"The new model will not be less exciting than the Veyron," a spokeswoman for Bugatti said, without being more specific. "Our customers have certain expectations."

Wolfsburg-based VW acquired the Bugatti brand in 1998 along with Lamborghini and Bentley Motors to create a stable of high-end carmakers. VW doesn't break out Bugatti's earnings in quarterly or annual reporting, but a company source says the brand has been loss-making for years on high development costs for the Veyron.

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400 hp VOLVO XC90 will be worlds’s most powerful SUV

Volvo Cars' all-new XC90 will offer an unrivalled combination of power and clean operation when it is launched later this year. The all-wheel drive seven seater offers drivers up to 400 horsepower but with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of around 60 g/km (NEDC driving cycle). There has never been an SUV offering this level of power this cleanly.

"There are no compromises when you drive an all-new XC90," said Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research and Development of Volvo Car Group. "In the past you could either have power or low CO2 emissions. But with the all-new XC90 you can have both."

The new XC90 offers a range of Drive-E engine options, all of which provide an outstanding combination of performance and fuel-efficiency. The main distinguishing feature of the Drive-E engine range is that they are all four-cylinder engines.

"With our new Drive-E powertrains, we have created a family of intelligent petrol and diesel engines with power curves that give exciting driveability at the same time as delivering world-beating fuel economy," added Dr. Mertens. "With seven people in the new XC90, carbon dioxide emissions per person and kilometre are outstandingly low."

The CO2 performance of the all-new XC90 will reinforce Volvo Cars' leadership when it comes to bringing more environmentally-sound technologies to market. According to figures monitored by European car industry association ACEA, Volvo Car Group delivered an industry-leading reduction of average fleet emissions by 8.4 per cent from 2012 to 2013.

Twin Engine technology

Volvo has made it possible for a four-cylinder engine to provide all the driving pleasure associated with a much larger engine and do so far more efficiently and cleanly. Drive-E engines will over time be introduced across Volvo's entire range.

For the all-new XC90, the top of the range 'Twin Engine' will carry the badge 'T8' and be a plug-in electric car, hybrid car and high-performance car rolled into one.

Normal driving is conducted in the default hybrid mode. This utilises a two-litre, four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged Drive-E petrol engine that powers the front wheels and an 80 hp (60 kW) electric motor that drives the rear wheels.

It uses the supercharger to fill in the bottom end of the power range to give the engine a big, naturally-aspirated feel, while the turbocharger kicks in when the airflow builds up. The electric motor on the rear wheels provides immediate torque.

But at the push of a button the driver can switch to quiet and emission-free city driving on pure electric power where the range will be around 25 miles, and then, when needed, immediately revert back to the combined capacity of the petrol engine and electric motor, with its combined output of around 400 hp and 640 Nm of torque.

Full range of other engine options

The Volvo XC90 range also includes the D5 twin turbo diesel engine with 225 hp, 470 Nm and best in class fuel consumption of around 47mpg (combined), plus the D4 turbo diesel engine with 190 hp, 400 Nm and a fuel consumption of around 56mpg (combined cycle).

Not only is there no compromise in terms of performance or efficiency, but Volvo Cars' new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) chassis technology also allows for far more flexibility inside the car. Other carmakers have struggled to combine the bulk of a battery pack with a luxurious and spacious interior, something that Volvo has managed to overcome.

"Since our new SPA technology is designed from the start to accommodate electrification technologies, the Twin Engine installation does not compromise luggage or passenger space," said Dr. Mertens.

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Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Plugin hybrid Test Drive [VIDEO]

Mitsubishi Australia were kind enough to loan EV News an Outlander PHEV for a week long test drive and we're not surprised it is already the best selling plug-in EV in several markets around the world.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is the first 4x4 SUV to combine 'series' and 'parallel' hybrid systems. It has all the benefits of a plug-in electric car with a part-time duty cycle 87 kw 2.0 L 4 cylinder MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control system) petrol engine that can run in either series hybrid mode, where it is used to top up the 12 kWh lithium ion battery mounted under the cabin, and/or can also runs in parallel mode to drive the front wheels.

The electric powertrain is based on 2x 60 kw / 166 Nm BLDC permanent magnet synchronous motors that run on up to 300 volts. It's a bit like having an iMiEV motor on each axle. Given the 1810 kg curb weight, EV mode acceleration is reasonable, but applying anything more than half throttle activates the ICE to assist. In this parallel mode the PHEV has a combined maximum output of 207 kw available for hard acceleration which 'feels' like a V6.

Mitsubishi engineers have done an excellent job on NVH (noise, vibration and hashness) for the part-time duty cycle ICE (internal combustion engine) in the Outlander PHEV. Unlike the Holden Volt we drove last year where the ICE became fairly annoying after a few hours in the car, the ICE powertrain in the PHEV is so quiet that, without the assistance of the LCD 'energy use' dash display graphic, it's hard to tell whether the ICE is actually running or not!

The official ADR fuel economy rating for the PHEV is 1.9L/100km, with a maximum range of 824 kilometers from it's 45 liter fuel tank. I had originally planned to drive the PHEV to Melbourne (1,800 km round trip) to test highway range and the adaptive cruise control system (more on that later) but for business reasons the trip was postponed. Instead, during the 7 days I had the PHEV, I never needed to lift the fuel filler flap even once and returned the vehicle with more than 100 km range still indicated on the dash having covered 700 km of urban driving.

The vehicle was plugged in each night so we started each day with a full battery. The 12 kWh battery gives an EV mode range of approx 50 km. The PHEV provides a couple of options for managing your charge via two centre console mounted buttons. The 'CHRG' button allows the driver to manually turn on the ICE to charge the battery while the 'SAVE' button conserves battery charge and engages the ICE to drive the Outlander PHEV like a regular front wheel drive petrol vehicle. We were still experimenting with the save mode when we had to return the vehicle.

At highway speeds, aerodynamic load is at it's maximum and given the fact that brake regeneration on expressways is minimal combined with the relatively small amount of energy contained in an electric cars battery (12 kWh) compared to a regular fuel tank (405 kWh) , we experimented with using 'Save' mode on any steady-state motorway with a posted speed limit of 100 km or more in an effort to save the battery for lower speed urban roads where brake regeneration can be maximised and losses such as aero resistance are minimal.

Unfortunately it wasn't a very scientific experiment so I can't provide any figures. Even without using save mode at all the PHEV still achieved minimal fuel burn using the same strategy of using the ICE in parallel mode at highway speeds so perhaps it would take longer than a 700 km test drive to get the most out of these manually operated features.

All Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV press cars are the top-of-the-range Aspire model which comes with a feature that seems perfectly suited to an electric powertrain, adaptive cruise control. As an EV powertrain can brake and accelerate with a single input from the throttle pedal, this allows seamless control of a vehicles variable speed relative to other traffic.

Adaptive Cruise Control was my favorite feature on the car and was turned on at every opportunity. In traffic it takes over everything but the steering. In built-up heavy traffic with speeds as low as 1 km/h the system will slow and accelerate in response to the traffic ahead. In stop-start traffic the system can bring the vehicle to a complete hold, only signalling to the driver to push the brake pedal once the vehicle is stationary. The vehicle will not move away from a dead stop, but cruise can be resumed once over 10 km/h.

It was not uncommon to have the cruise control set to 80 km/h while only seeing 50 km/h on the speedo as the car responded to traffic. The driver can adjust the distance to the car ahead in three steps with a a steering wheel adjustable push-button. In addition this distance automatically adjusts according to speed, with the gap to the car ahead increasing at higher speeds.

The system also handles lane changing fairly well. When the driver changes lanes to go around a slower vehicle the vehicle will respond to the clear lane and accelerate to the set speed. The drive can also momentarily over-ride the system with throttle input to accelerate into a gap while lane changing and the cruise control will resume at the set speed once you lift off the throttle pedal.

One thing we were curious about was what the brake lights were doing in adaptive cruise mode. Apparently the low-speed auto brake system on the Ford Focus strobes the brake lights when active, but we were unable to confirm what was happening on the back of the PHEV in this mode?

As with most hybrids which mix regenerative and friction braking, the PHEV runs a brake-by-wire system with a servo operated hydraulic brake master cylinder. This enables the cruise control to apply friction brakes at very low speed to bring the vehicle to a complete stop. With Adaptive cruise control, driving in heavy urban traffic almost becomes relaxing! I honestly think this is the single best feature of the car and given the fact ABS and stability control are now mandatory on new cars, it seems only a matter of time before adaptive cruise control and autonomous braking also become mandatory features.

Speaking of stability control, the Outlander PHEV comes with Mitsubishi's Active Yaw Control (AYC) and Super All Wheel Drive Control (S-AWC) which was first developed for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. Given the SUV's high centre of gravity layout this is probably a very handy feature to have although there was no way I intended to push this vehicle to the limit to test it out. Perhaps the PHEV powertrain will soon be seen in something closer to the ground like the XR-PHEV EVO images recently released, then AYC and S-AWC could be actively engaged for entertainment value on winding country roads without the risk of tipping over.

With a list price of $47,490 for the standard Outlander PHEV and $52,490 for the Aspire, it's little surprise the PHEV has shot to #1 plug-in on debut with 99% of all Outlanders sold being PHEV in several markets around the world.

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Translogic 153: 2015 BMW I8 [VIDEO]


The 2015 BMW i8 is the second model in the Bavarian automaker's eco-friendly i-brand lineup.

The i8's plug-in hybrid powertrain combines a turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine with a 96 kilowatt electric motor to make 357 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. Together, this gas-electric mechanical duo is capable of propelling the futuristic sports coupe from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 4.2 seconds.

Join Host Jonathon Buckley as he heads to Santa Monica, CA for a chance to drive the all-new BMW i8.