General Motors Improves its Hybrids

To its mild hybrid powertrain standard for the Saturn Vue crossover and Aura Chevrolet Malibu sedan general motors is going to add more power electric motor along with a set of lithium-ion batteries.
At Geneva Motor Show the new powerplant was revealed by GM Chairman Rick Wagoner.

According to the schedule the production is to start in 2010. the company is not intending to use the beefed-up powertrain in North America. The system on the Buick LaCrosse Eco Hybrid offered by GM will be built in Shanghai. Also the updated powertrain can be used with GM’s European cars. In this region the main goal is not to increase fuel economy but to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The main feature of mild hybrids is their quick stop-start capability. This system allows shutting down the engine when the does not move. Then it restarts the engine when the motorist needs to move again.
When the new system is prepared the company is going to sell around 100,000 mild hybrids annually.
According to the automaker their new powerful system can be used with engines which have turbochargers as well as with diesel ones.
The first generation system used currently is almost invisible for motorists. Everything will change with the next generations. The new electric motor will be 3 times more powerful than the current one. The nickel metal hydride batteries used now have 33 per cent less power than the updated battery pack.
Wagoner told reporters that the expected result would be a very cost effective hybrid system that would be three times more powerful than the current system.
According to Wagoner the hybrid system was developed by GP in cooperation with Hitachi Ltd.
Global chief engineer of GM hybrid systems, Stephen Poulos, told us that they had taken the same system and put it on steroids.
Any GM car using the Ecotec four-cylinder engine can be equipped with the new hybrid without major re-engineering of this car. The battery pack has the size of a 12-pack of soda. Gasoline engine’s computers are separated from all the electronics.
The new hybrid system will cost similar to the current mild hybrid which carries $2000 despite of the fact its production will be more expensive.
Increasing the volume the company is intending to lower the costs.
Poulos says that currently it is not precisely calculated how much fuel economy will improve with the new powertrain. Besides, the use of the new batteries does not imply that the Chevrolet Volt has a green light for production. The matter is in the fact that this model needs to store a lot of energy in order to cover long distances.
The company is not going to stop and is planning to launch about one new hybrid every three months.