Peugeot & Citroen Develop Diesel-Electric Hybrid System
The Hybride system works much like any current gasoline-electric hybrid, pairing an internal combustion engine, in this case a 1.6-litre HDi common rail turbodiesel featuring a pollutant-capturing particulate filter system, with a 23 kW (31-hp) electric motor that can be used to generate or produce electric power. The diesel motor feature’s PSA’s Start and Stop system, which automatically turns the engine off when idling and restarts it instantly when the gas pedal is pressed - just like other hybrids. Electrical power is stored in a high-capacity lithium-ion battery pack. Because the Hybride system utilizes an electronically-controlled manual gearbox with sequential-shift, the car can be operated using any combination of diesel and/or electric power, making it a full hybrid, as opposed to a mild, ‘combination’ hybrid that merely assists the combustion engine.
By backpacking electricity to the already efficient HDi diesel powerplant, the Hybride system improves substantially upon the performance of current gasoline electric hybrids. For example, both the C4 and 307 Hybride are able to return a truly impressive 3.4 L/100 km (69 mpg) on a mix of city and highway driving, while returning a mere 90 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven. For comparison, a Peugeot 307 3-door HDi mated to a 5-speed manual, the same vehicle sans the Hybride system, is capable of 4.9 L/100 km (48 mpg) on the mixed cycle, and produces 129 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, yet is 35 percent more powerful due to the boost of the electric motor. PSA claims that the Hybride-equipped C4 and 307 are capable of besting an equivalently sized gasoline-electric hybrid by some 25 percent, meaning reductions of up to 1.0 L/100 km on the mixed cycle.
Like most manufacturers, the only thing that is stopping PSA from giving the Hybride system the green light at the show is the impact of the expensive electrical components on the price tag. While hybrid technology may be viable for high-end sedans, large SUVs and purpose-built ‘green machines’, the price gap between a Hybride-equipped 307 or C4 is twice as large as consumers would be willing to spend. PSA has pledged to lower the cost of technology in order to implement wide-spread hybrid availability to the masses, and expects to have a solution presented before 2010. In four year’s time, the world should have an instinctively different outlook, and by then, perhaps diesel-hybrid technology will be more widespread.
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July 31st, 2006 at 4:24 pm
I was looking for diesel-electric hybrids after thinking that the technologies would be a great combination. I am an American and have only found European cars that are diesel-electric hybrids, and most are only concept cars. Hopefully these are coming very soon and will hit america but I fear I’ll have to have one shipped. I would be running it on home-brewed biodiesel using used vegetable oil and am curious to see if fitting a solar panel on a bike rack with a plug-in electric hybrid conversion would be possible. I am very, very excited to see these diesel-electric hybrids on the market!