{"id":499617,"date":"2010-04-01T10:40:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T14:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.caranddriver.com\/?p=18094"},"modified":"2010-04-01T10:40:40","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T14:40:40","slug":"hyundai%e2%80%99s-fresh-thinking-on-parallel-hybrids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/499617","title":{"rendered":"Hyundai\u2019s Fresh Thinking on Parallel Hybrids"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2011<\/a><\/p>\n

Back at the Chicago auto show, Hyundai’s North American CEO, John Krafcik, promised us that the 2011 Sonata hybrid<\/a> would\u00a0use a different approach to the parallel gas-electric system popularized by Toyota.<\/p>\n

He wasn’t lying. Most other automakers have had to either pay Toyota royalties to use\u00a0a parallel system similar to the one that’s\u00a0fitted\u00a0to the Prius and other models (Nissan does so with the Altima hybrid, and Mazda has just announced it will too<\/a>), create their own Toyota-esque parallel system like Ford has done, or take Honda’s approach\u00a0and come up with a series system that is cheaper but less fuel-efficient.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet Hyundai and Porsche\/VW have come up with neat systems that produce considerable mileage advantages\u2014Hyundai says the Sonata hybrid gets 37 mpg in the city and 39 on the highway\u2014while retaining a conventional planetary automatic transmission and having a battery pack that can sustain electric operation at quite high speeds.<\/p>\n

We spoke with Hyundai\/Kia R&D’s Woong-chul Yang, who gave us an overview of the system in the Sonata Hybrid (the same powertrain will also make its way into the hybridized Kia Optima<\/a>). It uses a 169-hp, 2.4-liter\u00a0gasoline engine that drives to a six-speed automatic transmission via a wet-plate clutch and a 40-hp electric motor. The motor is housed between the engine and gearbox.<\/p>\n

\"2011<\/a><\/p>\n

On start-up, the Sonata uses the electronics to decouple the engine and motor via the clutch, relying solely on electric power. The car can travel up to 62 mph on electric power alone, providing that throttle inputs are light.\u00a0When more power is needed, the clutch is engaged and the gasoline engine provides the motive force. In this mode,\u00a0the permanent-magnet electric motor acts as a flywheel. If the electronic control system detects that more torque is needed\u2014such as when climbing a hill or passing\u2014the electric motor then provides additional horsepower and torque.<\/p>\n

The Hyundai is the first car to use a lithium-polymer battery, made by LG, which has a greater energy density than a lithium-ion battery and is also 20 percent lighter. If\u00a0the battery level becomes depleted, the car’s computer can “tell” the electric motor to act as a generator rather than a flywheel and then sends current to the battery.<\/p>\n

Hyundai says that the key to its system is the speed with which\u00a0the electronic controls\u00a0can engage and disengage the clutch.\u00a0We also think that another key was the company’s desire to avoid paying royalties to Toyota at any cost.<\/p>\n

\"Return<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid – Car News<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid – Official Photos and Info<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T – Auto Shows<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Back at the Chicago auto show, Hyundai’s North American CEO, John Krafcik, promised us that the 2011 Sonata hybrid would\u00a0use a different approach to the parallel gas-electric system popularized by Toyota. He wasn’t lying. Most other automakers have had to either pay Toyota royalties to use\u00a0a parallel system similar to the one that’s\u00a0fitted\u00a0to the Prius […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6417,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6417"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}