What’s new in hybrid systems? The hybrid world changed in the last year because of totally new plug-in hybrid powertrain designs from Honda and Ford; other similar ones are being designed by other carmakers, but honestly, who cares?
This C-Max window sticker will be updated to reflect a slightly lower MPG rating, brought on by customer complaints.
As an automotive professor, I have a hard time finding anyone who cares. Hybrids seem like a foreign concept to the majority of the people I talk to, and they almost laugh at me for even asking. The concept of using a hybrid-electric vehicle seems almost cult-like, only for tree huggers. Some people find the hybrid idea interesting, but do not like the additional cost of a hybrid. The majority of people I talk to about hybrid and alternative-fueled vehicles seem to concentrate only on the cost of the vehicle, not the money saved in decreased fuel costs with the increase in fuel economy or the possible environmental benefits. Hybrids have been available in the United States for 13 years now, but still are far from a vehicle the general population would consider purchasing.
It was predicted that more 15 million vehicles would be sold in the United States in 2013; more than half of them were trucks and SUVs that average less than 20 mpg. It seems to me that very few people care enough about high fuel prices and energy independence to even consider a hybrid or alternative-fueled vehicle for their next purchase. This last summer, Toyota announced that it had sold its 5 millionth hybrid vehicle worldwide; just a little more than 2 million of them have been sold in the U.S. in the last 13 years. That is not a very good sales record; all other manufacturers of hybrid vehicles fall short of Toyota’s 5 million hybrid milestone.
So once again I ask, who cares? You should care. Why? Because you are going to see a lot more of them in the next few years due to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tailpipe emissions regulations and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fuel economy regulations.
If you’re working on hybrids, you’re getting used to the underhood appearance.
Hybrids and electric vehicles are an easy way for a car company to balance the scales to compensate for the low fuel economy and high tailpipe emissions from all the trucks and SUVs sold. Without the clean and efficient hybrid and electric vehicles, they would not be able to sell as many not so clean or fuel efficient trucks and SUVs. Almost every car manufacturer now has hybrids or electric cars available, even the Chrysler Group.
Honda
The new Honda Accord Hybrid and Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid are what have really interested me this year. I think the new Accord is not as good looking as Ford’s new Fusion hybrids, but it does have a higher mpg rating, especially in the city (50 mpg).
Until now, Honda’s hybrid systems consisted of its Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system, a single electric motor-generator sandwiched between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the transmission. Honda’s IMA system is not as efficient or as powerful as Toyota’s hybrid systems. Many other carmakers use an IMA clone for their hybrids (Hyundai, Kia, Audi, Mercedes, VW, etc.).
The new Accord Hybrid/Plug-in Hybrid system (called E-Drive) is totally different than the old IMA system; it has a 320-volt Lithium-Ion battery (compared to Honda’s 144V or 158V IMA systems), and it uses two electric motors/generators. At first glance, I thought it was another variant of the Toyota Hybrid Drive system (two electric motors with a single or double planetary gear set in between them) but I was wrong. The new Honda two-motor hybrid is a totally unique design that has some great benefits.
A sign of times to come: Not a gas door, but an electrical connection for direct charging of the HV battery pack.
The E-Drive transaxle contains two electric motors-generators. The smaller motor-generator functions primarily as a generator for the high voltage battery, but it also is the starter motor. The larger motor-generator functions primarily as a drive motor to propel the vehicle, but it also functions as a generator for the high voltage battery when the vehicle decelerates or brakes (regenerative braking).
You might ask yourself, how is the new Honda E-Drive any different than the Toyota hybrid system? The big difference is that Honda’s two electric motors are not connected together inside the transaxle, while Toyota’s are. This means that the speed of one electric motor has no effect upon the speed of the other motor in the Honda E-Drive system. (One motor can be totally stopped while the other is rotating.) Why does that matter?
The Toyota hybrid system electric motors have maximum rotational speed limits. Toyota hybrids have the two motors connected together; one motor over-drives or under-drives the other. This means that the gasoline engine in Toyota hybrid systems must start at a certain vehicle speed (62 mph) to prevent one of the motors from going over the speed limit. The Honda Accord does not. The Accord hybrid can drive on battery power up to 80 mph (Ford’s Fusion top EV mode speed is 85 mph). This results in increased fuel economy for the Honda design (47 mpg) verses the Toyota design, especially when compared to the Camry and Avalon hybrids.
The new Accord Plug-in hybrid is the only hybrid vehicle I know of that has three truly different modes of operation. Honda’s E-Drive system can run on battery power only (EV Mode), combined engine and electric motor power (Hybrid Mode) or at higher vehicle speeds with low load, gasoline engine power only (Engine Mode). The Accord Plug-in hybrid can even charge its own high voltage battery while driving if the driver presses the right button. I am not aware of any other plug-in hybrid that can do that.
Both the Fusion hybrid and the Fusion Energi use the 2.0 Duratec engine package.
Ford
This year, the 2013 Ford Hybrid and Electric Vehicle lineup is very impressive. Ford, of course, is the king of truck and SUV sales. It needs to offset its trucks’ higher emissions and lower fuel economy with hybrid and electric vehicle sales. Even if Ford looses money on selling hybrid and electric vehicles, it can make more money selling more trucks and SUVs because of them. I am sure it is a balancing act that does make money at the bottom line.
The new Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid are beautiful cars, in my opinion. They both have the new 2.0L Duratec powertrain with a new Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery pack (1.4kWh in Hybrid and 7.6kWh in the plug-in hybrid). These vehicles have an average combined city and highway fuel economy rating of 47 mpg. That is 12 mpg above the 2015 NHTSA CAFE fuel economy requirement for passenger cars, but still short of the 2025 54.5 mpg fuel economy requirement.
You might recall that Ford recently had to revise its mpg estimates for its C-Max Hybrid because of customer complaints of lower-than-advertised fuel economy. Honda and Hyundai have gone through similar sticky situations. I can tell you from seven years of personal experience with three hybrids and an electric vehicle that you can get very close to, if not exceed the rated mpg ratings on almost any vehicle by driving the speed limit and using the cruise control; it is not that difficult. Many people speed while driving, and speeding always results in lower fuel economy, even in hybrids and electric vehicles.
Honda’s two motor-generators have no connecting planetary gear set like we’ve come to know in the Prius.
The Fusion Energi can drive approximately 21 miles on battery power before switching to hybrid mode. Unlike the Chevrolet Volt’s powertrain, the Fusion Energi can drive on electric power only or combined engine and electric motor (hybrid mode). The Volt has no hybrid mode, only a generator mode.
The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid and C-Max Plug-in Hybrid have almost identical powertrains to the Fusion models. The C-Max had the same 47-mpg rating when it came out, but has been modified lower because of customer complaints.
To complete the Ford hybrid lineup, the Focus Electric Vehicle (EV) is a zero CO2 emissions vehicle. The Focus EV came out last year, but I wanted to remind you that with every EV sold, every EV mile driven, large amounts of CO2 credits are generated for Ford to help offset truck and SUV CO2 levels.
In addition to the new MG design, Honda has updated and increased the capacity of the HV battery pack.
Chrysler, Regulations and CO2 Games
Chrysler has a hybrid? Not yet, but it might finally have to make one. First, I am not trying to pick on Chrysler in this section. It has just been kind of humorous to watch Chrysler over the years trying to get around the EPA and CAFE rules and sell almost nothing but trucks, SUVs and cars with HEMIs. From my point of view, the old (pre-Fiat) Chrysler seemed to think it didn’t need hybrids or cars that get good gas mileage (although it did try to sell a 2008 Durango 2-Mode Hybrid HEMI for about three months before it was forced to declare bankruptcy). Chrysler has a history of choosing to pay the EPA and CAFE fines for not complying with the regulations rather than developing the technology needed to meet the requirements.
The EPA has now changed the rules to help close loopholes in the CAFE law that allowed fines to be paid instead of complying with regulations. The loophole closing law is the regulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions; you must comply or not sell cars. You cannot have low CO2 emissions without also having good fuel economy unless you purchase CO2 credits from someone else. This put Chrysler (as well as several other gas guzzling carmakers) in a tight spot.
Honda’s plug-in offering for 2014.
For 2013, the new Fiat-owned Chrysler (The Chrysler Group) now has a new Fiat 500 Electric Vehicle for sale in California. The 500e will be good for some CO2 offset credits. The new Dodge Dart is also helping with the credits. In addition to these efforts, Chrysler is using R1234YF air conditioning refrigerant in some new vehicles in an attempt to obtain even more CO2 credits without using hybrids to offset its truck and SUV CO2 emissions. Chrysler is not the only carmaker playing the R1234YF CO2 credit game, joining GM in using the new refrigerant for this purpose. (R1234yf as a replacement for R134a is only required in new vehicle platforms offered for sale in the European Union.)
There are also other games carmakers play with CO2 credits. Electric car company Tesla Motors actually sells its CO2 credits to carmakers that need them because Tesla does not need them. Much of Tesla’s profits come from the sale of their CO2 credits. Other companies also sell their credits.
Under the hood, taking a closer look at Honda’s “Earth Dreams” technology.
I recently read an article indicating that Chrysler is developing a new small turbocharged 4-cylinder engine with a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant that should be capable of meeting the EPA Tier-2, Bin 2 emissions requirement. Tier-2, Bin 2 is the same clean tailpipe exhaust emissions level as the Honda Civic dedicated Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicle, just one Bin above Electric Vehicles (Bin 1). The Toyota Prius is Tier-2, Bin 3 (dirtier than Bin 2). I hope Chrysler can pull it off soon; they have got to do something fast.
The new hybrids and plug-in hybrids from Ford and Honda are game changers. I believe the rest of the industry will be playing catch-up for a while. We even might see a better, more efficient hybrid or battery design appear in the next few years as we approach the year 2025 and its looming higher CAFE fuel economy and CO2 requirements. By the way, proposals for CAFE requirements beyond the year 2025 already are underway and they will make 54.5 mpg look low.
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