Automotive manufacturers are taking fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions more seriously these days.
The attention is not focused entirely on small cars. Some pickups will soon sport new fuel-saving technology as an option.
Hybrid vehicles are the current answer to significant improvements in fuel economy without creating total upheaval in the fuel delivery infrastructure.
Manufacturers recognize that alternate fuels, fuel cells and electric vehicles all require expensive and radical changes to deliver that “fuel” to consumers.
The current crop of hybrid vehicles uses some sort of electric engine in combination with a small gasoline engine.
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The leaders of this movement are Toyota, Honda and General Motors.
Toyota markets its hybrid under the name Prius while Honda simply calls its sedan the Civic Hybrid and the two door the Insight.
GM does not have a vehicle available now, but is going to jump in with both corporate feet this fall with the Sierra and Silverado pickups.
The hybrids from Japan are small front-wheel-drive sedans that use electric engines to assist the gas engine when required, such as when starting or climbing a hill.
They also employ fuel saving techniques such as automatically shutting the engine off when stopped at a traffic light and using low rolling resistance tires.
Toyota plans to use a second generation hybrid power plant in the RX 300 in two years, but will stick to the Prius until then.
Silverado/Sierra for 2004 will have an electric assist engine option that is different from what is now on the market.
As a rear wheel drive, it makes no sense to put the assist on the differential like the front-wheel-drive cars.
Due to size considerations, the assist engine wouldn’t fit on the tail shaft, so GM put it between the full-size gas engine and the transmission.
It does the job of starter, assist engine and generator to recharge the battery pack.
Braking also helps charge the 42-volt battery pack.
Fuel savings come not from assisted propulsion, but by running all the accessories when the engine automatically shuts off at traffic lights and when coasting.
When the traffic light turns green and you hit the accelerator, the gas engine restarts instantly and the change is hardly perceptible.
Putting the electric engine in front of the transmission lets it take advantage of the transmission’s torque multiplication.
Fuel economy improvement is about 15 percent.
If you travel 20,000 kilometres a year and fuel stays at 70-80 cents per litre, your savings would be roughly $290-$330 over a year of average driving.
GM has been asked repeatedly why it is starting with a pickup truck and not a car. If you think about it, a truck is the natural place to start, according to John Healy, a GM technical engineer.
GM sells nearly 1.6 million pickups a year in Canada and the United States.
A pickup can absorb a weight increase of 90 kilograms easier than a car and it is easier to find a place to put the new lithium ion battery cells.
If a quarter of all GM pickups sold were hybrids and the fuel economy increase was 15 percent, total gasoline consumption would drop by more than 150 million litres.
The savings with hybrid cars would be less due to fewer sales.
Increased fuel economy isn’t the only new feature in the truck.
The test mule I drove had a 110 volt, 20 amp outlet in the back of the truck box.
When the assist engine is not assisting, it can be used as a generator to power drills, saws, RVs and, in an emergency, your home.
In 2005, GM will roll out an automatic transmission, front-wheel-drive Saturn VUE with a 25 horsepower electric engine at each front wheel in addition to a regular gas engine.
The electric engines will propel the car at low speeds and in reverse and assist the gas engine at higher speeds when required. The company expects fuel economy gains of up to 50 percent.
Following the VUE will be the new Equinox SUV in 2006 with a single electric motor and a continuously variable transmission.
Malibu will get the same treatment for 2007.
If extra large is your truck size, GM is working on that, too.
There is no date set for the release of the ParadiGM hybrid system for class five and up trucks and buses.
Two buses are now out on the road for evaluation.
The ParadiGM system differs from other electric assist systems in that there are two electric assists on the transmission.
One is between the engine and transmission and the other is on the tail shaft.
Fuel economy improvements have been about 25 percent.
Charles Renny is a freelance automotive columnist and a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of the writer.
