One of the knocks against hybrids is that they're best around town, but once you get on the highway, it's back to full-time fossil fuels. Nissan is developing its own hybrid tech that it plans to launch in the Infiniti FX, in which the electric component will assist the engine at highway speeds as well, not just around town.
We don't know how close, if at all, it will be to the hybrid system in the Porsche Cayenne -- that (as-yet-untested) one can run the vehicle entirely on electric power at 75 MPH. Nissan's offering is slated to arrive some time in the next decade, presumably in the next generation FX. When it does, that will put at least four different types of major manufacturer hybrids on the roads, making their way through streets also littered with clean diesels. When we get that kind of concentration, the shakeout will really begin to decide who'll win the altpower war.
New KITT Attack Mode revealed at Comic Con
London 2008: Honda OSM concept roadster says, "Cheerio!"
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora
2010 Chevy Camaro - Official Details and Images
2010 Chevy Camaro - LIVE from the reveal
In the Autoblog Garage: Aprilia RSV 1000 R
First Drive: Maserati Quattroporte S in Europe
First Drive: 2008 MINI Cooper S JCW
In the Autoblog Garage:2009 Nissan GT-R
North American Exclusive First Drive: Alfa MiTo
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ligor @ Dec 12th 2007 5:35PM
i guess hybrid tech is here to stay. with technology moving so fast, maybe by 2020 we can have a 35mpg SUV?
(and not the Tahoe does not already get 25mpg in the new hybrid coming out)
mk @ Dec 12th 2007 5:58PM
Where is this energy coming from???
Electric power to supplement IC power at cruising speed? That won't take any sort of electricity source or anything...
I swear this is the modern search for perpetual motion. Let's improve efficiency by adding more weight and more complexity, and more 'more'; while the added complication doesn't provide enough benefit to offset it's weight and reliability and long term maintenance drawbacks.
Does the engine produce power for the electric system that supplements that engine? Does it plug in, and further tax our power grid infrastructure, which is even less efficient at transmitting quantities of energy without losses, and use fuel by proxy?
fuel on board makes more sense... Oh, wait. That is what we already have. That isn't new and politically chic. That doesn't garner attention from the famous ignoramuses
Farris @ Dec 12th 2007 6:30PM
ahahahahha. So true...
I literally lol'd at your comment. The guy walking down the hall had to poke his head in and ask why I laughed.
I also find it funny that all the manufacturers are pushing gasoline hybrids when they could be pushing cars with setups similar to locomotives (electric drive with a diesel generator). (flame suit "at the ready," but not necessarily "on")
mk @ Dec 12th 2007 10:31PM
@farris,
diesel turbines driving electric motors is not a bad idea. it works great for locomotives and ships. It makes sense there. But those systems are heavy, and are long-running, but not suited to stop and go, and regular shut downs. They also don't suit a vehicle that requires more precise handling than riding on pre-laid and gradual-change steel tracks.
IF the system gets shrunk down to a more manageable size, it would make more sense on long-haul trucks and maybe agricultural or heavy construction equipment first.
Passenger cars are comparatively light, and as light as possible is more efficient. Clean diesel, gasoline, and even HCCI are more than powerful enough to power a vehicle without the losses of converting kinetic energy to electricity, and back to kinetic energy.
Locomotives are a different situation. Very little stop and go, and lots of inertia to recoup. (electric motors become generators during deceleration of that much mass.)
Automobiles are much more efficient to be directly gear-ratio driven. Less complication and less weight are less parasitic. Less energy loss is more efficient.
Refine the system, sure; but metaphorically re-inventing a wheel with angles, for political correctness is a shell game, and no one ever wins those but the ones moving the shells. They don't win either, if the rest of us are smart enough not to bet and lose.
Making the existing "round wheel" lighter, truer, with better traction and less rolling resistance is all fine. but trying to change it's shape to something else, and still have it work the same doesn't really work. it throws more problems into the mix than it solves.
Jei @ Dec 13th 2007 12:52PM
I may be mistaken, but European auto companies have been testing diesel-electic hybrid powertrains for a while now.
It would be a silly not to take advantage of the diesel mpg consumption and combine it with magnetic/battery power. GM's two-mode system is the first major perspective on improving hybrid fuel consumption on highway driving. It's really good that other major manufacturers are studying similar systems, because that can only make the overall products better in the long run.
MikeW @ Dec 12th 2007 7:33PM
How about Nissan just put a 6 speed automatic into the FX & EX first.
justin @ Dec 13th 2007 12:13AM
The more choices the better.
However I would like solar panels on my garage to charge my midsize diesel/plug-in hybrid pickup truck.
Jei @ Dec 13th 2007 1:04PM
In the US, there hasn't been much said about diesel hybrids b/c of the push to get many of the units certified to even be sold in the US market first.
I like the Touareg V10 TDI. Imagine it with a Bluetec V10 TDI engine or even a V10 Bluetec TDI-electric hybrid system...
The 310hp/553lb-ft V10 TDI engine already gets 17mpg city/23 mpg highway (20 mpg avg). That's better than the V8 version and a whole lot of other comparable SUVs and some large wagons and sedans. Add a hybrid system and this vehicle would be on everybody's shopping list (save for actual costs).