By
EWAN KENNEDY
18 September 2006
In what could be considered an unholy alliance, arch rivals
Mercedes-Benz and BMW have joined forces to research and develop hybrid
powertrains. To further confuse the issue the world’s largest auto
maker, General Motors, is also a member of the group. The alliance has
the title of Global Hybrid Cooperation.
Dr Andreas Truckenbrodt is
DaimlerChrysler’s executive director for hybrid powertrains, Mercedes
is, of course part of the DaimlerChrysler organisation. Dr Truckenbrodt
recently visited Australia to discuss hybrid vehicles, as well as other
possible sources of fuel, with the Australian media.
There has previously been a feeling
amongst many auto makers that either hybrids were not the way to go, or
were only as a stopgap measure pending the introduction of other fuel
sources.
Fuel cell powerplants are often
considered to be the solution, but these are still many years in the
future. Proponents of hybrids say they can help reduce oil use and
subsequent emissions in the interim.
Toyota has been the runaway leader in
hybrid vehicle sales for almost 10 years now, having been particularly
successful in the USA. Over there, movie stars and the like have taken
to hybrids with gusto, though there have been significant sales to ‘real’
people as well. Whether this is a passing fad nobody knows. And we also
hear that many of the hybrid driving stars also own huge SUVs and large
V8 cars…
So surprised have BMW, Mercedes and GM
been at Toyota's success that they decided to pool their resources on
hybrids to avoid each of them having to spend huge amounts of money on
individual research.
When Dr Truckenbrodt was asked if Toyota
had been invited to join the group he replied that Toyota would be
welcome within Global Hybrid Cooperation, but was not interested in
taking part.
Though the three auto makers are
co-operating at top level, we got the distinct feeling there was still a
lot of rivalry, even some antagonism, taking place between engineers who
had formerly been rivals. Which is not necessarily a bad thing as
competition can be a great way to bring out the best ideas and solutions
to any problem.
At this stage, the concentration within
Global Hybrid Cooperation has been on the hybrid system itself. Toyota
has made major changes to the petrol engines it uses in conjunction with
the electric motors in its hybrids, but GHC feels their petrol units are
already working well.
The biggest feature of the Global Hybrid
Cooperation systems is the use of an improved transmission claimed to
provide superior fuel economy, performance and load carrying capability.
It does so by using computers to maximise integration between the petrol
and electric motors and by using a two-mode continuously variable
transmission.
Sensibly, when the new hybrid system
enters the market in 2007 it won’t be fitted to small cars, but to
large 4WDs and, later, passenger cars. The first vehicle to become a
hybrid will be a Chevrolet Tahoe, followed shortly by a Dodge Durango.
These are both large vehicles that could
be termed as gas guzzlers and there will be significantly bigger
benefits in reducing their fuel consumption than when hybrids are used
in small cars.
Passenger models, probably BMW 7 Series
and Mercedes S-Class variants, the largest in their respective ranges,
will receive hybrid power plants at a time yet to be determined. Other
models will presumably be introduced if BMW, DaimlerChrysler and GM find
that the current public interest in hybrids continues.
