South Korea, Seoul
# New city bus will reduce engine idling and CO2 emissions while raising fuel efficiency
# Much more affordable solution than a full hybrid system
# Incheon, Suwon municipalities to start fleet tests of 12 units
# Mass production to start end of 2009
Hyundai Motor Co., which last week announced plans to start retail sales in 2009 of hybrid electric vehicle passenger cars, has developed a cost and fuel-efficient city bus that employs a mild hybrid system based entirely on Hyundai’s proprietary technology. The application of a mild hybrid system to a commercial vehicle will accelerate the wider use of eco-friendly vehicles which reduce CO2 emissions and fuel costs.
The mild hybrid system uses an 8KW AC (alternating current) motor and
generator which is used to automatically shut off the engine when the
vehicle stops and to rapidly spin it back up when the driver releases
the brake pedal. It also transforms wasted kinetic energy during
braking of the vehicle into electrical energy which powers the engine’s
cooling fan motor. Depending on driving conditions, a vehicle equipped
with this mild hybrid system will be able to save between 15-20 percent
in fuel costs.
This mild hybrid system can be easily applied to any diesel or
CNG-powered vehicle and costs about one-fifth the price of a full
hybrid system. While full hybrid systems can improve fuel efficiency by
up to 50 percent compared to a conventionally-powered vehicle, their
substantially higher initial cost results in a much longer payback
period which make full hybrids less appealing to commercial vehicle
fleet owners.
Hyundai Motor Co. will supply two city buses to a Suwon transit bus
company in early April and 10 buses to another bus operator in Incheon
at the end of April for fleet testing, which will be closely monitored.
Hyundai plans to mass produce the mild hybrid city buses by the end of
2009. The company will complete the development of a full hybrid system
by mid-year and the full hybrid buses are scheduled to go into the
first fleet tests in the second half of this year.
Hyundai estimates that a city bus with the mild hybrid system will be
able to cut about 6-8 million won ($US6-8,000) in diesel fuel costs a
year.
If the idle stop and go system is applied universally to all trucks and
buses, the mild hybrid technology could play a key role in reducing
emissions and CO2 and other hydrocarbons and help prevent global
warming.
