[Mr. Wyndham]

This is AWESOME News!!!

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Company 'T'.

GM ramps up hybrid plans with new battery technology
BY MARK PHELAN • FREE PRESS AUTO CRITIC • March 4, 2008


GENEVA – General Motors plans to build a wider variety of hybrid-electric vehicles for its brands around the world thanks to a new high-efficiency lithium-ion battery the automaker will have on the road in 2010. GM expects to build more than 100,000 of the new hybrids a year.

The new batteries provide 33% more power, but take up 24% less space and weigh 40% less than the nickel-metal hydride batteries in the first generation of GM’s hybrids – the Saturn Aura and Vue and Chevrolet Malibu.
Compared to the 2008 Saturn Vue hybrid, the new system should boost city and highway fuel economy 1 or 2 m.p.g., said Stephen Poulos, GM chief hybrid engineer.

The new batteries also provide more electric boost during acceleration and recover more energy for charging during braking, said Dan Hancock, GM vice president of global hybrid engineering.

GM will introduce the batteries on one of its North American models in 2010, but plans to use them in a new generation of hybrid vehicles it will sell around the world, the automaker said. They will use 15% to 20% less fuel than comparable non-hybrid models and will include vehicles powered by biofuels and turbodiesels, Hancock said.

The batteries will not show up in the acclaimed two-mode hybrid system GM uses for trucks like the Chevrolet Tahoe and Silverado, GMC Yukon and Sierra and Cadillac Escalade, however. They do not generate enough power for those full-size trucks to move under electricity alone.

The batteries are different from the lithium-ion batteries GM is developing for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.

While the new batteries will make their hybrids more fuel efficient and allow their engines to shut off more frequently and for longer periods, they will not drive the vehicles faster than 3 to 5 m.p.h. in all-electric mode.

By that definition, they will remain “mild” hybrids with smaller fuel efficiency gains than full hybrids like the GM trucks, Ford Escape and Toyota Prius and Camry that can drive under electricity alone at up to around 25 m.p.h. The mild hybrids cost less than full hybrids, allowing GM to offer its hybrids for lower prices than full hybrid versions of similar-size vehicles. The Malibu and Aura hybrid midsize sedans, for instance, have a base price of $22,140, about $5,200 less than a Toyota Camry hybrid.

However, the batteries will work with vehicles and engines larger than GM’s current mild hybrids, and also with larger engines, even including V6 and V8 models. They can also be used in conjunction with turbocharging to increase the power of small engines and use them to replace bigger powerplants, like using a four-cylinder rather than a V6, or a V6 instead of a V8.