The Saturn VUE Hybrid
Hybrid Cars from Hybrid Hippie!
Great look on this new Saturn Hybrid.
- One Example of GMs Belt Alternator Starter SystemIn mid-2006, G.M. will debut the 2007 Saturn VUE Green Line, the first vehicle to use G.M.s belt alternator starter (BAS) system. Combined with regenerative braking and a modified 4-speed automatic transmission, the system will give what G.M. is calling the "mild hybrid" version of the VUE a 12-15 percent improvement in fuel economy, for a few hundred dollars over the base price. The Saturn VUE Greenline will carry a starting price of $22,995 (including destination charge). The major dividing line used to be drawn between full hybrids, which can move forward solely on electric power, and mild hybrids, which require at least some gasoline to power the transmission. Now, it is not so easy to know where mild stops, and full begins. The G.M. pickup trucks have been called "stop-start" hybrids, because they use the electric power only while idling or during vehicle deceleration. The trucks clearly do not qualify even as mild hybrids. According to Steve Tarnowsky, G.M., assistant chief engineer for the Saturn VUE hybrid system, it is "a lot more than a stop-start system. It is a real hybrid." Environmentalists are not exactly cheering G.M.s BAS system as the next great hybrid technology. In fact, Jason Mark, director of the Clean Vehicles Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, does not think the term "hybrid" should be applied to the Saturn VUE Greenline. He told HybridCars.com, "Every quasi-hybrid under the sun is being labeled as hybrid for public relations benefits. In a pure engineering sense, the VUE is a hybrid because it uses a small amount of power from the electric system. But its gains in fuel economy are so modest, that we think it is unfair to put it in the same category as even G.M.s own two-mode hybrid system." Mark criticized G.M. for using hybrid technology to raise real-world fuel efficiency from 16 mpg to 18 mpg. "The point of the technology is not to turn extreme gas guzzlers into moderate gas guzzlers" Mark said.
Read more
Great look on this new Saturn Hybrid.
- One Example of GMs Belt Alternator Starter SystemIn mid-2006, G.M. will debut the 2007 Saturn VUE Green Line, the first vehicle to use G.M.s belt alternator starter (BAS) system. Combined with regenerative braking and a modified 4-speed automatic transmission, the system will give what G.M. is calling the "mild hybrid" version of the VUE a 12-15 percent improvement in fuel economy, for a few hundred dollars over the base price. The Saturn VUE Greenline will carry a starting price of $22,995 (including destination charge). The major dividing line used to be drawn between full hybrids, which can move forward solely on electric power, and mild hybrids, which require at least some gasoline to power the transmission. Now, it is not so easy to know where mild stops, and full begins. The G.M. pickup trucks have been called "stop-start" hybrids, because they use the electric power only while idling or during vehicle deceleration. The trucks clearly do not qualify even as mild hybrids. According to Steve Tarnowsky, G.M., assistant chief engineer for the Saturn VUE hybrid system, it is "a lot more than a stop-start system. It is a real hybrid." Environmentalists are not exactly cheering G.M.s BAS system as the next great hybrid technology. In fact, Jason Mark, director of the Clean Vehicles Program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, does not think the term "hybrid" should be applied to the Saturn VUE Greenline. He told HybridCars.com, "Every quasi-hybrid under the sun is being labeled as hybrid for public relations benefits. In a pure engineering sense, the VUE is a hybrid because it uses a small amount of power from the electric system. But its gains in fuel economy are so modest, that we think it is unfair to put it in the same category as even G.M.s own two-mode hybrid system." Mark criticized G.M. for using hybrid technology to raise real-world fuel efficiency from 16 mpg to 18 mpg. "The point of the technology is not to turn extreme gas guzzlers into moderate gas guzzlers" Mark said.
Read more
posted by Car Boys Media @ 6:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home