Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne and EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announce a program to evaluate how EPA's Hydraulic Hybrid technology can be applied to light duty vehicles.
Chrysler Group and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are exploring the feasibility of using a hydraulic hybrid system for large passenger cars and light-duty vehicles. The technology is already in use in industrial applications and large trucks.
The U.S. government of course is an owner of Chrysler – taxpayers put up $6.6 billion to reorganize it, along with Fiat, although it put up no cash only “intellectual property,” and the United Auto Workers Union, which accepted the majority of stock in the new firm. No financial details about the hybrid agreement were released.
Since Chrysler Group’s U.S. sales are comprised of more than 70% of vehicles rated as trucks, the company remains vulnerable to rising fuel prices. The E.P.A. claimed that a hydraulic hybrid could provide +35% in fuel efficiency gains, and possibly as much as a 60% improvement is city driving, compared to traditional powertrains in the same type of vehicles.
The hydraulic hybrid system was developed by the EPA’s lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Chrysler and EPA want to explore if the hydraulic hybrid technology can be scaled down to reduce its size, complexity and price of the system. It also unknown if a light vehicle hydraulic hybrid can be made smooth and quiet enough for automotive applications.
A Chrysler Town & Country minivan equipped with a 2.4-liter, inline four-cylinder gasoline engine and a two-speed automatic transmission will be used as a mule by 2012. It’s essentially a series hybrid that uses hydraulic pressure rather than battery stored electricity to provide power.
However, unlike more sophisticated hybrids, the Chrysler proposal does not recover some of the energy normally wasted during braking.
Components of the hydraulic hybrid system include a 117 cc engine pump, a 45 cc drive electric motor and a two-speed automatic transmission. Fluid for the system will be stored in a 14.4-gallon high-pressure accumulator.
The hybrid system uses engine torque to run a hydraulic pump, which charges a high-pressure accumulator to 5,000 p.s.i. The accumulator supplies the pressure to a hydraulic motor attached to the drivetrain. The gasoline engine remains off – if the accumulator charge is sufficient to drive the motor.
“In this hydraulic hybrid project, the Chrysler Group and EPA will evaluate and, hopefully, validate fuel-efficiency gains and greenhouse gas reductions,” Marchionne said in a statement.
“One of the aims of Chrysler Group’s integration efforts will be to meet driver expectations for smooth and quiet operation, so that Americans will want to buy and will enjoy driving vehicles with this technology.”
The announcement was made at the EPA laboratories in Ann Arbor, following a meeting with Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Group CEO, and Lisa P. Jackson, Agency Administrator for the EPA.
