Hannover, 2. April 2009 – in hybrid drives today generally decided between the three basic types parallel, power-mounted and serial. During Toyota established the power-shifted hybrid drive in coarse stucco numbers in the market and the parallel hybrid is currently gaining in importance, the serial hybrid does not matter in automotive engineering – not yet. There was already him in the early automobile’s early days, the young Ferdinand Porsche had already developed him in 1901. As a disadvantage of the serial hybrid, its unfavorable efficiency applies because the internal combustion engine operates only one generator and does not drift directly mechanically. Therefore, the energy must be converted twice, which is associated with losses each time.
Rich extender
Nevertheless, the serial hybrid drive stands before its return. General Motors wants to bring him to the market in Chevrolet Volt 2010/2011, a similar Opel offshoot should come to Europe as Ampera at the end of 2011. GM reluctantly speaks of a serial hybrid, but rather from the electric car with a prolonged range. Because you can usually drive in the electrical control, the combustion engine must only help if the battery is ventilating. For this type of serial hybrid drive, the term Range-Extender has established itself – a range extender, which is likely to be used. Especially for American customers, this is rearing because they are used to coarse distances in everyday life and also coarse dates often have a coarse flatness than in Europe.
Fiat 500 with Range Extender
GM will probably have the privilege to bring the first Range Extender in series. But even in other places is intensively researched in this technique. Thus, the Aachen FEV Motorentechnik GmbH presented a converted Fiat 500 last autumn, which can be driven at least 100 km purely electrically. That was allowed to satisfy the most professional commuters completely. GM is at 60 km, spat thereafter, a four-cylinder gasoline engine comes to the aid, which is similar in its design as a lifting piston motor with 1.4 liter capacity and turbocharging a normal drive motor.