mild hybrid smart

[smartfloridadad]

does anyone know if this is comming to the US,if so when?,I want to buy one or a diesel hybrid,the St Pete Times belives gas prices will continue to increase and pass at least 6.00 a gallon,I've had my smart since february ,ready to buy a second ,hope they bring one of these two models to the states

[Big Panda]

Originally Posted by smartfloridadad

does anyone know if this is comming to the US,if so when?,I want to buy one or a diesel hybrid,the St Pete Times belives gas prices will continue to increase and pass at least 6.00 a gallon,I've had my smart since february ,ready to buy a second ,hope they bring one of these two models to the states

'which two' are you speaking of? did you forget to post a link?

i know that my friend in TH posted an article from MB saying something about MHD's and such, but we concluded these were for the European market and not the US. too bad, i would have been in line to get one of those in a heartbeat!

[bob_in_europe]

sorry for the let-down, but mhd is a bit of a misnomer bordering on misrepresentation.

the euro mhd is nothing more than a stop-start function which stops the engine below a given speed threshold (like 5mph) when you have your foot on the brake. If you put your foot to the gas, the engine starts up again. It is a feature intended to conserve fuel in city or stop and start traffic. Although it brings decent incremental economy improvement to the vehicle, it is definitely NOT a hybrid system (which pairs an otto-/diesel-cycle engine with some kind of electric final drive either in a series or parallel configuration.)

[jwight]

Bob, we've been round and round on this one. I agree with your description of the mhd smart; others believe it has a regenerative electrical feature of some sort.

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by jwight

Bob, we've been round and round on this one. I agree with your description of the mhd smart; others believe it has a regenerative electrical feature of some sort.

Indeed! From the French smart site:

A la place du démarreur habituel, la smart fortwo mhd utilise un générateur marche / arrêt qui exploite le plus efficacement possible les « phases de repos » du moteur.

Or: "Instead of the usual starter, the smart fortwo mhd uses a running generator that starts/stops, to use the engine's «resting times» in the most efficient way possible".

[jwight]

Thanks, JPaul - I stand (actually sit) corrected.

[Big Panda]

Originally Posted by jwight

Bob, we've been round and round on this one. I agree with your description of the mhd smart; others believe it has a regenerative electrical feature of some sort.

Originally Posted by JPaul

Indeed! From the French smart site:

Or: "Instead of the usual starter, the smart fortwo mhd uses a running generator that starts/stops, to use the engine's «resting times» in the most efficient way possible".

Originally Posted by jwight

Thanks, JPaul - I stand (actually sit) corrected.

sounds to me that you're ALL correct! hey, i'll consider that over what we're being offered now. i WOULD like to test drive one FIRST!

in any event, using less fuel of any type is a win-win situation....

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by Jeepster55

sounds to me that you're ALL correct! hey, i'll consider that over what we're being offered now. i WOULD like to test drive one FIRST!

in any event, using less fuel of any type is a win-win situation....

Need an excuse for a trip across the Big Blue, Jeepster55?
As for the start/stop, I wonder if it doesn't burden some components a bit much? Remember those experiments with start/stop starters in the late 90's: they had to be forgone because they reduced the life expectancy of the starter itself... the cogwheel didn't last long...

[mendo]

This system doesn't use the starter, it uses a larger Alternator/Starter.
by beefing up the windings in the Alternator it can turn the motor over by injecting voltage. it is a nice quiet system. Think about a motorized golf cart. they use the same type of starting system. you just step on the gas and they go. when you are stopped, the motor doesn't run. For people that do a large portion of stop-start traffic driving or mostly around town through stoplights, this could help reduce fuel consumption. The only drawback which it shares with the true hybrid is if you are running the air conditioning it will not cycle off due to the need of rinning the compressor.

[anthony94114]

I think start-stop should be mandatory equipment in every car manufactured. It makes SO much sense to shut the engine off when it's getting zero miles to the gallon. Soon, soon, I'm sure it will be standard fare. MINI has it, Citroen, they hybrids of course.. but more is better.