German Car Zone

JESMB Testdrives CLK 500 ISG M273
JESMB drove a CLK 500 ISG Hybrid prototype at the IAA. It has the new M273 E 55 (5.5 liter V8 with 388 hp und 530 NM) V8 and the ISG integrated starter generator hybrid. There is no engine running at the red light but surprisingly the climate system keeps running. It takes only 0.3 seconds to start. Overall the fuel economy is estimated to be around 9-10 liter per 100 km with the ISG saving around 6%.

"DIRECT HYBRID" and "BLUETEC HYBRID" S-Class concept cars introduced
Mercedes showed two concept cars at the IAA 2005 in Frankfurt. The DIRECT HYBRID uses direct gasoline fuel injection and electric motors to reduce the fuel consumption. The BLUETEC HYBRID uses a fuel efficient 3.0 liter V6 diesel, electric motors and SCR to clean the exhaust.
S350 DIRECT HYBRID 221 kW/300 hp 395 Nm 7.5 sec 0-100 consumption in l/100km: 8.3 instead of 10.2
S320 BLUETEC HYBRID 179 kW/243 hp 575 Nm 7.2 sec 0-100 consumption in l/100km: 7.7 instead of 8.4


DIESEL BEATS HYBRID: ML320CDI RX400h Coast-to-Coast-Marathon
Autobild tested diesel vs hybrids in a coast to coast marathon. Overall results:
ML320CDI driven 5229 kilometers
RX400h driven 5126 kilometers
ML320CDI 127.4 gallons fuel
RX400h 139.3 gallons fuel
ML320CDI consumption 9.2 liters/100km (25.5 MPG)
RX400h consumption 10.3 liters/100km (22.9 MPG)

Are hybrids economical?
Based on this info so far, lets calculate if hybrids are economical. My cars drive 7000 miles per year and at 20 MPG consume 350 gal of gas. A hybrid costs an additional $3500 and with 26 MPG consumes 269 gal, thus saving 81 gal or $202 assuming a cost of $2.49 per gallon for premium. Thus it takes 17 years until the additional hybrid expense is amortised, probably longer than the car will last. And after 10 years the hybrid's fairly pricy battery might have to be replaced.




E-class diesel with good highway fuel economy
MBUSA offers the E-class with gas or diesel. The E320 CDI improves the highway and also the city fuel economy of the E320 by more than 30% each while also accelerating faster. Better economy than a hybrid and it's built in Sindelfingen.
EPA CITY: 27 MPG instead of 20
HIGHWAY: 37 MPG instead of 28 Lexus RX400h introduced
It improves the 0-60 by half a second to 7.3 seconds while also increasing the combined fuel ecomony by 33% to 28 MPG (30 MPG CITY, 26 MPG HWY) compared to the RX330 AWD. It's quite complex with three separate electric motors: the NG1 starter generator, the NG2 123 kW motor with permanent magnets and the NGR 50 kW rear axle motor in addition to the 3.3 liter gasoline V6 with 208 hp. Overall it's rated at 268 hp and can add up to 247 lb-ft. at launch on the front axle and 96 lb-ft. on the rear axle. But most owners claim the published numbers are too optimistic obtaining only up to 25 MPG, even in city driving!
EPA CITY: 31 MPG instead of 18
HIGHWAY: 27 MPG instead of 24

Active M-class transmission
This 7G-Tronic seven speed transmission shown at the North American International Auto Show integrates two electric motors with 141 lb-ft and 221 lb-ft instead of the torque converter and can thus add up to 362 lb-ft or 491 Nm of torque. It's also mated to a four wheel drive transfer case. BMW researches a similar setup.

7G-Tronic Diagram:

Here is the rest of this AWESOME article....

http://www.whnet.com/4x4/hybrid.html

So much info and detail!!!

Very interesting read. Thanks for posting this.