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Green drive at CWG 2010


A small team at Maruti R&D has been preparing for this mega event since last eighteen months. Of course this was not for any medal wining competition. Our given target was to provide a fleet of environment friendly vehicles including hybrid and electric options to CWG 2010. I worked on design & packaging activities of these vehicles with my colleagues.

SX4 was chosen to make it a parallel hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). It means the vehicle can be driven from a petrol engine (1.2L) as well as from an electric motor(50KW) (providing zero emission) and also as combined power source i.e. engine+e-motor.

Such kinds of hybrid vehicles are available in the world from very few manufactures. E.g. Toyota Prius, Honda insight hybrid etc.

Even our parent company Suzuki, Japan has not made any parallel hybrid yet.

This vehicle is very fun to drive because it has pure I/C engine drive, E-drive, boosting with e-motor while combined drive and regenerative braking. Also due to having an AMT(Automatic manual transmission) you don’t need to pull gear shifter and there is no clutch paddle in this vehicle.

Finally the hybrid version of SX4 has achieved 30% more fuel economy than SX4 petrol version car with 1.6L engine.

Maruti Van ‘EECO’ was planed to redesign as an electric variant. As named electric, this vehicle runs from an electric motor taking electric energy from a Li-ion battery. The battery can be charged from household electric socket through an external charger. After full charging the vehicle can be driven 120km continuously. It does not have any combustion engine, so it does not make any pollution at traffic.

Finally a fleet of ten hybrids and three EVs were demonstrated at CWG 2010. It was driven on Delhi roads to transport CWG officials. These cars were widely appreciated by Govt. officials and foreign delegates. But these Hi-tech vehicles will not reach market right now (Not sure about near future also).

Enjoy the bellow media coverage links bellow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvKXc43tQoI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR_qCTKZKis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-XOWhf4B3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eZwORlBkxI&feature=related

Thanks.

Chiranjit Ghosh

Comments

raj alakshendra said…
i always wanted to know more abt this car ... thanks for the info ..
tel me , when it is so fuel efficient n economical thn it is not being launched ???
Unknown said…
Hi Chiru Bhai..long time..

So we are putting our legs into a 'green future' !!

Heard a lot about the Prius..So Maruti Suzuki too is working on the hybrid cars..way to go Chiru bhai..

Go green..
Chiranjit said…
@ Raj

It is difficult to launch currently because it will be very costly at market. The main reason of high cost is its battery. India does not have any high voltage Lithium ion battery manufacturer. To bring this car into market we need domestic battery manufacturer who will be able to develop high volt Li-ion battery. Our domestic battery manufacturers do not have enough fund and skill to develop these batteries. Here we need govt. to support financially. Then only these cars can come to the market. Importing batteries is not at all cost-saving option.
Chiru bhai!
Congratulations on these new developments at Maruti!
I've seen a lot of the Toyota Prius here in the US (the most sold hybrid car here) and some Honda Insight. If I'm not mistaken Ford and Chevrolet too have hybrid cars here in the US.
But this is a good start for India.
I have a question regarding the fuel economy.
Doesn't the better fuel economy come from the fact that a smaller engine is being used (I see that you'll have reduced from a 1.6L to a 1.2L- going from the normal SX4 to the Hybrid). That's one of the reasons why a bike (100 cc) has much better fuel economy than a car.

D
Sakshi said…
@Chiru

I saw the report on these cars on TV! We were all super impressed!

Way to go! :)
Chiranjit said…
@ Dion
Yes, you are right that smaller engine gives better fuel economy. The total improvement of FE is contributed by combination of all the hybrid functions.i.e drive purely battery, regenerative braking (charging battery during braking, optimised gear shifting etc.)
Our SX4 hybrid although has a smaller engine, it can clock 0-100Kmph in just 12.3 sec. This is 1.5 sec. faster than original SX4 petrol version.

GM, ford, Nissan, VW all have hybrids. But Prius is the most popular HEV today.
@Chiru bhai,
Great to see that you're working on an exciting project
I'm sure that you'll help Maruti keep its legs into future to ensure a phosphorous future for our country.(sic)

By the way,the discussion between Dion and you seemed to go over my head-total "Mech-talk"!
raj alakshendra said…
@dion
trying his best to show of his little left mech knowledge ...

@mannu
ignore kar :)

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