Valeo’s stop-start technology to be used in Audi’s sports coupe

Luxury automaker Audi will present micro-hybrid “stop-and-start” systems of Valeo in its RS5 sports coupe, sources informed Reuters, in a sign that the Paris-based provider may be tapping new premium demand for the fuel-saving innovation.

The contract with Volkswagen’s high end Audi department highlights increased costs by automakers on innovation designed to minimize carbon dioxide emissions, in reaction to tightening up standards and testing programs.

Volkswagen and Valeo both refused to comment.

Unlike a normal generator, which converts engine torque to electrical power to power a car’s circuitry and charge its battery, the starter-alternator can likewise re-start the engine in a split second.

The Valeo system provides fuel savings of as much as 15 percent by immediately shutting down the engine whenever an automobile is stopped by a traffic signal or traffic, with an in-step decrease of CO2 and pollution emissions in busy cities.

Initially introduced in 2004, the so-called “i-StARS” technology is a flagship item of Valeo’s 4 billion euro ($4.6 billion) propulsion systems division, having 3 million units sold.

However launch customer PSA Group and other volume producers have since dropped it from new models in favor of beefed-up starter motors, a less expensive though less effective stop-and-start solution.