Taking the demand for environment friendly cars seriously Jaguar has started to make their cars compliant with existing and the ever changing strict rules on emissions with no omissions. During an event titled Low Carbon Vehicle, they presented a flywheel hybrid XF car that had been engineered by people in Britain. The car is being rumored to have fuel efficiency that is 20 percent higher than others in spite of having power that is 80 horses more than the rest.
British engineering specialists at Flybrid systems along with Torotrak, Xtrac, Prodrive and Ricardo have come out with this prototype of the Flywheel Hybrid systems for Premium Vehicles (FHSPV). The flywheel which is a composite is driven through a Torotrak/Xtrac CVT gearbox. The engine can reach 60,000 rpm at peak levels. A computer system controls the power delivered to the wheel.
Along with the flywheel technology, Jaguar is also testing a start/stop system to collect the lost energy and reuse it upon start up. This will allow for fuel economy savings of up to 20 percent.
For reuse of the energy that is being generated during start up Jaguar is doing research into how this energy could be harnessed. Fuel economy in this case would go up by a further 20 percent is what is expected.
Daniel Lotus the Project engineer stated: “The FHSPV is really engineering due diligence exercise. We need to look at mechanical flywheels and see how they compare with electric hybrids. And then see if they have a production future.”
The spare wheel well had to be done away with to make space for the hybrid system which weighs just 65 kilos. There is good news for lovers of heavier vehicles in that the technology would be usable on these vehicles also.
The project cost is estimated to be £3 million and £2.2m stake is from the government’s Technology Strategy Board. All that remains to be seen now is how soon is Jaguar able to implement the technology in a road going version of a vehicle.
Source: topspeed
