For Hyundai, Blue Is the New Green
November 24, 2008 | 2:59:09 PMCategories: Alt Fuel, Concept Cars, Los Angeles Auto Show
LOS ANGELES — Hyundai is making a big splash here at the L.A. Auto Show with a promise to deliver a full line of hybrids and gasoline vehicles that average 35 mpg by 2015. The cornerstone of the Korean automaker's eco-plan is a hybrid sedan that breaks new ground with lithium polymer batteries Hyundai says are cheaper, lighter and more durable than anything else on the road.
By embracing lithium polymer technology, Hyundai is breaking with competitors like Toyota, which remains dedicated to the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in the Prius, and General Motors, which is pouring everything it has into developing the lithium-ion technology at the heart of the Chevrolet Volt. The company's "Blue Drive" push to seize the green mantle from Toyota and Honda begins next year when it rolls out super-efficient "Blue" versions of its already thrifty Accent and Elantra — with sticker prices below their conventional counterparts. Hyundai's first hybrid, a gas-electric version of the Sonata, follows in 2010.
“Hyundai aims to be the most fuel-efficient automaker on the planet,” says John Krafcik, VP of product development. “We’re aligning our global R&D resources in Michigan, California, Nam Yang and Frankfurt to develop the Blue Drive technologies we need to achieve our goal — a 35-mpg U.S. fleet average by 2015.”
Hyundai is late to the hybrid party, rolling out its first gas-electric car well after Toyota and Honda introduce their third-generation hybrids and Chevrolet plans to offer its range-extended electric car. Hyundai hopes to make up for lost time by delivering batteries it says are better than those in the Prius, the forthcoming Honda Insight and Chevrolet Volt.
Hyundai is breaking with the rest of the industry by betting lithium polymer batteries are the future. Krafcik says they deliver the same power as the nickel-metal hydride batteries found in the Prius but deliver 10 percent greater efficiency while weighing 30 percent less and requiring half as much space. They also offer greater energy density in a smaller package than lithium-ion batteries while being more durable, easier to cool and cheaper to build, he says.
The battery being developed by LG Chem is the heart of a parallel hybrid system called Hybrid Blue Drive that mates a 2.4-liter gasoline engine to a six-speed transmission and a 30-kW electric motor. Hyundai says the car will have an all-electric mode, but there's no word yet on what sort of range it will offer or what kind of fuel economy the hybrid will deliver.
Besides the hybrid, Hyundai plans to offer high-fuel economy models of the Accent and Elantra that feature improved aerodynamics, low-resistance tires, transmission tweaks and engine modifications aimed at improving efficiency. Hyundai didn't offer any specific fuel economy figures but says the "Blue Editions" will be cheaper than the conventional Accent and Elantra, which start at $11,070 and $13,970, respectively.
Looking ahead, Hyundai execs have signed off on an all-new crossover utility vehicle based on the HED-5 concept pictured above. The six-passenger vehicle uses Hyundai's new Theta engine, a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with direct injection. The company says the engine produces 286 horsepower — more than many V6s on the road — while improving fuel economy by 15 percent. The Theta engine will appear in other Hyundai models as well.
Main photo by Jim Merithew/Wired.com. All others by Hyundai.
Old news Hyundai.... VW's already got you beat on the green front, with old technology revamped. Why buy expensive batteries? If Ford would suck it up and sell the Fiesta Diesel here we'd have a fun car that gets 69mpg...
btw... 95mpg diesel hybrids are already available in Europe... Why does the US have to get hosed on this issue? Because automakers and oil giants don't want us to spend less money. Efficient cars with extremely durable engines are not good for repeat customer sales or oil sales.
sunyjim,
To be perfectly fair, the goal is a 35mpg average across their whole lineup, not a "35mpg Hybrid".
People used to deride cheap unreliable box car maker some years ago.
Now, US carmakers will take on that reputation.
USA! USA! USA!
If these batteries are so awesome why can't they make a 100% electrical drive chassis?
There will be no MPG rating then. Just 500kms on one tank of electricity :)
Permanent magnet motor
Ok, to all those who keep saying my old Saturn or VW or Escort, or ___ old small car got as good or better mpg as these so called advanced hybrids... That may be true, but their emissions wasn't as good and they didn't have to weigh nearly as much as their more modern counterparts in the same class.
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Every year crash safety and emissions standards go up and that adds more crumple zones, metal side impact bars and more complex systems like ESC, side airbags, and other heavy power sucking systems. Lets not forget the market expectations for more standard power conveniences (heated seats, steering wheels, dvd players, gps, etc...), and faster acceleration for an already heavier and more complex car and that's why you can't get high mpg in newer cars! (without using exotic / expensive light weight materials)
My only experience with LiPo Lithium polymer batteries were those tiny indoor RC helicopters and zip zap cars. I have to admit that micro sized battery put out an incredible amount of power for it's size and it charged pretty fast! A battery smaller than a pencil eraser powering a propeller keeping a toy hovering for 5-10 min for less than $30 is pretty amazing. I can imagine scaling it up for a full sized car and if it really is lighter and cheaper to produce, then Hyundai has a winner.
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If only the Chevy Volt used this type of battery to bring the cost down it would have been an incredible combination. Maybe it only ran 20 miles before the on-board gas generator kicked in, but if it dropped the price $15-20k then it would really sell like hotcakes and change the paradigm of how cars are powered!
I am surprised that there is no mention of the all electric Mini Cooper ("Mini E), especially in light of them accepting applications for field trials.
to the first poster...
Captain dumbass please read it... It says "AVERAGE 35mpg... across the lineup."
That means when you average ALL the cars, from the SUV's to the crossovers to the sporty Tiburon to the little tiny car, they average out to 35mpg. Thats pretty good digits even for your standard vehicle.
That would mean they would likely have very affordable 50-60mpg cars that arent 20,000 dollars like a prius.
Wow. What a joke! 35 mpg. Yes, I know, I know, across the whole lineup. We're talking 6 years from now guys! The Ford Escape demo plugin hybrind announced a year ago gets 120 mpg. Its an SUV. A small one but nevertheless an SUV. This is nothing but a marketing ploy...and not a very good one at that.
Real news would be an automaker moving all of its cars to hybrid, plugin hybrid, or pure electric models by 2015-2020. I'd give that a standing ovation!
I think there's a typo in this story.
'35mpg'
I think there's a typo in this story.
'35mpg'
I'm with sunyjim. 35 mpg? That's the best they can do? Even for an average... Douchebags. Take your 35 mpg and shove it. It's 2008 people, wake up and make a personal transport device that doesn't suck. I'm sure you can do it, or has Ritalin medicated away all of our creativity and innovation? Daydreaming once led to invention, now it is classified as ADD and medicated away. There was a time when we would not be satisfied with crap, worthless, feeble crap, I look around me and now that's all I see. My generation has been born into a world that is crumbling from neglect. The so-called "greatest generation" and "baby-boomers" has left us with a serious mess to clean up. They should be off my planet soon enough, but I still feel an urge to punish the elderly. DIE ALREADY, you old bastards! You've tortured your own children and grandchildren with your ineptitudes, you've condemned us to a world destroyed by your selfishness and greed, you've waterboarded us with your ignorant indulgences and then you've tried to raise us to be the same. We are not content with 35 mpg, we are not content with pollution, we are not content with injustice in the world, we are not content with poverty on our streets, we are not content with inadequacies. Take your inadequacies to your graves. We will not accept 35 mpg, not even as a fleet average, that is pathetic, worthless, it is an insult.
I just wish that their current models would come close to the mileage they have listed when you purchase them. 28 MPG my ass!! 20 would be pushing it.
You people are missing the point. The point of Blue-Drive is cost; it is cost-reduced to the point that it can be a $2,000 option on a regular sedan. This is a fraction of all competing hybrid platforms, and even much cheaper than Toyota's platform.(Subtract Corolla's base price from Prius's base price and you will see how much Toyota's hybrid system costs.) Then Hybrid tech truly becomes a mass-market item for mainstream consumers, sort of like how you take Air-Conditioning and Automatic transmission for granted.
Blue-Drive is truly a break-through. 2004 Prius made Hybrid practical. Blue-Drive of 2009 brings Hybrid to mass-market.
I feel equally frustrated when I watch these car commercials touting mpg numbers that feel like they're years old. Didn't I see those numbers eight years ago? People are finally asking for more efficient cars—they are demanding them—but will anyone come through?
That's supposed to read "WeSeed Writer." Could someone fix that for me please? My fault.
To all the "experts" that are harping about the big mileage number for European cars here is a little bit of info. Their MPG ratings are using imperial gallons not US gallons.
So my car that gets 30 MPG gets over 36 MPG in Europe just because their gallon is bigger than the US gallon.
I liked it when gas prices were rising above $4/gallon. It made everyone mad at the car manufacturers for not having greener and more efficient vehicles in their line up TODAY! Change was in the air finally. Now Gas prices are back to where they were and everyone is getting complacent again. 35mpg...give me a break.
Big Oil paid Hyundai to keep it down to 35 mpg in 2015.
I had a Geo Metro in the 1990s that got 50 mpg. Seriously 35 MPG sucks, hybrid or no. Color me unimpressed.
@lwatcdr:
Idiot, you have it backwards... If the imperial gallon is bigger, you would get less mpg's in imperial.
You are American I assume?
When you have cars in your lineup, like the Genesis V8 and the coming coupe that get around 26-28mpg on the highway (combined of like 24) and the SUVs and Sonata..and average it against models that would throw the curve up to 35mpg (combined I imagine, not highway) you're talking cars that regularly do 50, 60, or 70mpg highway at the high end. If you're too stupid to figure it out, why bother trying, just say you don't know what an average is.
@whoever: What? Your brain has been asphyxiated, your mind is mush.
1 Imperial gallon = 4.54609188 liters.
1 US gallon = 3.78541178 liters.
An Imperial gallon will carry any vehicle further than an American gallon. When did facts stop being facts? You're asleep at the wheel. If you had a logical brain cell it would die of loneliness.
I think your confusion rests in the concept of mpg vs gpm. The Brits generally view the commute in gallons per mile, while Americans view travel in terms of miles per gallon.
Listen their whole lineup doesn't include any huge extended cab pickups, or Escalade sized SUV's. The biggest vehicle they make is a CROSSOVER suv (That's a SUV on a car frame with a car engine), and a minivan. 35mpg for their lineup is crappy and they should be doing much better.
I apologize for being stupid. I read this article wrong.
The real blame for the low mpg standards is the government. Most manufacturers only want to comply with the minimum standards. To do anything more would cost them more money. But a lot of you aren't fully comprehending this article. I would suggest re-reading it. The implications of battery technology improvements are a step closer in the right direction.
@Sunyjim
Contrary to what you think, Hyundai is actually an automaker specialized in gas-guzzling full-size vehicles in its domestic market, and company was in the process of transitioning to a higher-margin full-sized vehicle line-up in the US market. it is just that the US market never saw Hyundai's Cadillac-sized V8 gas guzzlers until now, but those were around for decades and fat profits from those vehicles fueld Hyundai's US and Euro expansion.
For Hyundai to average 35 mpg is about as difficult as GM's with their future product planning, but they are doing it nevertheless.
Back in the 1990's Saturn produced the EV-1 with GM. 120 Miles per charge. Yes I said 120 Miles per charge. The average person travels 30-40 miles a day. Google "EV1" watch Sony video production "What happen to the electic car". Than you will not question 35 mpg but "WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL USING GAS!!!!!!"
Does anyone know what is the counterpoint to the lithium-polymer vs. NiMH claim? Hyundai VP says LiPo puts out the same power as the nickel-metal hydride, 10% greater efficiency, 30% less weight, half the size. Also vs. Li-ion greater energy density in a smaller package, more durable, easier to cool and cheaper to build. Gee, it seems like a certifiable wonder. I just wonder what is the counterpoint - I can't believe everyone else simply overlooked this technology.
I likey Hyundai, it makes me want to touchy myself.
EDITOR: Joe Brown | 
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Seriously we applaud 35 miles to the gallon by 2015?!
Is that really the best we can do? I had a 2001 saturn sc2, all gas that got 35 MPG, I can go right now to a VW dealer and buy a VW Jetta TDI and gets somewhere between 45-60MPG on just straight diesel.
By 2015 I'm looking for something better how about aim for a 95 MPG clean diesel hybrid? or a 50 MPG straight gas vehicle.
35MPG hybrid, way to walk it in... YOU HUMP!