landroverstormer
Member Since: 22 Oct 2006
Location: Somewhere close
Posts: 325
 
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| Stop/Start & Hybrid Technology entering the range | |
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/227645/
A stop-start device that will improve fuel economy on Land Rover Freelander models to over 41mpg will become standard fit in early 2009.
Doing what all such devices do — cutting the engine when the car stops — will also shave a welcome 25g/km off the tailpipe emissions of the Freelander 2.2 TD manual, the only model currently planned to take the technology.
That’s enough to shift the Freelander one band down the VED bandings to band E and four bands down the CO2-based company car tax rankings.
Unusually, the stop/start system will be standard on all diesel-powered manual ‘box Freelanders sold across the world, a development that Land Rover reckons will save 10m tonnes of C02 a year, based on 28,000 cars each driving 15,000 miles.
This stop/start system is just part of a joint £700m investment by Land Rover and Jag into green technology over the next five years.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/...ts/225544/
The next major step in Land Rover's bid to become more environmentally friendly will be here within seven months.
The Solihull-based company already employs specialist hybrid-electric technicians and previewed hybrid technology in the Land-E concept at Geneva 2006. This year it will present a more advanced evolution of the Land-E's system in a driveable prototype.
A number of targets must be achieved by the hybrid system for it to be worth mass-producing. Primarily, it must be applicable to the entire Land Rover range including the Range Rover, and must produce a 30 per cent improvement in economy without compromising the car’s off-road abilities. It would also have to produce less than 150g/km of CO2 in a Freelander-sized vehicle.
In order to achieve that, the technology will centre around an integrated electric rear axle, which allows all four wheels to be powered by electricity alone –essential to maintaining Land Rover's benchmark off-road capabilities.
Weight is also a key factor to the next generation of Land Rovers. For example, the next-generation Range Rover will utilise a lighter, aluminium body to reduce CO2 emissions (read the story here).
Teaming this lightweight body with the hybrid drivetrain would achieve the necessary increase in economy and reduction in CO2 emissions that Land Rover requires, but production costs would be large. This may mean that using both aluminium and hybrid technology together would only be applicable in top-end models. TDV8 HSE in Java/Ebony with Zebrano Wood, RSE, Hybrid TV, and a few other bells and whistles.
Discovery 1 V8i Auto (The Off Road Toy)
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Tue Sep 11 2007 3:49pm |
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