Hyundai’s History with Hybrid Vehicles

Hyundai reminds committed to leading the auto industry in fuel efficiency. The powertrain lineup is exclusive to four cylinder engines and six cylinder transmissions. The 2011 Hyundai Sonata became the most efficient vehicle in its class with and EPA rated highway mileage of 40 mpg.

History of the Hybrid

The first productions of the Hyundai Hybrid Blue Drive debuted in the winter of 2010, and it is now a full parallel hybrid system. It was developed in-house by Hyundai and includes several technical firsts and those allowed the Sonata to provide efficiency and performance not available in other hybrids. The Sonata Hybrid can be driven at zero emissions, fully electric drive mode at speeds up to 62 mph or in blended gas-electric at any speed.
When the car stops the electrical load is low, and the engine is shut down to completely eliminate idle fuel consumption and emissions.

Lithium Polymer Battery Technology

The lithium polymers cells use a manganese spinal chemistry that provides an excellent balance between power and delivery, energy density and thermal stability. Thermal stability is critical to ensuring durability eliminating the need to replace the battery pack during the normal lifespan of the vehicle. The electrodes in older lithium ion chemistries expand and contract with the heating and cooling that occurs during charging and discharging. This thermal expansion causes cracks in the electrodes which ultimately reduces the cells ability to hold charge. Manganese spinal lithium polymer cells have much lower expansion rates and are thus able to go through tens of thousands of  charge cycles even without having to use a heavier, liquid cooling system.

How this works with the Sonata

Hyundai engineers were able to create a lighter and more compact battery pack, which maximizes cargo space. The Sonata’s Hybrid’s 1.4 kilowatt battery weighs 95.9lbs and 10 percent more efficient then other hybrids. This means the car will be able to propel forward when necessary and provides an electric driving boost more often and for longer periods of time. The Sonata’s battery will hold its charge 25 percent longer then hybrids with nickel metal, which means the car will have usable energy even if it has been sitting in the garage a couple of days.

Architecture

The Hyundai Direct Hybrid Blue Drive powertrain is the most unique architecture on the market. Hybrid Blue Drive being among the first full hybrid systems on the market to use a conventional step-ratio automatic transmission, the Direct Hybrid Blue Drive System requires developing multiple unique transmissions to meet the requirements of different vehicles. Hyundai is given flexibility to roll out a range of mild and full hybrid powertrains to meet customer demands because the Direct Hybrid Blue Drive modular architecture facilitates the combination of different motors, transmissions and batteries with common hardware interfaces. This is great because debuting on the 2011 Sonata is an extremely compact six-speed automatic transmission. This vehicle is also equipped with a 30 kW permanent
magnet synchronous electric tractor motor that produces 151 pound-feet of torque from 0 rpm.

Handling

Something else that is a unique feature of Direct Hybrid Blue Drive is the Hybrid-Starter-Generator. A 8.5 kW starter motor-generator is belt-drive off the Theta II engine. The Hyundai HSG does not provide any tractive effort to the vehicle and is only used to start the engine and charge the battery, but it operates at the same 270 volts as the electric traction motor and lithium polymer battery.

The transition between accelerating and breaking is silent and smooth. When the driver applies the break pedal, the engine is decoupled from the traction motor so that it provides no drag on the vehicle. Converting the kinetic energy into electrical energy rather than thermal energy also reduces the wear on the brake linings. Regenerative breaking allows the breaks to work better in emergency situations. It is an electronically controlled brake system used to determine the driver’s braking demand based on the degree of pedal application. The vehicle also looks at the current battery state of charge, vehicle speed and other parameters to determine how much braking is possible.

Power and Control

When it comes to the steering of the 2011 Sonata Hybrid it is no different than all the other 2011 Sonatas. It uses an Electric Power Assist Steering system that provides boost instantly and only when needed for steering maneuvers and reduces the overall parasitic load. The air conditioner is electrically driven so that climate control can be maintained, which allows for more precise on-demand control reducing the load on the powertrain saving fuel. The Theta II engine
operations on an Atkinson cycle which uses late closing of the intake valves to produce an effective compression stoke that is shorter than the expansion stoke. This is to help improve the overall thermodynamic efficiency and reduces the pumping losses of the engine. This engine still produces more power and torque than any other vehicle of the same size.

Hyundai Motor America

The Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has the perfect design with the sophisticated Direct Hybrid Blue Drive powertrain and significantly reduces the amount of energy required to maintain highway speed, which results in remarkable highway fuel efficiency. Hyundai of New Port Richey will be glad to provide you with the perfect Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.