French Prime Minister pledges to support diesel-electric hybrid development
Right on the heels of Toyota's European chief executive saying that there's no viable market for diesel-electric hybrids, Auto Industry is reporting that Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister of France (pictured) declared that he would do everything in his power to assure the development of those costly, dual-premium power trains.Toyota's Arashima noted that the costs of diesel-electric hybrids are far beyond what a consumer would pay. Unless Villepin just needs to own a C-Metisse, we're not exactly sure of what his motivation is just yet. Perhaps, it's simply to excel in waters where Toyota won't wade.
So far, he has requested that the country's industrial innovation agency fund a €100 million budget for the project. The drive train Villepin has in mind would consume 30 percent less fuel than a conventional diesel and 25 percent less than a gas-electric hybrid. It's not yet clear which companies would be involved in the project, but Auto Industry notes that U.K. firm Ricardo has worked as the principal engineering consultant on a diesel-electric hybrid for Peugeot Citroen as recent as this year.
(Photo: (c) David Mendiboure - Service photo de Matignon / Service photographique du Premier ministre)
[Source: Auto Industry]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Green Business News 5:41AM (10/09/2006)
The November print edition of Car Magazine (http://www.carmagazine.co.uk) includes an interesting interview with Rinaldo Rinolfi of Fiat, inventor of common-rail diesel technology, who notes that diesel engines already cost 50% more than an equivalent petrol unit to build, and that the gap will increase as emissions regulations tighten. He says other options to increase efficiency are better and cheaper. Because of the cost, he concludes: "Diesel-electric hybrids will only work in big SUVs, trucks and buses... Every year we do the calculations and the result is alays the same."
http://green.itweek.co.uk
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Glenn 3:15PM (10/06/2006)
If the French are happy about hybrid-diesels, then they CAN'T be "the answer".
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Aaron 5:12PM (10/06/2006)
Let them develop it geez! Then let them put them in semi's and busses, and what not, where the extra cost is marginal and the extra saving on gas are incredible... Wait a couple years til that technology has been used for a while so development and manufacturing prices go down and gradually put them in smaller or slightly less expensive vehicles til it reaches the common commuter car... But don't say it's not worth developing at all....gas hybrids are outrageously overated and dont hold a candle to small diesel cars made 20 years ago in Europe let alone today. Let's see you're most likely to trade in a car that was already paid off to buy a Prius, so right off the bat you're contributing to the wasting more natural resources to create a new car, a hybrid of which can cause much more waste to produce than its gas-only counterpart. You're spending over $20,000 + dealer markup for the Prius more than you would if you just kept the car that you owned that was already paid off; then we have the hybrid technology itself... The British governemtn did a study on the Prius and found out it polluted more than many similar conventional gas engines while it wasn't running on its electric motor...and the way it gets its super low emissions ratings here is averaging in the no emissions time while the electric motor is being used, resulting in a skewed measurement. Speaking of which, this whole hybrids get to use the HOV lanes on freeways thing is crap since thats when they get the least mileage and aren't in electric mode. Then you have the batteries; you already paid the price premium for them and added the extra weight to the non hybrid counterpart so is it worth it? No..in 8 to ten years you'll need to fork over at least another $5,000 for a replacement....during which, every year that led up to it, as the battery got weaker and weaker the mileage has been dropping and the hybrid systems efficiency is thrown out the window. Then of course, that means that since hybrids WILL eventually need such huge costly upkeep at some point in time people will be reluctant to buy hybrids that are a years old so they don't get stuck with that bill...meaning in a couple years from now when hybrids finally reach that age we'll see how their resale value falls throught the floor.
All the while you could have spent $500 to $1000 to get the car you already had paid off in tip top shape again and drive it for a few more years. I don't understand people these days...so bent out of shape over which brand to buy because it says they're more reliable than others, but whats the point, people don't keep their cars nearly as long as they used to, I'd be surprised if peole keep their new cars longer than 5 or 6 years these days. Please keep contributing to the waste created when manufacturing new cars...you should be keeping them longer and longer as they get more and more reliable...not the opposite! JUst keep the car you had!
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