The 2012 Auto Expo was surely a magnificent display of automobiles. For 5 consecutive days, the Indian public got a chance to see the future of the Indian auto industry. Amid all that glitz and glamour surrounding the cars, motorcycles and other modes of transport, manufacturers also demonstrated some future technologies which could be making way into the Indian auto market sometime in the near future. One such technology demonstrated was by Tata Motors. The company showcased the Indigo Manza Hybrid Concept at the Tata Pavilion. The Indigo Manza Hybrid is a multi hybrid, meaning it can act both as a series and a parallel hybrid as well. The car houses 2 power generation units, a 45 kW electric traction motor and a 1.05 litre Dicor engine. What caught our attention and made our minds work is the Dicor engine that Tata has showcased here.
Hybrids may not be a very viable option as of now in the Indian market due to the high ownership costs it incurs but the 1.05 litre Dicor engine surely has some potential in the current market. Every auto manufacturer, in order to cut on the greenhouse gas emissions is taking the route of engine downsizing and Tata could adopt this strategy too. Other companies like Mahindra are also adopting the same route. Mahindra is in the process of developing a 3-cylinder diesel engine. Though much details about the engine has not been revealed we are sure it is going to power any small car that maindra rolls out. The Tata 1.05-litre Dicor engine surely can be plonked to their small car, the Nano. Tata is working on a diesel version of the Nano and we speculate the 1.05 Dicor engine can make way into its engine compartment. The addition of the Dicor engine to it will definitely add some peppiness to the vehicle which it currently lacks while offering great fuel efficiency figure at the same time.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hybrids need not necessarily be expensive. Every car is already a hybrid car ! I don’t know how many of you have tried this, but when my car once ran out of petrol right in the middle of a traffic signal, I engaged the vehicle to 2nd gear, released the clutch and continued to crank the engine with the self motor. I was able to move the car for a fair distance to park it under a tree. This moment was entirelly contributed by DC power. So all we need to add to our existing cars is an improvised self motor and a good brake force energy regeneration system. ;)
Ganesh, won’t that hurt the battery?
It could, Faisal. But I must have been lucky that day. Nothing really happened. In a hybrid car Battery plates can be designed based on the discharge load. So the physical integrity of the battery can be protected. The real issue is producing the battery’s charge. Brake force regeneration is thus crucial. I had submitted this other project which spark the rise had approved. http://www.sparktherise.com/projectdetail.php?pid=3948 . Do check it out sometime.
The country’s Power supply at the moment is inadequate even to keep household fridges and grinders going. So burdening the grid with load from the transportation sector is ruled out. Plug-in hybrids are thus out of the question. The DC power required to run the electric motor of the hybrid car needs to be generated entirely by internal accruals. It would demand more hardware, but it should not cost more than the difference between a petrol and diesel car :)
happy motoring!
Ganesh, that is the whole point about electric vehicles. We talk about saving the planet and going green but for running a hybrid we will be burning fossil fuel to generate the electricity.
That project is quite interesting, although I am not able to understand completely but how far is it from being put into actual use?
Faisal, Your thought on having to burn fossil fuel to produce electricity in hybrid cars is interesting. But would’t that be viewing the half full glass of water half empty? :)
Fossil fuel is going to be burnt anyway. Regenerating brake force to maximize the fuel efficiency is also a way of looking at it :)
Use of decompression valves in the IC engine of Hybrid cars to maximize the brake force regeneration efficiency would surely be far more complicated to implement than what I have conceived. I was pleasantly surprised to find out about a technique Honda calls valve idling to eliminate engine drag during engine braking so to make available the entire returning force available to drive the dynamo. I’v posted the link to a beautiful video demo of its working at the projects update. Do check it out when u find the time.
It might be a long way before we get our hands on real hybrid technology. But here’s what we can already do. We can cultivate the habit of engine braking in our existing car. It would decrease brake pad ware&tare, provide a wheel lock free braking experience and since it revs up the crank pulley to which the dynamo is connected, it would recharging our existing batteries better. There are already smart air-conditioner ECU that disconnect AC clutch when the accelerator pedal is floored. If these ECUs can also be programmed to engage the AC clutch only during engine braking, the AC compressor will no longer burden the engine during acceleration.
Car parks in factories, malls and houses can be designed sloped. Those of us who prefer to avoid the self-motor for start-ups and conserve battery charge can make use of the slope.
Happy motoring!!
Ganesh, yes if we re-use brake force which is what many luxury car manufacturers like BMW are already doing, we will be saving quite a bit. But full electric vehicles have this flaw in India. We don’t have proper speed breakers, designing proper slopes for start ups will be close to impossible!
Wow faisal, u r far more radical, if u want to use speed breakers for energy conservation. For that u r going to need regenerative shock absorbers. After installing which the sight of a speed breaker will suddenly become welcome!!
All electric or plug-in hybrid cars at the moment are meaningless in our country unless of course our Govt has immediate plans of erecting two dozen nuke power stations all across the country:)
I’ve read about brake force regeneration already in use in BMers. But here’s my 2 cents on conservation. BMers wouldn’t do a cab forward body layout in the interest of 50/50 weight distribution and the drive character resulting thereof even as it would liberate a huge green house. Nice. But they would also force their buyers into an inefficient and lifeless fluid-coupled auto box!! Is ‘nit conservation meant to be offered as a package rather than in bits & pieces? Pl don’t get me wrong. BMers are lovely cars but this kind of conservation really looks like having diet Coke to go with a 400 calorie burger :)
Ganesh, I get the point, that is a very thoughtful insight indeed. So all this EfficientDynamics is nothing but marketing gimmick. Looks like some drastic changes need to be implemented and I am betting big on REVA for that.
No Faisal, Wouldn’t that be polarizing our views? ;)
These guys do develop good technology, recover its costs by offering it on their premium brands and then allow it to trickle down to users like you & me. What annoys me is their taking for granted, Indian requirements. Take for eg, Merc & BMW. They really should not be ill-treating the manual gearbox. Features like “course down” (equivalent of a clutch down glide) or “grade assist” (equivalent of engine braking) offered on expensive auto-boxes to emulate the working of a manual gearbox is meaningless. Why not leave it as a manual gearbox?! The days of gearbox itself may be numbered. Post IC engine ear, there will be no need for gearboxes. In an electric motor there is not a difference in the power and torque delivery character. In other words, all the torque is available right from the 1st RPM thus not warranting the need for a gear reduction system. All cars need to be offered with manual gearbox option as well in our country.
Then there is Honda. Even as their 1st production models internationally featured 4 valve cylinders back in 1955, they would offer the outdated 2 valve engines for us (2nd gen city). The front overhang on their 3rd gen city is such a shallow design. Had their designers been given few more hours on the drawing board they would easily come up with a far better design.
But things do seem to be coming around. I read somewhere that besides developing some fantastic cars, Hyundai have also topped in a JD Power customer service survey. If only they will launch their new Elantra in India with a turbo charged 1.6 GDI engine, wouldn’t it be awesome!!
Happy motoring!!
Ganesh, I too feel that we deserve the manual gearboxes. In the States all the Audis and BMWs have manual gearbox variants but we have none. The last luxury brand to offer manual gearbox was Mercedes with the C220 CDI (pre-2005), which had a 6-speed manual.
The reason why India sees old technology is because of price sensitivity and most consumers lack awareness.
Hyundai will rely on diesel engines to make the Elantra a success in India, hopefully the 1.6 GDI makes it here but its doubtful.
True Faisal, We might have fallen victim to our own value hunting attitude! Yes, merc India seem to offer manuals from time to time in some lucky draw selection method ;) The lengths manufacturers go to emulate the manual gear boxe’s working on expensive auto-boxes puzzles me. Course down and grade assist aside, I also read about this auto-blip feature to enable linearity control during engine braking. Something which most of us adopt while downshifts in our manual gearbox cars by using the clutch. Fluid coupled auto boxes cannot do this for sure but the DSG auto-box with its dry friction plate clutch arrangement seems to tempt auto makers ;). Sequential electronic throttle response is used to rev up the engine so that the flywheel rotation is synced with that of the clutch plate!! I really wonder why all this trouble, why not leave it as a manual gearbox. This really is a pointless crusade :)
Ganesh, the whole point of offering automatic only because only 5% bought manual. Besides the latest gen automatic transmissions also have manual mode, which after the F1 craze has made people want paddle shifts.
I agree Faisal, with a large chunk of the premier segment being shaffer driven, auto-boxes are sure to viewed as greater value.
Paddle shifts as part of DSG auto boxes are reasonable, but the paddle shifts from the torque converter ( fluid coupled type auto box) and the CVT auto boxes are such a farse. Reminds me of the discussion we had on spoilers held in place by stickers ;)
Ganesh, sadly that is the way people interpret things, because autoboxes are seen as a boon due to the degrading traffic conditions.
True Faisal. auto boxes definitely hold an edge in trafic.