French connect to ambitious hybrid plan

PSA Peugeot Citroen has revealed proof of its ambitious plan to offer a full range of diesel-hybrid production cars before 2010.

It has revealed details of not one, but two, electrically-assisted oil-burning models ahead of their Geneva motor show debuts.

In one corner is the French giant’s Citroen C4 Diesel Hybrid, which adds electric power to the 1.6-litre HDi turbo-diesel engine released Down Under in the C4 hatch on February 1.

Claimed to be 25 per cent more efficient than any equivalent petrol-electric hybrid car, the diesel C4 hybrid is said to save as much as one litre of fuel for every 100km – as well as reducing carbon-dioxide emissions.

The diesel-electric C4 hybrid can also run on bio-diesel fuel, which is claimed to make it CO2-neutral, and is a key plank in Peugeot-Citroen’s plan to skip petrol-electric by offering a diesel hybrid version of every model by the end of the decade.

The C4 Diesel Hybrid was publicly unveiled at the Geneva motor show today, alongside Peugeot’s diesel-electric Hybride HDi.

Like the C4 hybrid, the 307-based concept returns average diesel consumption of just 3.4L/100km and produces only 90 grams of CO2 per kilometre – which is claimed to be a record for compact cars.

Also like the Citroen, the oil-burning 307 features a diesel particulate filter system (DPFS), electric motor, inverter, a flat high-voltage battery pack, an electronically-managed manual transmission, dedicated control electronics and the latest Stop & Start system.

The latter is said to allow both cars to start and drive using only the HDi diesel engine, even when the battery pack is discharged – a situation in which other hybrids would be immobilised.

Like other hybrids, the PSA system recovers kinetic energy during braking and deceleration and can be driven as a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) in all-electric mode at up to 50km/h.

At highway speeds, the electric motor can provide up to 35 per cent more power when required.

Peugeot and Citroen say they could market the C4 Diesel Hybrid and 307 Hybride HDi respectively as early as 2010.

LEFT: Citroen C4 Diesel Hybrid.

But parent company PSA cautions that the current price gap between such a model and a comparable common-rail diesel HDi model – of which eight million examples have been sold by PSA – would have to be halved before it could be made widely accessible.

To lower the cost of diesel-electric technology, PSA will undertake extensive research and development on high-voltage batteries, electric motors/generators, inverters and regenerative braking systems by uniting the expertise of suppliers and laboratories.

To that end, it has asked the French Agency for Industrial Innovation to support the project.

Having produced several petrol-electric and fuel-cell prototypes – as well as currently offering a range of electric vehicles – PSA now appears to be leading the diesel-electric power race.