[ChristComesSoon]

This is the way forward.
A full-electric vehicle is infact disadvantageous, due to the battery maintenance, cost, sourcing, weight, range-anxiety, etc. being its weak points.

[Carma2017]

For reference, Suzuki's current generation Strong Hybrid in European Vitara, uses a 840wh battery. I don't think the series hybrid will have a significantly bigger battery than that.

Suzuki has been dabbling in Hybrids for a long time and have a pretty good understanding of the same. But they all have been made for the cooler climates of Japan and Europe. Making a functional hybrid for the hot climate of India is a different ball game. The demands put up by the AC unit would undermine any small battery rendering it useless to run in EV mode. That is why Suzuki's current strong hybrid cannot make its way to India from Europe.

Suzuki definitely would have taken a lot of pointers from the Toyota Hybrid system to build a better Series Hybrid set up but is still unlikely to meet Toyota standards.

[salbin]

Originally Posted by GTO

Let's say the small battery has a range of 60 km (example). It means your daily city commute will be done on EV power only. Once the battery is dead, then the petrol engine will kick in.

The assumption of 60Km battery range seems to be wrong here. Practical efficient small EV can run 6 to 7km with 1KWh capacity battery. So for getting 60km, we need 10KWh battery pack. Here Maruti is having 0.76KWh battery pack in their Hybrids (capacity almost 1/5th of Ola S1 pro scooter) so, no chance of getting 60KM electric only range. Even if you consider 2 KWH battery, what can be expected is 12~13Km electric only range with a 2KWh battery.

[soarersc300]

Originally Posted by armaaan.in

It's highly unlikely for a 1.5-2 kWh battery to provide a 60 km range, based on experiences with similar-sized batteries in cars like the Grand Vitara. Even under optimal conditions – fully charged to 5 points, with the car set to 22/23 degrees Celsius and fan speed at 1/2 bar – the range is only 3-4 km. To achieve a real-world 60 km range, Maruti would need to consider a larger 9-10 kWh battery atleast. However, this could potentially contradict the goal of cost reduction.

In Grand Vitara the ICE is running the car and is also charging the battery. In the series hybrid the ICE is only charging the battery. So while the 1 or 2 kwh battery will last only 10 or so kilometers the time taken to travel that distance will be used by the ICE to top up the battery and keep it as close to full charge at all times.

This technology is ideal for city drives where 10 km will take a long time to cover. While traveling at high speeds or high loads for a long time this technology will be seriously handicapped and could also be the reason why other automobile biggies haven't adopted this technology.

It appears to be a gamble, but I am sure Maruti would have thought this through and they will have some speed or load or range limits set in to ensure the car keeps running no matter what on the highways.

[ferrarirules]

To put it in perspective for everyone, the middle image is what Maruti is trying to build. Nissan already offers this in Nissan Note outside India.

Engine runs at generator which charges a battery and battery drives the motor. Now the battery in Nissan Note is 1.5 KWH and claimed EV only range is 3-4 kms.

Please note: The conventional hybrid is not exactly how Toyota has implemented hybrid. Toyota can also use electric motor only to drive, hence it has an EV only range. But the ICE engine drives wheels along with the motor after a point.



Source - Nissan Singapore

[GTO]

Originally Posted by armaaan.in

It's highly unlikely for a 1.5-2 kWh battery to provide a 60 km range, based on experiences with similar-sized batteries in cars like the Grand Vitara.

Originally Posted by salbin

The assumption of 60Km battery range seems to be wrong here. Practical efficient small EV can run 6 to 7km with 1KWh capacity battery. So for getting 60km, we need 10KWh battery pack.

Maruti has just started developing it and I doubt they will give merely a 1.5-2 kWh battery. Battery prices are also falling, and will be even more so if Maruti popularized this tech. Remember, this is the company that launched an AT at a 40k premium (yeah, lame AMT, I know).

[aquavivarium]

Nah bhaai nah , why should i buy and maintain two technologies, pay full GST ,
and miss out on pure electric punch ( due limited batt size , current will be regulated so will be the torque delivery ) also miss the free revving butter smooth 4 cyc petrol fun and also the possibility of turbo kick .
This is a lose / lose situation.

This will be a very funny car as suddenly engine will keep kicking in and out and eventually in a year or two vibrations will enter the cabin . You wont get any highway performance. And after paying soo much , 5-10 km/L increase in efficiency is easily offset by the added initial cost and maintenance. This kind of vehicle is best suited for urban public commuting where one drives 250-300 km daily . Why not install a small 2 cylinder engine in a commercial electric vehicle and concept will be ideal . I dont see any HP in this for TeamBHP.


I dont need an electric car with a genset . Period

[V.Narayan]

As a current owner and driver of 3 cars - a hybrid, an EV and an ICE it seems to me that this proposal of Maruti is a mix and match one too many. While I love my hybrid it is clear to me that the hybrid is not the route for tomorrow. A small battery almost always being charged by a running ICE engine is not a recipe for massive fuel efficiency except to the extent the ICE engine runs at a steady optimum speed all the time. Without a large battery (more weight?) and plug in feature the fuel efficiency bit can only be so much.

Hybrids as I see them, just one old man's view BTW, are an interim solution that could soon be rendered obsolete by EV technology advances. ICE actually could outlast hybrids with their applications in military vehicles, battle tanks, earth moving & construction vehicles, large trucks, mobile cranes etc.

Recently I acquired an EV (Volvo C40) in preference to a hybrid (Lexus NX300h) that was also available. Prices were comparable, the NX300h had more room all over and was more luxurious but I decided to pitch for tomorrow.

[SKC-auto]

This is the correct flow for Nissan power.

Electric energy from the engine directly powers the electric motor while also charging the battery. Which means lower power at highway speeds, unless it has a large engine.



When the Toyota hyryder and MS Vitara hybrids where launched, people were crazy about 25km battery only range, many were also sceptical about 25km range from a 0.7kwh battery.

This 60km battery only range also seems to be a marketing ploy by Maruti. This car will not have battery bigger than 2kwh, so not more than 5-6km range.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by Samegoodkid

This range extender technology was showcased by Maruti way back in 2015 as well.
---

The broad specs. of the 'SWIFT EV Hybrid' when it was showcased in 2011.

[IP_Man]

Originally Posted by volkman10

M

Maruti Suzuki’s new series hybrid powertrain (code: HEV) will be significantly cheaper to produce than a series-parallel and parallel-only hybrid, which is the main reason why the carmaker chose this route to counter the inherent high cost of a powertrain that includes an IC engine, electric motor and battery. Also, the government has thus far refused to give hybrids any tax benefit and the high rate of 43 percent GST compared to just 5 percent for EVs is the main cost barrier. To reduce the cost impact, Maruti Suzuki has found a solution with a series hybrid.

Series hybrid is not really new tech. Our diesel electric locomotive work on the same principle. It greatly simplify mechanical drive train by eliminating gear, clutch and differential gear box. Also it eliminate drawback of IC engine that it can not produce usable torque at low RPM.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by GTO

Maruti has just started developing it and I doubt they will give merely a 1.5-2 kWh battery. Battery prices are also falling, and will be even more so if Maruti popularized this tech. Remember, this is the company that launched an AT at a 40k premium (yeah, lame AMT, I know).

Merely 1 kw battery does the job for what they are trying to build. I am not sure even Maruti at its scale can justify putting a 10kw battery and an engine to charge the battery at the cost of a Swift/Baleno/Fronx.

At Maruti's scale the difference between a 1kw battery at a nominal cost of $150 per kwh vs a 10kw battery at $1500 aka 1.3 lakh rupees make a massive difference to cost. Not to mention additional chassis and engineering work required to fit a heavy 10kw battery into a tiny light car.

[volkman10]

Maruti to launch 35kpl+ Fronx hybrid(series) in 2025.











Link:

[starke]

As someone already pointed out, Nissan has been using a series hybrid for almost all their cars in Japan since 2017 and planning to move all their ICE cars to the same around the world in the coming years.

But Nissan's intention is not to have a higher fuel efficiency but to utilize the instant torque the electric motor produces from a small engine without having much drop in efficiency.

For example, their entry model Note ePower has a 1.2 Litre turbo petrol engine based produces almost 300 NM of torque while using the electric motor and battery and can go upto ~150 kmph top speed while having ~25 to 30 kmpl.

I would say this is the best & more robust transition from ICE to fully electric.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by aquavivarium

Nah bhaai nah , why should i buy and maintain two technologies, pay full GST ,
and miss out on pure electric punch ( due limited batt size , current will be regulated so will be the torque delivery ) also miss the free revving butter smooth 4 cyc petrol fun and also the possibility of turbo kick .
This is a lose / lose situation.

This can be interesting only if there is 'plug in charging' as well with a battery which can take you to 20-30 kms. If you cross that the battery runs out and the engine (generator) should start.