Hyundai has developed two different approaches to tackle the growing problem of greenhouse gas emissions from cars. The company has three green cars on its stand in Geneva, although Hyundai has named the three generically as 'i-blue' concepts. Confused? There's more...
Honda has already undertaken a lot of work on the feasibility of home replenishment for CNG-powered vehicles in the US.
Now, in an acknowledgement of a viable technology that could be brought to production quickly and reduce both conventional fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions, Hyundai has declared its interest by presenting a CNG-powered i10 model under the i-blue banner in Geneva.
The i10 has been released in Europe and the CNG version on the stand at the Geneva Motor Show features a 0.8-litre three-cylinder engine, turbocharged and running on CNG. Named the i10 blue CNG, the car produces just 65g/km CO2, demonstrating that a relatively abundant fossil fuel still has a place powering vehicles into the 21st Century.
The two other concept cars unveiled at Geneva by Hyundai draw upon diesel technology, but as with the eco_cee'd from Hyundai's subsidiary company, Kia (more here), the vehicles have been honed to improve substantially on both fuel use and CO2 emissions.
Hyundai has adopted a holistic approach to the development of these concepts and many of the refinements for the diesel i-blue vehicles also apply to the CNG i10.
These include improved aerodynamics, reduced driveline friction, revised engine management software and an 'intelligent generator', supplied by Bosch to stop and re-start the engines automatically, in traffic.
Aerodynamically, the concept cars show a reduction in the coefficient of drag by as much as 10 per cent. Hyundai has achieved this sort of gain through fine-tuning the front air intake, the rear spoiler and wheel arches. All three vehicles benefit from streamlining under the floor.
Going hand in hand with the general body changes, the suspension has been lowered by an amount ranging between 15 and 20mm and Hyundai has specified Michelin tyres with a low rolling resistance and increased tyre pressure.
Driveline losses due to friction have been reduced by using low-friction oil and enhancing the cooling system. Hyundai has also fitted six-speed transmissions in lieu of the five-speed units fitted to the production cars. The top three ratios have been raised for reduced engine revs at open-road speeds. A shift indicator to alert the driver that the vehicle has reached the optimum road speed for an upshift is tied in with the engine management system and has been tweaked for the i-blue applications.
The diesel concepts are named 'i30 blue' and 'i10 blue'. In the case of the former, power is produced by a 1.6-litre diesel four-cylinder. With all the attention paid to aerodynamics and driveline efficiency, Hyundai claims that this car reduces CO2 emissions by 15.2 per cent -- from 125 to 106g/km.
The smaller i10 blue is powered by a 1.1-litre diesel four-cylinder and its CO2 emissions are reduced from 114g/km for the standard car to 95g/km. According to Hyundai, that's a 17 per cent reduction in emissions.
"The i-blue concept can be thought of as an introduction of features that will naturally evolve in future Hyundai cars," commented Hans van Gent of Hyundai's European Technical Centre.
"But if distributor, dealer and public demand justifies it, could become a stand-alone eco-dynamic model range."
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