09/07/08

The first Hyundai LGP-electric hybrid available in 2009

Its price will be 40% lower than any similar vehicle available on the market at that time and its emissions 90% less polluting

The world’s first hybrid car powered by LPG will be launched on to the market by Hyundai in July 2009. Called Elantra LPI HEV, it is estimated that its “Hibrid premium” cost can be recouped in two years through fuel savings. The vehicle will emit 130 g/km of CO2 and 90% fewer pollutants which will allow the Elantra LPI HEV to qualify as a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle.

Scheduled to be at first sold in the Korean domestic market under the Avante brand, this hybrid will boast the lowest operation costs: 40% less than any hybrid vehicle currently available in the market and 50%, if compared to the gasoline-fuelled conventional Elantra. The Elantra Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is the world’s first hybrid vehicle to be powered by a 1.6 l Liquefied Petroleum Injected Gamma engine, assisted by a 15 kW electric motor. Besides, the vehicle stands out for its continuously variable transmission and is the first to adopt advanced Lithium Polymer (Li-Poly) rechargeable batteries, which, produced and supplied by LG Chem, a leading company in the sector, offer remarkable advantages over li-ion batteries, for example a higher energy density, lower production costs, more resistance to any physical damage; in addition to that, they can also take more charge–discharge cycles before storage capacity begins to degrade.

“The Elantra LPI HEV demonstrates Hyundai’s innovative approach: we have leveraged Hyundai’s world leadership in LPG-fuelled vehicles to develop a hybrid that may be very economical to operate” said Dr Hyun-Soon Lee, president of the Research and Development Division.

The Korean automaker had developed its first hybrid in 1995 but had never managed to convert the prototypes into mass-produced vehicles. However, the development of hybrid technologies has been going on and the present plans of the Hyundai Motor Company envisage to extend the hybrid system to the whole range of medium-size sedans as from 2010. The Elantra LPI HEV could be exported to those markets which offer an efficient network of LPG distribution infrastructures.