Lightning Hybrids LH4: A Hydraulic Hybrid Ready To Hit the Streets?

The Lightning Hybrids LH4 rolling concept car was unveiled at this years Denver Auto Show back in the first part of April. AllSmallCars.com reported from the floor of the auto show about this companies mission to revolutionize the hybrid automobile market. How are they going to do that? Well, it isn’t by using battery power; no, Lightning Hybrids LH3 and LH4 concept use a proprietary hydraulic system pressurized by a diesel motor to propel their vehicle. Today, I visited Lightning Hybrids to check-in on their progress, especially since these cars will be competing in the Progressive X Prize competition.

As you can see from the pictures they are still busy working on the cars and today they are working particularly hard. Why? Tomorrow is their open house up in Loveland and they are determined to show members of the press, auto enthusiasts and anyone interested in reducing their impact on the environment what this car can do. The working LH4 prototype uses a doner 2008 Mazda Miata for a lot of its interior and engine parts. Those of you who have been following closely are wondering when Mazda has ever sold a diesel Miata in the States or abroad.

Here is your answer; one of the markets that Lightning Hybrids is going after is vehicle retrofits. This makes a certain amount of sense because their LH3 and LH4 models aren’t scheduled to be for sale to the public for another 2 years. So the founder of Lightning Hybrids has made what I think is a very smart business decision to also offer hydraulic hybrid retrofits to gasoline and diesel powered cars. This is where the Miata motor comes in; the prototype LH4 that will be shown tomorrow in Loveland will use a gasoline motor to pressurize the hydraulic drive system. This is intended to prove the validity of their claims of gaining around a 50% increase in fuel efficiency.

Check out the video below for the maiden voyage of the LH4 around the Lightning headquarters in Loveland, Colorado.

 

 

Don’t speed off yet! There are lots more exciting stories in the blog and reviews sections. You can also check out our photo gallery to see all small cars.

 

Have a comment? Login with FacebookConnect and leave one here on the site or drop me an email to JEMblogger at Gmail dot com.