2009 Los Angeles Auto Show: Preview Page 2

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2009 Los Angeles Auto Show: Hybrids and Electric Cars

• Small Cars (page 1)
• Hybrids and Electric Cars (this page)
• Clean Diesels (page 3)
• Other Notable Cars (page 4)
• How To Stay Updated (page 5)

2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Show Car

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2011 Chevrolet Volt

Last year, well before General Motors went into (and came out of) bankruptcy, our sister site TheCarConnection.com brought you the first photos anywhere of the real Chevy Volt.

At this year's Los Angeles Auto Show, GM's new plug-in, extended-range electric vehicle (technically, it's not a "hybrid") will finally see the light of day after more than a year of teases.

The 2011 Volt's 16-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack gives 40 miles of electric range, with the gasoline engine providing enough power to run the car's electric motor for a few hundred miles more.

General Motors says the Volt will roll off production lines preciselyi 12 months from now, with cars appearing in selected dealerships before the end of 2010. Top speed is 100 mph, but don't expect dramatically quick acceleration figures.

GM has issued a steady stream of news items to keep the Volt in the spotlight. The latest covered the car's pedestrian-alert system, to alleviate the concerns of blind pedestrians that in electric mode, the Volt and other cars would be too quiet to hear coming.

Last week, we sat down with Volt Vehicle Line Director Tony Posawatz and got updates on the latest state of the Volt world.

Toyota Prius Plug-In

2010 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept

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By the end of this month, Toyota is expected to have delivered at least a few of the 150 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrids it has promised to U.S. fleets. The company officially unveiled the Prius Plug-In at September's Frankfurt Motor Show, but this will be its first U.S. showing.

Toyota is still hesitant about full electrification, and skeptical about the lifespan of lithium-ion battery packs. But private owners and fleets have now converted several hundred Prius models to plug-ins on their own, so Toyota clearly felt in needed to stay ahead of the latest technology.

The Prius Plug-In can supposedly achieve electric speeds up to 60 miles per hour, and a range of as much as 12 miles, but those two aren't likely to occur at the same time. Under many conditions, the Prius Plug-In will run pretty much like a standard 2010 Toyota Prius.

Audi E-Tron Concept

Audi e-tron

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Audi's audacious two-seater electric supercar will make its first U.S. appearance at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It's based on the regular R8 sports car, with the side "blade" styling gone, a unique grille, a custom interior, LED headlights, and bright red paint.

But it's the quoted performance figures that make this car into formidable competition for the Tesla Roadster. Among its four electric motors, one per wheel, the total torque is an almost incomprehensible 3300 foot-pounds, though the combined power of the motors is "just" 230 kilowatts (313 horsepower).

Audi quotes acceleration from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds. The water-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, mounted behind the passenger cabin--where the R8 engine sits--holds 42.4 kilowatt-hours of usable energy out of a 53-kWh total. Top speed is electronically limited to 124 miles per hour, which is said to keep range above a minimum of 150 miles.

Porsche Cayenne Hybrid

Porsche Cayenne Hybrid logo

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Though shocking to purists, Porsche is serious about its plans for a 2012 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid sport-utility vehicle. But if there's any city in the world where "Porsche" and "Hybrid" would go together like "skinny" and "latte," it's Los Angeles.

The techncial details of Porsche's hybrid system are clever, and the 2012 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid is likely to share much of the same system. It features a supercharged, direct-injection, 333-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 engine with a 38-kilowatt (52-hp) electric motor mounted between the back of the engine and an 8-speed automatic.

The electric motor provides 221 lb-ft of torque, two-thirds as much as the engine itself. But Porsche's unique feature is that, unlike most hybrids, its system is tuned for maximum electric assist at highway speeds rather than city driving. The company claims the Cayenne Hybrid can "sail" on all-electric power at speeds as high as 86 miles per hour.

Nissan LEAF electric vehicle

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2012 Nissan Leaf

Nissan is not displaying any of its cars at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show, but you can bet that the 2012 Nissan Leaf will be seen around and about the premises.

The company has been touring the 2012 Leaf around in the various cities and regions where it will initially launch the vehicle.

A five-seat hatchback about the size of a compact car, the Leaf is said to offer the interior space of a mid-size vehicle like the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. It is a dedicated electric car, meaning it doesn't share body panels with any gasoline vehicle.

Nissan claims a range of 100 miles when its 24-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack is fully charged. An 80-kilowatt (108-horsepower) electric motor powers the front wheels. The company expects to sell 20,000 Leaf models in its first year on sale.

2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid

2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid

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The S400 Hybrid full-size sedan, launched late last year and now reaching U.S. dealers, is the world's first production hybrid car to use a lithium-ion battery.

And Mercedes-Benz has managed to achieve impressive fuel efficiency from what is, after all, a large, luxurious, heavy full-size luxury sedan. The EPA rates the S400 Hybrid's gas mileage at 19 miles per gallon city, 24 mpg highway. That compares to 14 mpg city, 21 mpg highway for the S500, the next model in the S-Class lineup.

The Mercedes-Benz system mounts a thin 15-kW electric motor between the 275-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6 engine and the standard Mercedes-Benz seven-speed automatic transmission.

As a mild hybrid, its electric motor contributes torque under heavy engine loads, restarts the engine, and even provides a small amount of initial torque to move the car away from a stop to 2 or 3 miles per hour. But the S400 Hybrid cannot power itself solely on electric power.

2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6

2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6, Bal Harbour, Florida

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For its first-ever hybrid vehicle, BMW's goal was "to build the BMW of hybrids," said said Peter Tünnermann, project manager for the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6. There would be no compromises in power, performance, or driving experience.

The resulting vehicle--BMW calls it a hybrid sports activity coupe--turned out to be the most powerful hybrid in the world. It produces 485 horsepower and 575 foot-pounds of torque, from a combination of a 407-hp, 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine and two electric motors of 67 and 63 kilowatts (91 and 86 hp).

The hybrid hardware, which is built in Germany and shared with Mercedes-Benz for its M450 Hybrid, uses similar components and much of the software of the Two-Mode Hybrid system developed jointly by General Motors, Chrysler, Daimler, and BMW.

But BMW has radically altered the control software, to simulate the driving experience of a seven-speed automatic transmission, although three of the seven "gears" are actually a combination of electric and mechanical torque.

2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid

2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid

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Unlike BMW, which stresses performance, Mercedes-Benz has fitted the Two-Mode system to a 275-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6. The combined power of the engine and two electric motors is 340 horsepower, roughly similar to the ML550 version powered by a gasoline V-8 engine.

Fuel efficiency, however, is far better: The ML450 Hybrid is rated at 21 mpg city / 24 mpg highway, almost half again as good as the gas mileage of the V-8 model.

2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7

2011 BMW ActiveHybrid 7

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The 2010 BMW 7-Series Hybrid luxury sedan is a mild hybrid, meaning that its electric motor restarts the engine after it shuts off at stops and also adds torque to assist the gasoline engine. But unlike such full hybrids as the ActiveHybrid X6, it cannot travel on the electric power alone from its lithium-ion battery pack.

The ActiveHybrid 7 follows the S400 Hybrid sedan from Mercedes-Benz, the world's first production hybrid car to use a lithium-ion battery. Car and Driver tested the 7-Series hybrid, saying it "seems to actually make sense" [sic] compared to certain other improbable vehicles in "Bavaria's barrage of the bizarre."

Similar to the title of "most powerful hybrid in the world" for its ActiveHybrid X6, BMW calls the hybrid version of the 7-Series sedan "the fastest hybrid sedan in the world.