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The First Chinese-Designed and Built Mass-Production Hybrid Vehicle. (http://news.en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1313390)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Chery_Hybrid.jpgCanadian Press - Dec. 7, 2006

Chery A5 - Chinese full hybrid w/ a manual transmission.

For the Chinese, automobile production is one of the most important and fastest growing industries. Various brands have sprung up seemingly out of nowhere, showing tremendous development in designing concepts, improving dynamics, reliability and build quality, and as silly as it sounds, making clones of other vehicles. But one thing that we didn’t expect China to have is its own mass-produced hybrid this early. This Chinese automotive milestone was achieved by Chery with their new A5 ISG hybrid sedan.

The gasoline element of the A5 ISG comes from a tiny 1.3-litre ACTECO (and rather dyslexic-sounding spelling of GM’s EcoTec) inline-four engine designed by Austrian firm AVL. But the interesting thing is that Chery won’t be using a CVT as per the norm for a hybrid vehicle, but rather the car features a 5-speed manual transmission. This unusual combination is similar to Honda’s first-generation Civic Hybrid, which was available in limited quantities with a manual gearbox, and of course the Insight.

But unlike the first-generation Civic Hybrid or Insight, the Chery is not a mild hybrid. China’s most visionary automaker has forgone easing into the hybrid business, going straight for the full kit and caboodle. The system has a high-powered integrated starter-generator (hence the ISG in the name) that operates the car’s idle-stop function, as well as regenerative braking to recuperate energy when stopping to recharge the batteries.

One thing that Chery hasn’t yet specified is the type of battery that the vehicle will be using. Given that it’s trying to compete on a very uneven playing field, dominated by experts Toyota and Honda, it’s going to need the very latest to stand a chance. They’ve also neglected to release any info pertaining to the car’s fuel consumption, emissions or performance - the final category of which doesn’t look particularly bright. It doesn’t take very much thought to see that the figures are not on Chery’s side: a mid-sized, steel-bodied sedan with a 1.3-litre gasoline engine and electrical assist. It probably won’t even accelerate as quickly as the aforementioned Insight.

As the A5 is one of the most popular Cherys in China, we figure that the brand’s customers will flock to this latest hybrid model. It’s also expected that the A5 ISG will be one of the cheapest hybrids on the market to buy, which should make it a popular alternative to other hybrids. And given the increasing price of fuel and the poor state of air quality, we can see the A5 ISG picking up a couple of awards and quite a few sales at that. Also, the introduction of the A5 ISG means that Malcolm Bricklin will be able to keep his word when he announced early in the year that Chery would have a full model range including a hybrid vehicle.

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But unlike the first-generation Civic Hybrid or Insight, the Chery is not a mild hybrid. China’s most visionary automaker has forgone easing into the hybrid business, going straight for the full kit and caboodle. The system has a high-powered integrated starter-generator (hence the ISG in the name) that operates the car’s idle-stop function, as well as regenerative braking to recuperate energy when stopping to recharge the batteries.
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Does not look like this guy knows too much about hybrids... Can somebody invite him to join the forums? That car is like the Saturn VUE hybrid...

Juan S. Fernandez
06 HCH - 06 FEH 4WD
Los Angeles, California

unless 1st gear was ev! then we have something to work with.

There has been a lot of yacking about "FULL" and "MILD" hybrids latley. It's like Toyota is going to "save the world" with there with there full hybrid system and Honda and the others with the mild system are only putting out a half harted effort. If we use the GH mileage data base and compare only Prius and Civic hybrids (2264 cars) we find that the car with the best mileage, but not by much, is the Civic I MT. The difference between the Civic II and Prius II is only 1.0 MPG. The difference between the Civic I MT and CVT is 2.0 MPG. It seems to me that the full hybrid system is a lot of complicated expensive wisbang for no actual extra benefit. It seems that a civic II with a MT would gain 2 MPG and then be the top dog. Anyway on the way back and forth to work I see just as many people in Civics and Prius as are in my Insight (1), and the GH average for a "mild" Insight MT is 17 and 18 MPG better then those two cars.....Louis

Hi Juan:
Does not look like this guy knows too much about hybrids... Can somebody invite him to join the forums? That car is like the Saturn VUE hybrid...

___You got that right! And then this Canadian writer says, “It probably won’t even accelerate as quickly as the aforementioned Insight.”. Probably? I have a feeling this thing will be lucky to achieve 13 seconds let alone the Insight’s 10.5 to 60!

___Louis, a bit OT but I like a debate :)

___I am not defending the Prius or HCH with the following but the HCH-I has lean burn and just like your Insight, a vehicle without it doesn’t stand a chance in instances where lean burn can be taken advantage of. Not only is the Prius a larger and heavier vehicle, it cannot cruise down the road at any speed over 45 at 80 + mpg like an HCH-I. When in the inner city or heavy congestion, the Prius will eat an HCH-I or II alive. The CR’s FE numbers of 26 for the HCH-I and II in their own branded city test are real vs. the 44 the Prius achieved over the same course. The EPA’s FTP75 (City test) shows yet again where the HCH-I/II are taken to the woodshed vs. the Prius II. Add in the fact a Prius II w/ a full SoC is a 10.5 second car and the HCH-I w/ a stick and HCH-II with its CVT is a 11.5 second car on their best days. There is something to be said for this slight acceleration performance increase.

___And then we have the real world Dbases vs. what is possible. In the right conditions, the Prius is worth ~ 130 mpg over a RT segment. I have seen 127 over a RT segment w/ multiple stops and re-accel’s but I would like another shot to improve upon that number ;) I have never achieved this in an HCH-I or II (105 in Tom’s HCH-I and 103 in Terry’s HCH-II is about the best I have seen). Add maybe another 5 for a perfect route with few stops. They just don’t have the Prius II’s capability in a stop and go environment. And out on the highway as explained above, the Prius II is a heavy vehicle with a lot of electronic baggage that an HCH-I/II doesn’t have. Yes, it does get in the way but even with that, this barely mid-sized sedan can still nail 50 even with the most out there driver while the smaller and lighter lean burn Civic is killing it yet barely achieving parity with all the highway miles many drive.

___There is something to be said for ease of use wrt hypermiling the Prius II at or near its limits. You don’t have to do anything other then accel and decel in such a manner to place it into a proper pulse and glide modes. The HCH’s on the other hand are being FAS’ed like a SOB + attempting to manage SoC all the while achieving 15 - 20% less FE over the same route at nearly equivalent speeds. If Honda had a second MGset for EV propulsion w/ IMA being used only for Start/Stop and a larger pack to bring her up to speed before going ICE-On, there would be nothing in the world that could touch an HCH-I w/ lean burn and its full blown EV capability similar to the Prius/FEH for inner city/heavy traffic situations.

___Even though my route has some of the worst traffic nightmares one could imagine, 95% of the time, it is freely flowing with light to heavy congestion. That 95% is why I would choose an HCH-I w/ a stick over the Prius II. If however I had a route that was maybe 30 – 40% city/heavy urban, the Prius II would definitely be my vehicle of choice. This is only taking FE into account. Adding Bluetooth, VSC, HID’s, Keyless entry and start, as well as a back up camera in the NAVI is a feather in the Prius II’s cap. At least the HCH-II has a quieter cabin at speed and better ergonomics wrt its instrumentation …

___Finally, Chery matching either of these two Hybrid building Giants on its first hybrid release? Fat chance but we should never say never :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne