Experiment raises some questions about new Sonata hybrid

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Hyundai has not announced a price for the hybrid, but conven­tional wisdom is that it will add about 20 percent to the sticker price of a Sonata.

Cosby Woodruff - MONTGOMERYADVERTISER - May 2, 2010

How come we weren't invited to the effort? --Ed.

Hypermil­ing is the practice of driving in such a manner as to maximize fuel economy with no regard to any other outcome.

It is the kind of practice that can lead to getting more than 50 miles per gallon out of a car as large as a Hyundai Sonata.

Recently, about two dozen auto­motive journalists assembled to put a series of 2011 Sonatas through paces on some Louisiana back roads. At the end of the trip, Hyundai had a 70-mile interstate trip mapped out, with drivers in­structed to do what they wanted to maximize fuel economy.

Most of the drivers, assembled into two-person teams, simply backed off the speed limit a little bit, didn't accelerate hard and re­duced the air conditioning.

That meant the bulk of the cars did better than the posted 35 miles per gallon Hyundai says to expect from the vehicle.

One team simply blew off the competition and drove as fast as traffic would allow. According to the car's onboard trip computer, they averaged about 82 mph. That netted them a fuel economy of a little less than... [Read More]

[chibougamoo]

Interesting, they never really come out and SAY what the winning team achieved. There are back-handed references to "such techniques could get more than 50 mpg" but nobody comes out and says it specifically.

Also, I can't see how they would get a lot over 40 mpg without coasting a lot on FAS which is never mentioned. And then we have the "hybrid is best on the highway" stuff. All in all, a bit of a strange article.

[Butterfly Mage]

I wonder what FE any of *us* would have gotten with the Hyundai Hybrid? I can squeak 43 MPH out of a Scion xD and occasionally get 62 MPG out of my Insight-II (with all the accompanying honks and one-finger salutes).

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Butterfly Mage

I wonder what FE any of *us* would have gotten with the Hyundai Hybrid? I can squeak 43 MPH out of a Scion xD and occasionally get 62 MPG out of my Insight-II (with all the accompanying honks and one-finger salutes).

I would like to see one of "us" try one too. On the highway, I have gotten 72+ out of my Prius. On Friday, I had 101 for the day. I think the Sonata should be worth pretty close to 50 or above on the highway as long as it can be driven in a mode similar to the Prius SHM mode.

[hobbit]

What's sort of odd is that I've seen almost *nothing* go by about
any Hyundai offerings. And then I was parked right behind one of the
prerelease Sonatas at a little tiny green-car show a couple of weeks
ago, and was too busy ranting Prius stuff to passersby to really take
a look at it, but was thinking "okay, where'd *this* come from?"
.
I assume it's another HSD knockoff??
.
_H*

[xcel]

Hi Sean:

___What a strange article? They did not get the Hypermiling definition right and than no outcome? What about the car's inner workings? I am almost positive Hyundai did not have a group of Journalists down there for a simple 70-mile drive without a marketing and tech presentation. With its ability to glide at any highway speed, there was no mention of that by this journalist either? I am not really sure what this guy was writing up???

___Al, this is nothing like HSD. The hybrid drivetrain section is attached to the 6 speed tranny through a torque converter like arrangement allowing much higher and probably more efficient EV and Glides.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Wayne, as far as I am able to glean they didn't actually have the hybrid on hand and were attempting to squeeze mileage out of the standard versions (ineffectively, apparently ).

[JusBringIt]

Hypermil­ing is the practice of driving in such a manner as to maximize fuel economy with no regard to any other outcome.

What the fudge?? Are you kidding? I didn't read any farther. Sorry.

[WriConsult]

Originally Posted by montgomeryadvertiser.com

That isn't a bad markup for a hybrid, but the vehicle only prom­ises to increase fuel economy by about 10 percent on the highway, where Hyundai expects it to be used the most.

I call BS. Americans log 55% city miles. Why would the Elantra Hybrid be such a great exception?

Same old poorly supported hybrid bashing, if you ask me.

[MaxxMPG]

As I read the article, they are questioning whether a Sonata Hybrid, with an MSRP at an average 20% higher than the equivalent gas-only model (or so they claim), would pay off in fuel savings within 200k miles.

Pushing a 2011 Sonata to 50mpg or more on the open road shouldn't take much more than hypermiling basics. The 22/35 ratings are for the average motorist, with the AC on max-cool, idling for 15 minutes at bank and fastfood drive-thrus, at least 25% over the PSL most times, and their foot crushing one of the two pedals to the floor at any given time. And God forbid they should lift their foot off either pedal to let the car coast.

If somebody already pushed a basic Sonata to over 50mpg, I suspect the Blue Drive will be good for upper 50s to low 60s if driven correctly.

Re: Blue Drive hybrid layout - On the Sonata, the electric motor takes the place of the torque converter. The electric motor provides the disconnect that allows the engine to idle with a driving gear engaged. It also allows the electric motor to act as a starter and to assist engine power when needed. The hybrid-specific transmission also has an electrically driven fluid pump rather than the typical vane pump hiding behind the converter, concentric with the input shaft.

Technically, that means that this transaxle could in theory survive a FAS as long as the key is "on", although the Blue Drive should cut the engine when possible if it's set up properly. The electric pump enables the transmission to remain pressurized to apply the friction clutches needed for "first gear" as the electric motor provides the torque and restarts the ICE as needed.

So far, I've only seen cutaways of the Hyundai 6AT transaxle (run of the mill Lepelletier box with a few new ideas added), but not the hybrid-specific version. To me, it seems like a neat idea to allow the electric motor's torque to be mutliplied through the various gear ratios. A smaller motor will act like a larger motor when moving from a stop, and then take less energy to keep the car moving at higher speeds. This may explain why they can offer EV mode up to 62mph - the transaxle is running in overdrive and the motor still has enough oomph to keep the car rolling.