

Grandma's car gets eAssist
New LaCrosse will start at under $30,000








Comments     Threshold


I don't understand how this works.
By MrTeal on 6/10/2011 1:44:29 PM , Rating: 2
Seriously question, how is this able to raise the mileage from 30 to 37 MPG with a mild hybrid like this? On a long trip I could see that there might be some benefit while passing, but how do you recharge the batteries when there really isn't any braking to speak of?

Or is it just that this fits in very nicely with the EPA test cycle, and you wouldn't see anything near these gains is you're doing 200 miles between stops at normal highway speeds?


RE: I don't understand how this works.



RE: I don't understand how this works.
Atkinson cycle engine?

RE: I don't understand how this works.


By Philippine Mango on 6/11/2011 2:41:40 AM , Rating: 3
Clearly, you've been distracted by the red herring which is the highway fuel economy and the association with this vehicle being a hybrid.. This e-assist version of the Buick Lacrosse is a hybrid, a semi-mild hybrid. What does this mean? It means it gets better highway and city fuel economy.. How does it do this? If you don't know how it does this, then you should really be asking yourself, how does any hybrid do this? If you compare the Civic Hybrid with the Civic non hybrid or the Fusion Hybrid with the Fusion non hybrid, it's the same thing, better city and highway fuel economy.. In fact, pretty much every hybrid based on the standard model gets better fuel economy both in the city and highway..

We all know hybrids do well in the city because they employ technologies like start stop, use the electric motors for low load situations and or provide assist during acceleration, etc. etc. but get confused on why the hybrid version gets better fuel economy on the highway when most of these things can't really be taken advantage of in this situation.

What's actually happening is that they're giving fuel economy oriented models a transmission with gear ratios that favor fuel economy over acceleration. Now if the vehicle has similar 0-60 times as the non hybrid, then it's the battery assist during hard acceleration that allows the vehicle with taller gear ratios that would normally be slower to have the same performance as the vehicle with the shorter gear ratios.. Otherwise, the hybrid model tends to be a bit slower because these gear ratios while great for saving fuel, don't lend themselves to doing 0-whatever sprints.

So, if you're wondering if this kind of fuel economy is possible with a non hybrid version of these vehicles, the answer is yes. For reference, the e-assist Lacrosse doesn't get better fuel economy just on the highway, it also does better in the city.. (19mpg city, 30mpg hwy for NON hybrid in case you're wondering.)

