Hyundai Elantra LPI hybrid electric vehicle
Hyundai starts taking pre-orders for Elantra LPI Hybrid Electric vehicle in South Korea. The company plans commercial sales for July 8th.
Hyundai Motor Company today announced it will start receiving pre-launch orders for it first mass produced hybrid car called Elantra LPI hybrid electric car. Hyundai will be taking pre-orders from today until July 7th, a day before the company officially introduces its hybrid vehicle to the Korean public.
The Elantra LPI hybrid electric vehicle is a mild hybrid car similar to just recently launched Honda Insight. However, there are two main features applied to the vehicle that distinguish the Elantra hybrid from its Japanese counterpart and makes it a very unique hybrid car.
First, the Elantra LPI hybrid car is recognized as the worlds first hybrid car to be propelled by Liquefied Petroleum Injected engine running on Liquefied Petroleum Gas and second, Elantra LPI hybrid adopts the Lithium Ion Polymer battery pack - also seen for the first time in a hybrid electric car.
The all-new Hyundai Elantra LPI electric hybrid is powered by 1.6L LPI (Liquefied Petroleum Injected ) Gamma engine as well as a 15kW/105Nm electric motor driving through a continuously variable transmission. The vehicle emits only 99 g/km of CO2 and 90 percent fewer emissions than an equivalent standard gasoline powered Elantra compact sedan, meaning the vehicle qualifies as a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV)!
In addition, Elantra Hybrid LPI also premieres a highly sophisticated Lithium Ion Polymer battery pack which has higher energy density and lower manufacturing costs when compared to standard Lithium Ion batteries. Lithium Ion Polymer batteries are known to be more robust to physical damage and can also take more charge - discharge cycles before storage capacity begins to degrade.
A combination of fuel eficient LPI engine, Lithium Ion Polymer batteries and CVT transmission brings in a fuel economy rating of 17.8km/l (or gasoline equivalent of 22.2km/). This represents a 47 percent improvement over a conventional 1.6L automatic transmission equipped Elantra sedan. Since average price of LPG in Korea is 50 percent lower than that of gasoline, it means the Elantra hybrid car can operate at even cheaper rates.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah, we here in the states really want to see Hyundai put their 1.6 Gamma Hybrid motor they have in the Hybrid C’eed and Soul in Europe here in their North American Products.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Do you guys know that the 1.6 Gamma Hybrid Motor attached to an electric Torque converter has 20 more horsepower than the standard 128 HP Gamma Motor.
By the way guys, the 1.6 Gamma Motor will be going in Next Gen Accents for North American sale. 128 Horsepower and 50 MPG converted into US MPG on the highway even without a hybrid motor attached. This is the Top of the line Motor featured in the Hyundai i20.
Hyundai is giving up on the Alpha engines for Accents, as they have gotten out all of the efficiency they can out of them. Its a good thing considering the Alpha motor is a 15 year old engine platform.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:41 am
I’d like to see what this car’s pricing starts at. Hyundai is moving further away from the valuecare it used to be and moving into the quality area as the price gap is narrowing bewteen them and their competitors. Good but Sad. I guess this is what’s to be expected.
Someone told me I could buy a SUZUKI SX4 with a nav option…for under $17K. Wow I didn’t know it was available with a Nav option. Elantra doesn’t even have this. I’d still buy the Hyundai though. Can’t beat it for quality.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Yeah…as they get better the prices are gonna go up…the price thing was just a way of attracting customers while they were getting they re act together…anyway…anyone hate these civic hybrid looking rims as much as i do
June 18th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Agree with John, those rims are not sexy..
June 18th, 2009 at 8:57 am
1) Looks GREAT for a refresh (minus rims)
2) What is Liquified Petroleum Gas? (is it different from regular gasoline? is it propane?)
3) Will it be seen in North America? (it should: it would be good for hyundai to bring this to NA to make people aware of the idea of a Hyundai Hybrid, then the mass market sonata can come in right on schedule (about a year after elantra)
July 18th, 2009 at 3:06 am
gomi