South Koreans may be first carmaker to offer new system in NZ, writes motoring editor Alastair Sloane
KEY POINTS:
South Korea's Kia is likely to be the first carmaker in New Zealand to offer a stop-start system, which gives a conventional petrol- or diesel-powered car the cleaner-burning benefits of a hybrid.
The technology is expected to be under the bonnet of Kia's new Soul, a funky front-drive five-door with a tall roofline and bright and breezy interior aimed at the younger buyer.
Part of the lure is an eight-speaker audio package, including speakers at the bottom of the front doors that glow with the intensity of the music.
Kia general manager Todd McDonald confirmed the Soul would go on sale here early next year but would not be drawn on whether it would come with stop-start.
"Kia has an environmental programme in place across its range, that's all I can say," he said. "As for stop-start, I can neither confirm nor deny that the Soul will have it."
The carmaker unveiled its stop-start system, Idle Stop&Go, at the Paris Motor Show last month, on a stand called the "Green Zone" and under the bonnet of the 1.6-litre petrol-powered C'eed, a new hatchback destined for New Zealand late in 2009.
It said only that the technology would be available from early 2009 in a handful of petrol-powered models with manual gearboxes.
But it has since emerged ISG will appear across the Kia range - petrol and diesel examples with either manual or automatic gearboxes.
This is a breakthrough move by Kia, because although stop-start has been available in Europe for the past year or so on a range of BMWs, Fiats and Citroens, it has been restricted to mainstream smaller manual models. Mercedes-Benz is about to introduce it. Of the Japanese carmakers, only Mazda has said it would be available.
Kia says its ISG cuts fuel consumption and emissions in heavy traffic by up to 15 per cent. The European carmakers say it offers similar benefits.
The technology automatically switches off the engine when the vehicle is coasting to a stop. like at traffic lights. In manual models, it shuts off when the clutch is depressed. In automatics, it cuts out once brake pressure is maintained. In both cases this happens only below 4km/h.
The advantage of start-stop is that its relatively cheap to make.
It works just like a petrol-electric hybrid, but without the hybrid's expensive and weighty battery pack.
Stop-start is one of the reasons why hybrids do much better in city rather than highway driving.
It is not known if Kia's ISG is as fuel critical as the European units, for instance. BMW's system is part of a "mild hybrid" package that includes brake energy regeneration and works only on low-sulphur fuel, that is petrol and diesel with a maximum sulphur content of between 10-15 parts per million.
It will work on New Zealand diesel fuel from next year, when the sulphur content drops to 10ppm, but won't be available on petrol vehicles until the Marsden Pt refinery cuts sulphur in petrol from its current 50ppm level.
A spokesman for the refinery says it has been told that Government has no immediate plans to brew cleaner petrol.
It is also not known if the Kia ISG unit is a development of what German specialist Bosch developed for the Europeans.
Bosch chairman Bernd Bohr says stop-start is cheaper and more efficient than hybrid technology. He expects it to make up 20 per cent of the European market - one in five cars - by 2015.
A more powerful starter motor manages the system. Says Dr Volkmar Denner, of the Bosch board of management: ""Incorporating stop-start requires no other change to the vehicle's drive train or the engine. The system delivers an excellent cost-benefit ratio, making it a very attractive compared with alternative solutions.
"The number of engine starts the system has to make, in other words its service life, has been increased significantly for this application.
"In addition, the starter's improved-performance electric motor, low noise and stronger pinion-engaging mechanism ensure that the engine starts reliably, quickly and quietly."
