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Peugeot Sport presented a 908 HDi FAP
equipped with a hybrid power plant at the final round of the 2008 Le
Mans Series at Silverstone, this weekend.
Peugeot Sport profited from the final
round of the 2008 Le Mans Series at Silverstone to unveil a 908 HDi FAP
equipped with a hybrid power plant, featuring a kinetic energy recovery
system. The 908HY was presented in a new, specific silver-grey livery
and will provide a foretaste of what Peugeot’s next endurance racing
challenger could resemble, although its use will depend on the
regulations that will govern LMP 1 cars from 2009.
The 908 HDi FAP’s “HY” technology
enables a proportion of the kinetic energy produced under braking to be
either recovered or stored. In the case of a non-hybrid car, this energy
is lost and simply dissipated in the form of heat via the brakes.
However, when harnessed, it enables the vehicle’s efficiency to be
improved in one of two ways:
- Enhanced performance with no
increase in the amount of energy consumed, thanks to the combination
of the stored mechanical energy and the energy produced by the
internal combustion engine
- Reduced fuel consumption for the
same level of performance, thanks to the availability of stored
mechanical energy
The system featured on this
demonstrator comprises three key elements:
1) A 60 kW gear-driven electric
motor-generator which takes the place of the conventional starter motor
2) Batteries which permit recovered
energy to be stored in 600 lithium-ion cells divided into 10 battery
packs (six in the cockpit instead of the conventional battery and four
on the left-hand side of the floor pan)
3) An electronic power converter
(located in the rear part of the front left wing) which controls the
flow of energy between the batteries and the motor-generator
The 908HY can be powered in one of
three ways:
- Electric mode only (e.g. in the
pit-lane)
- Internal combustion engine only
- A combination of the two
- In the course of a lap of
Le Mans, for example, the system will recuperate energy for between
20 and 30 seconds. This energy reserve can be used for:
- Either delivering extra power
thanks to an additional boost of 60 kW (80 bhp) for approximately 20
seconds per lap, either automatically when re-accelerating or when
the driver chooses to make use of it (‘push to pass’)
- Or to reduce fuel consumption for
the equivalent level of performance thanks to the mechanical energy
recovered (between three and five per cent)
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