Valeo Offers Hybrid Solutions for All

FRANKFURT - Valeo is developing a range of scaleable solutions for different levels of vehicle hybridization, offering significant fuel savings and CO2 emission reductions. These systems can be rapidly applied and introduced to the market.

Valeo is the only supplier to have two complementary stop-start solutions, one based on a reinforced starter and one on a starter-alternator.

Valeo’s reinforced starter offers stop-start with fuel savings of 4-6% on the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle). The system has scarcely any impact on the vehicle’s architecture, allowing it to be installed very rapidly. It equips the Volvo S-40 1.6D DRIVe, a low-emission car recently named Green Car of the Year 2009 by the UK automotive magazine “What Car?”, for its good results in terms of fuel savings and CO2 emission reductions.

Stop-start and its corresponding fuel savings and emission reductions can be offered for various degrees of hybridization with a starter-alternator.

The micro-hybrid StARS system was launched in 2004 on the PSA Peugeot Citroen vehicles C2 and C3, and has equipped the Mercedes A and B Classes and the Smart since 2008.

It consists of a starter-alternator offering the stop-start function which shuts the engine off when the vehicle speed is below a certain level and restarts it instantly and silently when engine power is requested. Fuel savings can reach 6-8% on the NEDC cycle, and up to 25% in heavy city traffic, when cars are at idle for around 35% of the time. StARS is installed like a normal alternator, requiring few changes to the vehicle’s architecture.

With i-StARS, the latest evolution, control electronics are integrated onto the rear of the machine, which makes it even easier to install. i-StARS is scheduled to enter volume production for PSA Peugeot Citroen in 2010. Another automaker has also chosen i-StARS.

StARS+X goes one step further, recovering kinetic energy during deceleration and supporting the combustion engine if necessary. StARS+X can manage higher voltages, doubling its power. When the car slows down, it acts like an electric brake on the engine, converting part of the energy recovered into electricity and stores this energy in ultracapacitors which are perfectly adapted to the frequent charging/discharging cycles.

This electricity can be supplied to the vehicle’s network using a converter or be reused by the starter-alternator to either restart the engine for the stop-start function or to provide extra power to the engine.

In all cases, it generates tangible fuel savings for the combustion engine, estimated at between 10 and 12% on the NEDC cycle.

MHYGALE (Mild HYbrid GenerALisablE) is a program involving Valeo, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Freescale, Alter and Ceitecs, as well as five university laboratories, in a drive to develop an affordable mild hybrid that has a significant impact on CO2 emissions. Responding to the continually increasing request for engine downsizing, the electric machine is more powerful and able to provide even more support to the combustion engine. Torque is delivered instantly by the electric machines which can offset the weakness of the downsized engines when accelerating at low speed, making driving more comfortable and economical.

Research carried out by Valeo and independent laboratories has shown that the power of the electric motor should ideally be between 10 and 15 kW for optimal fuel savings and total system cost. Compared to a similar conventional car, a mild hybrid reduces CO2 emissions by 15-20%.

The MHYGALE program is subsidized by the French “Grenelle Environnement” public fund earmarked for the development of demonstration vehicles and aimed at designing a generally affordable mild hybrid with a significant impact on global CO2 emissions.

The Valeo system for mild hybrid vehicles is compatible with both gasoline and diesel engines, and will be launched in 2013.

Valeo is an independent industrial Group fully focused on the design, production and sale of components, integrated systems and modules for cars and trucks. Valeo ranks among the world’s top automotive suppliers. The Group has 121 plants, 61 R&D centers, 10 distribution platforms and employs 50,100 people in 27 countries worldwide.

For more information about the Group and its activities, please visit our web site www.valeo.com

Source: Valeo Management Services

For additional information, please contact: Claire Vidal Pilo, Media Relations, Tel.:+33-1-40-55-21-26, claire.vidal-pilo at valeo.com; Sylvie Delion, Product Media Relations, Tel.: +33-1-40-55-20-96, sylvie.delion at valeo.com