Electric vehicles offer some significant advantages over combustion-powered cars and trucks. EVs are smooth and quiet, they typically provide instant off-the-line torque, electrics are far more efficient, and they require dramatically less maintenance. But despite their myriad advantages, EVs are still not perfect. For instance, there are major concerns about battery replacement costs if they conk out or are damaged in a crash. But one company has developed an intriguing – and potentially low-cost – way of keeping EVs on the road if there’s a major powertrain failure.
An Intriguing Approach
A new automotive concern called Horse has developed a replacement hybrid powertrain concept that’s designed to drop right into existing electric vehicles. This company is a joint venture between Chinese automaker Geely, and the Renault Group from France.
As reported by Autocar, this clever new drivetrain integrates a combustion engine and transmission, various control systems, an electric motor, and other components into one road-ready unit that pretty much bolts directly to the subframe for easy packaging. This system could allow automakers to easily retrofit existing electric vehicles, or it could be used to make conventional, combustion-powered cars and trucks more efficient. Comprehensive – and costly – reengineering work can be avoided, and the need to redesign or retool production facilities could also be sidestepped almost entirely.
- This powertrain concept could drop right into existing electric vehicles
- Thanks to clever packaging, reengineering work is minimized
- The technology is largely fuel agnostic, running on gasoline, E85, methanol, or synthetic fuels
For added flexibility, this system can operate in two different ways, either as a parallel or series hybrid. In the former, the engine can directly power the wheels; with the latter, the engine is used instead to charge the battery, so an electric motor (or motors) can drive the vehicle.
Another benefit of this drop-in hybrid system is that it’s mostly fuel-agnostic. According to Horse, the system can run on traditional gasoline, alcohol-fortified E85, methanol, and even synthetic fuels. This provides automakers with tremendous flexibility, so they could easily adjust the engine’s required fuel based on the differing needs of global markets.
A Clever Solution In Uncertain Times
In a media release, Horse Powertrain’s CEO, Matias Giannini, said, “Horse Powertrain is focused on solving the biggest problems facing automotive OEMs. For over a decade it looked like battery electric vehicles were the only path to net zero, and OEMs planned accordingly.” But this is not necessarily the case. Giannini added “we’re now shifting towards a technology-neutral world, with different markets and applications each pursuing their own sustainable mobility journey.”
Highlighting this, Autocar notes that Fiat, the Italian manufacturer of iconic small cars is engineering a new version of its all-electric 500e, one that will feature a hybrid powertrain for added flexibility and broader appeal.
It will be interesting to see if other car manufacturers make a U-turn on electric vehicles and whether they opt to use powertrain technology from Horse.
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