Ford and GM Playing Hybrid Catchup

For years now, Detroit’s inability to compete in the increasingly-important hybrid drivetrain has been part of its larger perception issues, driving the view that the American automakers are both less environmentally responsible and technologically adept than their Japanese competitors. GM waorked through a number of underwhelming hybrid technologies, including its BAS “Mild” Hybrid system and its Two-Mode V8 hybrid, while Ford had to back away from Bill Ford’s precipitous promise that it would build 250k hybrids per year by 2010. For a while now, it’s seemed that Ford and GM were content to avoid direct hybrid competition, focusing on “leapfrog” technologies like pure EVs and the Chevy Volt extended-range electric car… but now it seems they’re going back into Prius-style “parallel hybrids” in a big way.

When GM canceled its SRX plug-in hybrid last week, we were told that the drivetrain’s long development time meant that the Theta platform underpinning the SRX would be dated by the time it was completed. But given how long the Theta plug-in had been in development, this explanation didn’t seem all that plausible. And sure enough, GMInsidenews.com reports that there was another issue:

According to sources familiar with the program, GM management elected to decommission the SRX PHEV because the vehicle’s battery was not seeing the efficiency gains that GM expected from it. A similar issue led to the demise of the proposed Cadillac XTS hybrid system nearly a year ago.

Both the SRX and XTS were slated to use a tweaked version of GM’s Two-Mode Hybrid propulsion system. The revised system was expected to utilize a lithium ion battery back in place of the current system’s nickel hydrate pack. It was also expected to see revised operating modes, possibly adding more modes to the current system. Topping off the new system was to be a plug-in option, similar to the recently-launched Chevrolet Volt.

With this news, the Two-Mode hybrid enters the Valhalla of overambitious GM powertrains which never quite panned out. None of GM’s partners who helped develop the system offer more than one version of it, and with development at GM now over, the system is officially a technological dead-end. But as you might be guessing, this setback does not spell the end of GM’s hybrid efforts… in fact:

GMI’s sources stated that GM has discontinued working on that particular hybrid program entirely; however GM has a new hybrid system that has already been in the works that will replace it.

Sources familiar with GM’s hybrid plans state that GM has been working on an all-new version of the Two-Mode system that should be ready for utilization in the 2015 model-year. The new system is said to have four fixed modes and take several cues from the Volt’s E-Flex system. So instead of putting out an expensive, inefficient system in 2013, it sounds like GM will just wait another year or two and utilize the all-new system.

Perhaps “technological dead-end” was a bit harsh… GM’s Two-Mode system clearly had some good ideas, as it influenced development of the Chevy Volt, but one hopes the new “Four Mode” development will do away with the weight, cost and complexity of the original system. But even if ithis “four-mode” is the hybrid drivetrain that GM finally gets right, its 2015 debut will come about 18 years after Toyota first introduced its Prius. That’s a lot of catchup to play.

Meanwhile, Ford is similarly serious about competing in the hybrid drivetrain area on its own terms. Whereas its first-generation of hybrid drivetrains, currently available in the Escape, Fusion and MKZ, relied on Toyota-licensed technologies, Ford has just announced development of an all-new e-CVT transmission for its next-generation of in-house hybrids. Ford notes in its release (which also announced a 1.0 Ecoboost engine and an eight-speed transmission):

Another new Ford transmission, to be installed in hybrid vehicles, starts production late this year at Van Dyke Transmission Plant in suburban Detroit. Full volume production is slated for the first quarter of 2012.

By next spring, Ford expects to be manufacturing more hybrid transmissions in North America than any other automaker or supplier. The new transmission replaces a unit currently made in Japan that is used today in Ford and Lincoln hybrids.

As with the new eight-speed, the new hybrid transmission is Ford-designed, Ford-engineered and Ford-built. It’s an e-CVT or electronic continuously variable transmission. The new hybrid transmission will offer improved performance over the current unit. The current Ford Fusion Hybrid can reach a top speed of 47 mph on electricity and go as far as one mile.

Can Detroit get its hybrid campaign back on track after losing a good 15 years to Toyota, the undisputed hybrid leader? One thing is for certain: with EV forecasts becoming increasingly bearish, hybrids and micro-hybrid stop-start systems are going to become more and more important for meeting increasing CAFE standards, as well as delivering relief from high gas prices. Detroit may be late to the hybrid game, but at least it’s stopped fooling itself into thinking it could simply leapfrog the technology. Now it’s time to roll up those sleeves and prove that Detroit can build a good hybrid after all.