Zenos working with Cosworth to develop hybrid drivetrain

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http://www.cosworth.com/pr-media/news-archive/auto...

Article said:

Hybrid Motor Assist systems are being adopted by the mainstream automotive industry but has not been set up for manual gearboxes. This new collaboration will seek to address that using the Zenos Car as a validation vehicle.

This suggest Zenos will be first to use the engine, but it should then start to make it's way into other low volume cars.

Is there an appetite for hybrids in this market? Added weight and complexity. Diluting the purity of the driving experience. Morgan have already dipped a toe in the EV water with the 3-wheeler but I assumed that was a novelty. With Cosworth onboard, I guess it's the future, or at least part of the future.

[gazzathehutt]

Interesting. The Zenos, because it is very simple and has lots of space in the engine bay, probably makes a very easy car to modify to play with hybrid systems. It will be fascinating to see if it actually results in a production hybrid version of the E10.

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I think there is definitely an opportunity.
Cars are going to be more and more turbocharged. This makes super lightweight cars quite tricky even with effort spent mapping.

However if you could fit a smaller IC engine with a bigger turbo and then use something like the McLaren p1's torque fill where the hybrid stuff gives the initial boost while the turbo builds boost then it could be quite a good option.

No need for 30mile ev range and may even do with a capacitor rather than a battery pack.

The other option is using a series hybrid with minimal battery pack and having the IC motor just as a generator. Lotus were optimising a small IC designed to run over a small rpm range.