Two electric motors, a V8 engine that can work on only four cylinders, a really smart computer and a four-speed transmission that joins them into one package.
General Motors Corp calls it "dual hybrid" technology and says that soon it will make pickup trucks or big sport utility vehicles (SUVs) as fuel efficient as some cars.
The technology, showcased with General Motors Corp's future engines and powertrains on Thursday at the company's proving grounds northwest of Detroit, will start showing up in the 2008 model year with the Chevrolet Tahoe SUV. It will be available on the GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade SUVs and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup -- GM's top-selling vehicle -- later that year.
GM says the hybrids, similar to those now in use in the transit buses of 39 cities, are so versatile that they will boost fuel economy by 25 percent over the current SUVs and pickups. For the two-wheel-drive Tahoe, which now gets an average of 12.8 liters per 100km in combined city-highway driving, that means nearly 10.2 liters per 100km.
Figures for city and highway driving haven't been calculated yet, but Tim Grewe, GM's chief engineer for rear-wheel-drive powertrain hybrids, said there will be a significant improvement.
"We give you the highway economy and we give you the city economy while maintaining SUV performance," he said.
The dual hybrids, developed jointly by thousands of engineers with GM, DaimlerChrysler AG and BMW AG, also will be placed in the Dodge Durango and BMW vehicles.
Prices on the GM vehicles haven't been set, Grewe said, but the company plans to make them competitive, similar to a US$2,000 premium on the hybrid version of the Saturn Vue.
The powertrains are huge for GM and its partners because they take the gas-guzzling prefix off of trucks and bring people back into the market, said Jim Sanfilippo, senior industry analyst for Bloomfield Hills-based Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc.
"It's a big thing. It's a terrific thing," Sanfilippo said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique