[AB@TVMBHP]

Now that's a shocker. I cant understand what the folks in MSIL have been thinking. They have launched a brand new engine and within an year of its launch, it's been discontinued. This is happening when there exist a strong demand for diesels in the market. Brezza, Ertiga, (S Cross) and Ciaz; all these vehicles are in a market which has preference for diesels compared to petrols.

Lack of planning on R&D has lead to these kind of hilarious results. But even though such arrogance is shown by a mainstream manufacturer, nobody is bothered with their approach and above all, what will be the condition of the customers who have bought these vehicles? The same happened with their 2 cyl diesel which was also there for a limited time.

Since its been there for a short time the spare parts and maintenance of the vehicles equipped with these engines would be also in a limbo.

[Sarinkrc]

Folks at Maruti were thinking just with the badge of Maruti people will come and buy their petrol vehicle since bs6 will be implemented and Maruti doesn't have a diesel engine in their portfolio. Maruti was able to bring in good sales number due to the multi jet diesel engine. Well due to lack of diesel engine its going to benefit Hyundai & Kia mostly coz both Hyundai - Kia combined now commands a market share of 20% market share in India and then the rest of the diesel vehicles will be shared between Honda / Ford / Mahindra. So the think tank in in Maruti Suzuki is left pondering on how to catch on lost sales due to not having diesel engines in the car lineup.

[manjunathkl]

Originally Posted by HsekarK

I have a query, does the LI-ion provide any additional torque while accelerating in the Petrol 1.5?
I have driven the petrol 1.5 but could not find any additional power over the 1.4 (till 80-90 kmph or maybe couldn't find any perceptible additional torque/power)
So is the Li-ion Battery below the Co-Driver's seat just ballast to bring the Center of Gavity down?

Maruti calling this technology "SmartHybrid" is really nothing but making a mountain of a molehill. All this system does is this, while the car is decelerating/braking, the energy from the rotating engine is used to charge the battery under the seat. (This is called Regenerative Brake) This battery, in turn, charges the car's main battery and may or may not supply power to other systems that require low power.

What is the point of this?
In a normal car, the engine while supplying the power to the wheels should also run a battery charger motor to charge the car's main battery. Instead of this, the "SmartHybrid" hybrid system is charging it, saving the engine from doing this job (though not 100% of the time). So, since the engine has to do less work, it can increase its efficiency. But really, how much energy an engine has to generate to charge this battery? That's really very small. I am skeptical if this power is enough to run the AC. Practically makes no difference.

It surely will not increase the engine power that you can notice. The power generated by regenerative braking is nearly not enough to switch off the engine and run the car with that electric power - like a real hybrid car. So, there are no electric motors installed to turn the wheels.

Also, If you are driving on an open highway and not decelerating, this system is 100% useless.

Then why do companies make such a big deal about it?
Well, there are some exemptions they can avail if the car can be remotely called "Hybrid". So, they came up with this practically useless tech and called it fancy marketing names to fool the people and the govt to make them believe it is Hybrid.
E.g. SmartHybrid cars are exempt from Odd-Even rule in New Delhi.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by manjunathkl

It surely will not increase the engine power that you can notice. The power generated by regenerative braking is nearly not enough to switch off the engine and run the car with that electric power - like a real hybrid car. So, there are no electric motors installed to turn the wheels.

I won't comment on the usefulness of the tech but there is significant difference felt in the lighter Glanza when the battery is on boost, compared to a case when its completely drained. Also the unit is called as MGU(Motor Generator Unit) and is rated at 1.7kW. Guess the name is self explanatory.

Also how useful it is, can be guessed from the fact that Brezza Petrol with that age old Torque converter but SHVS tech claims 18.76kmpl, while the Manual without any hybrid tech is rated barely over 17kmpl. Certainly something is working.

Regards,
Shashi

[manjunathkl]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

I won't comment on the usefulness of the tech but there is significant difference felt in the lighter Glanza when the battery is on boost, compared to a case when its completely drained. Also the unit is called as MGU(Motor Generator Unit) and is rated at 1.7kW. Guess the name is self explanatory.

I didn't mean is technically fully useless. Obviously, there are benefits under ideal conditions. But are they practically felt? If yes, then what percent of your driving time is it effective? Battery boost vs Battery drained percentage?

Toyota may have named it sensibly as MGU. Maruti's "SmartHybrid" name suggests - it is powering the wheels for some time atleast, while the engine is switched off or idling. This is surely not the case. I'm not technical enough to say what electrical devices can use 1.7kW to run. Can it run the AC? Surely the car cannot be propelled with this output. Real hybrid cars can do it, but for short distances (1-3Kms).

At least Mahindra was fair to call it "MicroHybrid" meaning it does a minuscule amount of work that a hybrid does. "SmartHybrid" name seems like it is something more advanced Hybrid to a non-technical person, while in reality, it is not even a complete Hybrid system.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Also how useful it is, can be guessed from the fact that Brezza Petrol with that age old Torque converter but SHVS tech claims 18.76kmpl, while the Manual without any hybrid tech is rated barely over 17kmpl. Certainly something is working.

Let the new Brezza hit the road, we must see the real-world fuel efficiency before we come to any conclusion. Some CVT cars have claimed higher ARAI fuel economy than their manual counterparts. But in real-world, it is the opposite.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by manjunathkl

Toyota may have named it sensibly as MGU.

MGU is actually the term written in Maruti's Service and parts manuals. For marketing they have all the horrible names and let's not dwell into that.

Maruti's "SmartHybrid" name suggests -

Marketing.

Anyways they claim torque assist and while it may not be able to solely propel the car, its effect is surely there. To be honest I didn't feel its effect in cars like Ertiga or XL6 but the boost is surely prominent on low load in Glanza.

Also one thing we need to see is how cars like Brezza or S cross behave since they are probably coming without any hybrid system. Maruti has confirmed it for the Brezza while its just a speculation for S Cross Manual.

BTW do these cars labelled Smart Hybrid still get exempted on Odd-Even days? I remember the first time such a system was implemented, sale of SmartHybrid/SHVS badges had risen.