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The Saturn Hybrid Car is the new 2007 Saturn Vue, a Gas-Electric Hybrid
1) Front Wheel Drive Only - no four-wheel drive models are being produced. Other manufacturers of such hybrid cars as the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Toyota Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX 400h are offering a 4-wheel drive version of their hybrid cars.
2) Constrained use of the electric motor. In this Saturn Hybrid Car | Vue Green Line, the electric motor is designed to just support the gas engine. Electric-only use is constricted to a few short seconds - typically, when the Vue is just starting up from a stop and the gasoline engine is just getting started.
The Vue Green Line uses an electric motor and nickel-metal hydride battery pack to supplement a 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine with 170 horsepower. This electric motor-only time is restricted because the Vue's hybrid system is designed primarily to supplement the gas engine, for example, in acceleration maneuvers when the operator wants to pass another vehicle on the highway.
Interestingly, the way the electric engine is used means that Saturn could leave the Vue's power train alone. Instead, the Vue's electric-drive motor is combined with the vehicle's alternator, - a simpler system than Toyota's use of two electric motors, for example.
The Vue's system does include regenerative brakes designed to recapture energy when a motorist is braking. This energy is stored in the battery assemblage, to be later retrieved for electric motor uses. Because the Vue's battery pack doesn't need to provide enough power to propel the vehicle all by itself, it's smaller than expected.
The smallness of this Saturn Hybrid Car's battery provides a nice dividend. The battery pack, which is rectangular, sits tidily behind the back seat, under the cargo floor, and does not take up storage space.
While the electric motor is not used for propelling the car (other hybrids often just use their electric motor, when in city traffic, for example), the Vue does save gas by turning off the gasoline engine when the vehicle comes to a stop, at a light or stop sign, and the system determines there's no other big energy demand. Note that in testing, the Vue hybrid's engine on/off and electric power additions came on smoothly.
How does this Saturn Hybrid Car save fuel?
The Vue’s hybrid system reduces fuel expenditure by:
1) Shutting off the engine when the vehicle is stopped, to minimize idling.
2) Restarting the engine promptly when the brake pedal is released.
3) Enabling early fuel shut-off during vehicle deceleration.
4) Capturing vehicle kinetic energy during deceleration (regenerative braking) to charge an advanced nickel metal hydride battery.
5) Performing intelligent battery charging when it is most efficient.
The price of the Saturn Vue Green Line is expected to be around $23,000 only $1500 more than a non-hybrid Saturn Vue. And much less than Toyota's 2006 Highlander Hybrid, whose MSRP is just over $33,000.
This finally means that the fuel cost saving can be reasonably recouped by a operator of this Saturn Hybrid Car. Using a 15,000-miles-a-year scenario with gas around $2.90 a gallon, a Vue Green Line owner could recoup the hybrid price tag differential in 5 years. And, of course, this car will be using less gallons of gasoline and emitting fewer pollutants - a bonus for people in general.