BMW X6 to be powerful hybrid-electric vehicle
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Aug 12th 2009 at 4PM
BMW, which has two new hybrids coming to the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. One of the two, the X6 Hybrid, promises to be the most powerful hybrid vehicle ever offered with 478 horsepower and 575 lb-ft of torque from its twin electric motors and 4.4-liter V8 engine combined.
According to what appear to be leaked specs from BMW, the X6 Hybrid will scoot to 60 in about 5.5 seconds while returning a 20-percent fuel mileage improvement over the standard X6 with its twin-turbo V8. To set the hybrid apart from its standard sibling, BMW will bestow the new fuel-saver with a power dome hood (muscle-car elements on a hybrid!) and a bespoke metallic blue hue.
Faster yet will be the upcoming 7 Series Hybrid, which will reportedly be able to cover the run to 60 in under five seconds flat via the 459 horsepower and 561 lb-ft of torque provided by its V8-based hybrid powertrain combination. BMW predicts an X6 Hybrid-matching 20-percent increase in fuel efficiency from its 7 Series Hybrid.
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The BMW X6 is one of the few hybrid cars in Europe that takes advantage of the innovative high energy storage system NiMH (Titan-Nickel-Metalhydride). Also Porsche prefers with the Panamera and Cayenne HEVs the safe and lowcost NiMH system over the very expensive ( > 1000 $/kWh = factor: 3 to 4 over NiMH) and
still unsafeLi-ion technology. In the second generation NiMH increases the energy density close to 100 Wh/kg comparable to the LiFePO4 system.It is worth mentioning that the pioneering work on NiMH was performed at the Power Sources Division of Battelle, Innovation R&D Center in Geneva/Switzerland. The innovative NiMH system (Titan-Nickel-Metalhydride) now powers worldwide over 2 mio hybrid electric vehicles (Toyota PRIUS, LEXUS, Honda CIVIC, INSIGHT, Ford, GM etc.) The basic development of NiMH was performed over nearly 20 years for Daimler-Benz and Volkswagen and improved & commercialized / worldwide licensed by the US firm ECD (Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., Michigan).
Recently, the automotive division COBASYS (jointly owned by Chevron Oil and ECD) was sold to the SBL (SB-LiMotive: a German (Bosch) & Korean (Samsung) joint company) which shows the tendency NOT to concentrate all efforts on the Li-ion storage system which after 25 years of its development has still not reached commercial industrial maturity at acceptable cost. A comparison of both storage systems is available on request as pdf-file from a presentation at the IAMF - 2009 Conference of the Geneva Autoshow.