Chery hybrid vehicles debut at Beijing Olympics

As part of the transportation arrangements for the Beijing Olympics, 50 hybrid vehicles co-developed with Ricardo are being provided by Chery Automobile Company Ltd. Known as the "Olympics Green Messengers," these vehicles are some of China's first hybrid vehicles and will go into full production in the months following the games.

With its expertise in hybrid electric vehicles and its wide-ranging skills in systems integration and vehicle controls and electronics, Ricardo was a natural choice as engineering partner for Chery when the Chinese automaker decided to develop its first hybrid products. Chery set out to develop two new vehicles based on its existing A5 sedan.

The first is a stop-start hybrid based on a 12-volt belt starter-generator (BSG) linked to a 1.6 liter gasoline engine with a 5-speed manual transmission. The second is a more comprehensive mild hybrid based on the same vehicle but equipped with a 1.3 liter gasoline engine and a 12 kw crankshaft-mounted 151-volt integrated starter-generator (ISG). These technologies provide significant fuel savings through the use of advanced powertrain control and energy management strategies.

In addition to developing these two new hybrid products, an important objective of the Chery program was technology transfer through integration of the joint program with its own engineering processes. A dedicated on-site engineering office was established at Ricardo's Cambridge Technical Centre in the UK. Chery engineers worked alongside colleagues from Ricardo as well as with selected component and sub-system suppliers to undertake key aspects of the project.