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LE MANS: Peugeot Unveils 2009 908 HY Hybrid Racer
Written by: Marshall Pruett   
09/13/2008
Silverstone, England
 
Peugeot's had their Hybrid car in the works for a year, and had hoped to reveal it at Le Mans in June. Displayed today at Silverstone, the French manufacturer hopes to race the car in 2009. (Photo: Peugeot) » More Photos


Peugeot revealed their future LMP1 challenger, the '908 HY', at Silverstone today. The French manufacturer announced their intent to build a Hybrid a little over a year ago -- initially titled the '909H', and are believed to have advanced solutions in place that await direction from the ACO for final implementation.

Using a new metallic-silver paint scheme with a lightning bolt motif and the letters 'HY' at the base of the engine cover, the livery is reminiscent of the Panoz Q9 'Sparky' Hybrid of the late '90's with it's similar use of a lightning livery to denote the electrical-assist powerplant.

The 908 HY, demonstrated using their standard 908 chassis with older generation bodywork, was claimed to run with the Hybrid system in place at a net weight addition of 45kgs (99lbs). Their stated goal is to pare 10 to 15kgs from the system before it sees competition.

The attributes and advantages of the 908 HY, as noted by Peugeot, existed only in a virtual world until now; their efforts had been largely restricted to computer simulations, but once the ACO reveals their final rules and restrictions for the first wave of Hybrids, expect Peugeot and other manufacturers to fastrack their development cycles.
Click on the link below to see images of Peugeot's complete technical presentation on the new 908 HY. (Photo: Peugeot) » More Photos

DailySportsCar.com's Graham Goodwin shared the following quotes from the Peugeot press conference. "We will put our resources towards the 908 HDI FAP while developing the demonstrator. Our first priority in 2009 is Le Mans," said Technical Director Bruno Famin. Team Manager Serge Saulnier says the 908 HY won't be seen in a race for almost one year. "I don't think you will see the HY racing before Le Mans, after that we will see." Finally, Nicolas Minassian, pilot of the demonstration car, noted the different sensation the car gives to the drivers. "The car is a fantastic technical achievement, the main thing that takes adapting to is the car under braking where the car recovers the energy. That means a very different feel and that will take a little time."

Michel Barge, Peugeot Sport's Director, said, "This hybrid 908 HDi FAP is in perfect keeping with the overall mission of our endurance racing program which covers not only the challenge of competing, of course, but also the fact that as a car manufacturer we can use motor sport as a research and development tool for the Peugeot brand as a whole. After innovating through the use of our HDi FAP technology in competition, running a hybrid car in endurance racing would give Peugeot a chance to gain extremely valuable experience that would
benefit the development of production cars. Whether we use this technology or not in 2009 will obviously depend on the details of the new regulations published by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest."

HY technology enables a portion of the kinetic energy produced under braking to be either recovered or stored. In the case of a non-hybrid car, this energy is dissipated in the form of heat via the brakes. However, when harnessed, it enables the vehicle’s efficiency to be improved in one of two ways:

1) Enhanced performance with no increase in the amount of energy consumed thanks to the combination of the stored mechanical energy and the energy produced by the internal combustion engine.

2) Reduced fuel consumption for the same level of performance thanks to the availability of stored mechanical energy.

The system featured on this demonstrator comprises three key elements:

1) A 60kW gear-driven electric motor-generator which takes the place of the conventional starter motor,

2) Batteries which permit recovered energy to be stored in 600 lithium-ion cells divided into 10 battery packs (six in the cockpit instead of the conventional battery and four on the left-hand side of the flat bottom).

3) An power electronic converter (located in the rear part of the front left wing) which controls the flow of energy between the batteries and the motor-generator.0A

The 908 HY can be powered in one of three ways: „« electric mode only (e.g. in the pit-lane), „« internal combustion engine only, „« a combination of the two.

In the course of a lap of Le Mans, for example, the system will recuperate energy for between 20 and 30 seconds. This energy can be used:

1) Either to deliver extra power thanks to an additional boost of 60kW (80hp) for approximately 20 seconds per lap, either automatically when re-accelerating, or when the driver chooses to make use of it (’push to pass’).

2) Or to reduce fuel consumption for the equivalent level of performance thanks to the mechanical energy recovered (between three and five per cent).

View the Peugeot 908 HY Photo Gallery HERE

View the Peugeot 908 HY Technical Presentation Slides HERE
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