I was in a taxi (newer Mecedes) a few weeks ago, and noticed that the car engine stopped at traffic lights, and when the driver started up agin, I heard, briefly, the starter motor turn over. I didn’t see the driver move his hand(s) from the steering wheel.
More recently I have been noticing stopped cars, as I walk past them, engaging the starter motors.
Is this a new energy-saving feature? Doesn’t the wear-and-tear on the starting motor and gears out-weigh the fuel economy advantage?
It seems that even with petrol running a Euro and a half per liter, the several seconds the engine is off wouldn’t be enough to offset replacing or rebuilding the starter.
What’s up?
It’s not new, at least not in Japan, and we’ve had this feature in new cars for a while now, although it’s picked up steam as an “eco” system in the last 2-3 years. It’s called an “idle stop” or “start stop” system and apparently it’s up to 10% economical in fuel compared to a similar vehicle without the system.
The starter motors used in these systems are robust and have been designed to deal with constant on/off cycling. Also, the stopping times at red lights are too short to have a deleterious effect on keeping engine oil warm enough to lubricate parts.
The biggest burden is on the battery that has to deal with increased number of starts as well as to keep all systems running even when the engine has stopped, like the AC compressor. That’s why you see more start stop systems on hybrid or electric cars compared to regular combustion engine vehicles.
It is the coming thing in Europe too, so that they can meet emission rules. I hired a car in Portugal (Audi A4) two years ago that did it. Takes some getting used to but must be a good saving in town traffic.
They have beefed up batteries, alternators and starter motors to allow for the heavy use.
My Insight did that. They have strong/fast starters that have to be able start the car before you can move your foot from the brake to the gas*. Because of this, starting the car regularly happens VERY fast, you get very used to that. What was strange is that when I went back to a regular car (I now have an Accord), it took me about 6 months to get used to having a regular starter. I was constantly hitting the Start button and shifting it into reverse/drive before it had fully started and having to start over. Constantly. You don’t realize how long a car takes to start until you have one that starts in like a quarter of a second.
*In my Insight I learned that if I keep my foot on the brake and tap the gas pedal the engine would start up and stay running until the next time I stopped. This was nice A)If I was cooking in the sun, it would get the AC running and B)if I was waiting for some small opening in traffic and didn’t want a lag when I punched the gas pedal.
All of the vehicles I have noticed are gasoline/diesel powered.
I wonder if a vehicle could be retrofitted with starter/battery/sensors/computer upgrades?
Converting a conventional car to a hybrid is not a simple task. It’s almost always easier to design it in from the beginning. There’s no place to put the batteries in a conventional car without completely redesigning it.
In theory yes. As a practical matter no.
Besides a more robust starter and battery the computer is more powerful so rather than having to make one or two complete engine revolutions it can start firing the spark plugs as the very next cylinder comes up on compression.
I think Bahimes meant to fit a standard car with an engine stop/start system only, not to convert it to a hybrid.
That said, I once had a very easy-starting '66 VW. I manually did the stop/start thing with it for a few days since I had no money and was low on gas. It definitely saved a good bit and got me through to payday!
Not only has turning the engine on and off at stops become common in Europe but there is also a lot of cars now that are deactivating pairs of cylinders when they are not needed. That is your 8 cylinderVette can become a 4 cylinder under certain conditions.
I was talking to a top automotive engineer/executive not long ago. This subject was brought up. I was told that the automakers are looking for anything that will boost fuel economy in order to meet standards. The stop/start will do that. The problem for the automakers is that to build the system into the car it might add up to $1500 to the cost. The car buying public is sensitive to price. They tend to not buy something like start/stop as a premium feature. They will pay for leather seats, back seat entertainment, moon roofs or fancy wheels. Therefore, it has to be incorporated into the basic price of the car. Mercedes is already premium priced so stop/start won’t be noticeable in the cost. It’s a different story for a Chevy Malibu.
As your link says, the only new part of this is, that it is hooked to a manual transmission. Cadillac did this in the late 70s.