Land Rover says it is spending billions of dollars to introduce green technology to its SUVs.

A feature called the "stop start" system cuts off the engine while the vehicle is idling. The engine restarts automatically when the gas pedal is pressed.

It says the technology cuts fuel use by about 12 percent and also cuts emissions.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sec...rticle-6539263

 

I think that this is similar to golf cart technology

I guess it will have battery back-up to keep the HVAC and electronics rolling.

Exciting stuff! Hopefully it pans out.

 

Whats amazing to me is the quality and reliability of the parts they have to create. They pretty much have for the hybrids and the Active Fuel Management in GMs (cyclinder deactivation), but think of the duty cycle of a starter in a stop-start Rover..

Everytime I'm stuck sitting in traffic I wonder why we cant just have electric to roll forward the few feet every few minutes

 

The next few years of energy development and deployment should be very impressive because every manufacturer is working towards better MPG due to the last oil crisis. It will be very interesting to witness. In ten years you will look back and think; "I can't believe I lived with an SUV that returned 15mpg on average."

 

Most fuel injected vehicles since the early 90s actually shutdown the engine while the vehicle is coasting. In other words the engine isn't burning any fuel, the wheels are actually turning the engine components during the coast. I can see where that engine turning off when your not using it would save money but, such as at a stop light or in stop and go traffic but, I don't know if it would be worth the effort. In that case you might aswell produce a hybrid. Im all for hybrid rovers, electric engines are much more precise and would actually make Land Rovers even better off-road and of course you would have the ability to disengage the electric motor incase you wanted to just use the petrol one.

 

I think that LR has to make a hybrid. Gas prices will go up again and they need to have some more fuel friendly options.

I know that the next version of RR is going to be lighter and aerodynamic than the current version so this will help the mpg's.

If they could get 20 average then they would be in good shape.

 

What they need to do is introduce diesels over here. The lr3 gets 33mpg on their turbo diesel. And diesel fuel does not require as much refining as regular gasoline. The new diesels don't smell and are not loud and I am baffled as to why more people don't drive them here in the US.

 

I wondered the same thing for a long time. They have the technology.

From what I understand, LR didn't think that the market would buy these vehicles especially during the period when gas was cheap. I would definintely buythis type of engine even with the slightlyhigher cost of diesel.