Automotive Engineering - July/August 2020 - 2

EDITORIAL

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Bill Visnic
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EDITORIAL
The world's most capable hybrid vehicle
What does the future hold for hybridelectric vehicle technology? In recent
years battery EVs have captured the mobility industry's focus, Hybrids, of
course, continue to offer efficiency and
practicality for millions of customers
- ask the owner of any Prius taxicab.
The technology is robust and proven,
even making its way recently into Jeeps
and soon, Ford's F-150 (see p. 11).
But when the BEVs finally take over
the world's roads and even its airspace,
as some predict, what then for hybrids?
The answer may reside in what is reputed to be the world's
most capable HEV. Can
you guess what it is?
This sleek, swift and
stealthy vehicle combines
a pair of diesel engines
(hint: made by one of the
greatest names in
Superbike racing) with
new-generation lithiumion batteries from a wellknown automotive supplier. The mighty and efficient propulsion system generates up
to 8,000 hp (6,000 kW) and is capable
of propelling (key word) the machine,
via a single electric motor, up to
6,100-miles (11,297-km) without a fuel
stop, according to its "crafty" OEM.
And its price - more than US$500
million per copy - would buy enough
Priuses for a small town.
The hybrid? Marine-engineering readers and those who follow warship technology may know this new, advanced
HEV as SS-511 - the Japanese Maritime
Self-Defense Force submarine also
named Ōryū ("Phoenix Dragon").
Commissioned in spring 2020 by builder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ōryū is
the 11th sub in the Sōryū class, the
world's largest (3,000-ton) diesel-electric boats. It's also the first Japanese
submarine to feature Li-ion batteries.
Sourced from GS Yuasa, the Li-ion cells
have almost double the energy storage
capacity of lead-acid batteries used in

conventional (non-nuclear) subs for
more than 100 years. In the Ōryū application, Li-ion's greater energy density
enables more cells to be packaged in
the hull.
Interestingly, the beefed-up battery
system fills the enormous space (equivalent to several hundred tons displacement) that in sister boats is occupied by
Stirling-cycle engines. The subject of
many SAE tech papers, the quiet, smooth,
external-combustion Stirling engines
function as generators, supplementing
the subs' Kawasaki-built diesels to increase propulsion performance and reduce the need
for frequent battery charging. A supply of liquid oxygen is carried on board to
support the diesel-fuel
combustion. With the
Stirlings, underwater endurance vital to a submarine's
survival in combat was extended (cue the chilling
U-boat film, Das Boot).
But in Japan's new SS511, the switch to advanced Li-ion batteries obsoletes the Stirling engines (some
of them built by a Saab Group division)
and their fuel cells. The enhanced propulsion arrangement, with faster and moreefficient charging, gives the Li-ion boat
even greater endurance when running
deep and nearly silent.
The SS-512 Tōryū, the final (of 12)
Sōryū-class subs, also is fitted with the
new battery technology. The two Li-ion
boats are expected to serve as testbeds
for Japan's next generation of advanced
diesel-electric subs, designated 29SS
class, scheduled to deploy next decade.
Naval technology analysts rate the latest high-performance hybrid vessels to
be as stealthy and effective as far more
costly nuclear-powered submarines in
some undersea scenarios.
For the Maritime Self-Defense Force,
the future of its vital submarine fleet is
underway on lithium power.
Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief

A propulsion
system
generating up
to 8,000 hp
and capable
of 6,100-miles
range without
a fuel stop.

2 July/August 2020

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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Automotive Engineering - July/August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - July/August 2020
