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General Motors Co. plans to bring back mild hybrids next year, said Larry Nitz, GM executive director of hybrid and electric powertrain engineering.

GM discontinued mild hybrids after 2009 when the closing of Saturn left the carmaker with the technology on just one vehicle, the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Nitz said. It had been available on the Saturn Vue crossover and Saturn Aura sedan as well.

Nitz, who spoke on the sidelines of the seminars here yesterday, said a new, more powerful system will be available in the third quarter of 2011 on at least one mid-sized sedan in North America and one in China.

He declined to name the vehicles, but he said the first-generation mild hybrid system was available in China on the Buick LaCrosse. He wouldn’t discuss the price of the option.

Unlike a full hybrid system, a mild hybrid system cannot propel a vehicle on electric power alone. It acts as a stop-start system, shutting off the gasoline engine when the car stops and then using the batteries to restart the engine when the accelerator is pressed again.

The motor also provides a boost during acceleration.

Nitz also said GM intends to make some of its own electric motors for hybrids instead of buying them all from suppliers.

He said the first GM-made electric motors will be produced in its White Marsh powertrain plant near Baltimore. He said they will be used on the next-generation Two-Mode hybrid technology, which will be an option on future pickups and SUVs.

Nitz called electric motors a core powertrain competency that GM must design and fully understand so it can integrate them into hybrids and plug-in electrics for peak fuel economy and performance.

He declined to reveal when the next-generation Two-Mode hybrids would be introduced. With a Two-Mode, a driver benefits at highway speeds from the electric motor, not just predominantly at starts and stops.

Nitz said GM will reintroduce mild hybrids on its mid-sized sedans with improved technology. They will offer about 20 percent better fuel economy than gasoline engines, he said.

Nitz said the electric motor is improved and the electronics and controllers are fully integrated with the conventional gasoline engine. The system will be wedded to GM’s Ecotech engine and a six-speed transmission capable of maximizing performance and fuel savings, he said.

When the mild hybrid was introduced in the Saturn Vue in 2006, it was bolted onto a four-cylinder engine and four-speed transmission not designed for regenerative braking. That mild hybrid produced a 15 percent improvement in fuel economy.

- Millions of electric-powered vehicles that would slash America’s dependence on foreign oil and cut carbon emissions would be put on the road under legislation approved by a Senate committee on Wednesday.

The legislation, passed 19-4 in favor, was one of several bills cleared by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that might be folded into a broader energy and climate bill Democrats are struggling to bring to the Senate floor.

The bill approved by the committee would pour nearly $3.9 billion over 10 years into selected communities to build infrastructure to charge electric cars, conduct research and provide incentives for consumers to buy plug-in vehicles.

The goal is to put the United States on a path to electrify half the country’s cars and trucks by 2030, which would cut U.S. demand for oil by about one-third.

“Passing this legislation will strengthen our national security and improve the air we breathe, while relying on our abundant and diverse electricity supply to fuel our cars,” said Senator Byron Dorgan, the bill’s chief sponsor.

A new bill that addresses climate change and renewable energy is a key priority for the Obama administration but time is running short on the congressional calendar with a scheduled August recess and congressional elections looming in November.

Senator Jeff Bingaman, who chairs the energy panel, said he was not sure if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would unveil his encompassing energy and climate legislation next week. The bill would be in trouble if the Senate does not pass it before the August break, according to Bingaman.

“It will be difficult to get a final bill to the president for signature,” Bingaman told reporters. “The earlier that the full Senate would act the better position we’ll be to actually get a bill to the president.”

Congress is scheduled to work through the first or second of week of August, and then recess until after Labor Day in early September.

Reid said on Tuesday he was still grappling for consensus among Democrats to forge a new climate and energy bill.

Question:

Which do you think is better, I don’t care about brand just want your opinion, considered diesel but the cost of that is just as bad as regular

Answer:

tough call, I personally like cars that run on E85 but now am seeing stuff in the news about production of E85, so who knows they are cheaper to drive because the cost of that type of gas is cheaper than regular, but Hybrid’s get better gas mileage. I personally was looking at both hybrid vehicles as well as E85 ones, I’d say Chevy Monte Carlo or Impala if you want E85 or like Toyota Camry Hybrid or Prius if you want a Hybrid, or maybe even the Civic Hybrid.

For now the Hybrids are on there 3rd generation (design) so I think I will wait a bit longer to see if they can get the bugs worked out and hopefully get the prices down a bit!

Some 2004-07 Prius hybrids may produce an annoying squeaking sound when the brake pedal is applied or released. Toyota says the noise is most audible when the key is in the Ready mode with the vehicle not moving. It seems that a defective brake actuator assembly is the likely culprit.

Before condemning the actuator, however, try bleeding the brake system. If the noise goes away, you’re done with the fix. If the noise remains after getting out that last belch of air, replace the brake actuator with an upgraded unit, Part No. 44500-47090.

Question:

1990 Honda Prelude Air Conditioning Problem-        The a/c will work idling for quite a while then when it does quit working the compressor clutch will not engage and the red warning light comes on. I’ve tested and it is not energizing the compressor relays. The fans work, it is full of freon, the compressor clutch is not slipping, and I replaced the belts. I wanted to replace the compressor control unit but the part has been discontinued and i need to figure out if that is what it is so i can look in a salvage yard to find the part. Any suggestions on what the problem could be other than the compressor control unit? Could it be the sensor in the compressor, and if so do i have to evacuate the system to replace it? Is there any way to get diagnostic literature on the system?

Answer:

Look at the a/c cycling switch as a cause of failure. A/C Diagnostics

Have to hand it to Honda — the company promised its zero-emissions vehicle, the FCX Clarity, would be available this summer, and they technically beat that deadline by about a week. The future-y sedan, which is powered by hydrogen fuel cells, is now available in limited quantities (only a few dozen this year, which were quickly snapped up by SoCal celebs) in Southern California and costs $600 a month to lease. Buying it outright isn’t an option, apparently.

That’s just as well, since there are hydrogen fuel stations in only three cities in California right now. Fuel-cell technology is clearly still in the early part of the early-adopter phase, but with Honda making its move maybe we’ll start to see more of them. However, Honda’s production schedule of 200 units over the next three years is fairly unambitious (surely the hydrogen fuel stations will be able to handle more than that). And it would be nice if they started mixing up the design of these things — this fuel-cell car design from GM looks pretty much cribbed from the FCX.

With gas prices over $4.00 a gallon and no sign of the cost coming down anytime soon, many drivers are looking at the hybrid and thinking it may be the answer to there problem. The thinking behind the hybrid is great but for today’s consumers I would recommend against the purchase for several reasons. Right now today, the hybrids do not get much better fuel mileage than your normal economy gas getter and the cost of the hybrid is much higher, meaning you will have to wait 5 years before you actually start saving money. Another reason to avoid the hybrid is the fact that it is all new technology. New isn’t always better. In the case of the hybrids, car company’s are working on producing there 3rd generation of them already, which means the first 2 generations were not that good and will be difficult and expensive to parts and repairs. I recommend waiting for the cost to come down, and it will. Also wait for the technology to work out the bugs. Once the prices become fair and the bugs are worked out, these new hybrids will be a more excepted purchase.

Look for 3 new hybrids from Honda , 2 New Hybrids from Toyota and eventually GM will get it together and put the Volt on the market for purchase(probably around 2010).