Peugeot Presents 908 HDi FAP Hybrid

Peugeot Sport revealed a 908 Hdi FAP equipped with a hybrid power plant featuring a kinetic energy recovery system at the final round of the 2009 Le Mans Series in Silverstone this weekend. Wearing a possible new silver and gray livery, the 908HY uses a 60 kW gear-driven electric motor-generator set in place of the conventional starter motor, 10 lithium-ion battery packs which are positioned in the cockpit and on the left-hand side of the floor pan, and an electronic power converter (located in the rear part of the front left wing) which controls the flow of energy between the batteries and the motor-generator.

The result is enhanced performance which translates into an additional boost of 60 kW (80 bhp) for approximately 20 seconds per lap, either automatically when re-accelerating or when the driver chooses to make use of it (‘push to pass’). Another benefit is increased fuel economy between three and five percent for the equivalent level of performance thanks to the mechanical energy recovered.

Michel Barge (Peugeot Sport, Director): “This hybrid 908 HDi FAP is in perfect keeping with the overall mission of our endurance racing programme 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.”