Edinburgh, Friday,
30th May 2008 - Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd has for the first
time publicly revealed a new type of hybrid car and truck transmission
based on revolutionary technology it has developed in Scotland.
The demonstrated prototype car, a BMW 530i equipped with the Digital
Displacement® Hybrid Transmission has achieved a doubling
of its MPG consumption for city driving compared with the same car
equipped with a manual transmission. The technology is poised to
shake up both the automotive industry and the rapidly growing renewable
energy industry.
Making hybrids an economic, not
a lifestyle choice.
Artemis Intelligent Power demonstrates
its Digital Displacement Hydraulic Hybrid.
The Edinburgh based research company
has been developing the innovative hydraulic hybrid car transmission
in Edinburgh for the past two years. The Energy Saving Trust confirmed
that independent tests on a prototype car, based on a BMW 530i,
had doubled the MPG in city driving compared to the same car with
a manual transmission. Overall, including highway driving, the prototype
had 30% lower CO2 emissions than it had before the company fitted
its energy saving transmission.
The development costs for the prototype were shared by the Department
for Transport, through a technology programme run by the Energy
Saving Trust.
Emission results measured in Millbrook Proving Ground proved
Artemis's goal to make hybrid cars an economic, not a lifestyle,
choice. Rather than using electric motors and batteries like other
hybrid cars, the Artemis car uses its Digital Displacement® hydraulic
motors to drive the wheels and compressed gas to store energy.
This makes the company's hydraulic transmission potentially much
more durable, lighter and cheaper than electric hybrids. In most
vehicles the company expects substantially better fuel savings
than electric hybrids.
In the just-completed 22 month project, Artemis developed new
transmission components and technology, then switched them with
the standard manual transmission. The new transmission is automatic,
but apart from this the new components fit in the same space as
before so the car looks and feels the same as it did before.
EST representatives at the launch
It is thought that commercial vehicles rather than passenger
cars will be the first on-highway vehicles to be fitted with the
new transmissions. The Artemis Digital Displacement® technology
is built on reliable, high efficiency, hydraulic components, especially
important for intensively used vehicles like trucks and vans.
Commercial vehicles make up almost 20% of road traffic in the
UK, but contribute disproportionately to the country's emissions
because of their higher weight and high annual mileage.
Bosch Rexroth, the global supplier of components and systems
for industrial and factory automation and mobile applications,
has purchased the worldwide rights to use the company's Digital
Displacement® technology in on-highway vehicles.
