Mercedes ML 450 Hybrid

Mercedes-Benz has long been known for its diesel engines. In fact, led the 260D, the world's first passenger car powered by a diesel engine, already in 1936. But proud of its reputation for advanced technology in general, secures with hybrids.Gasoline or diesel or hybrid?
On the New York Auto Show in April 2009, presents its latest hybrid project, the 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid. It is the latest addition to the ML SUV line, and it makes the ML the first vehicle in the world, gasoline, diesel and hybrid alternatives.The three drives back up a series of numbers kilometers. The all-wheel-drive ML350 with a standard gasoline engine gets 15 mpg city / 20 mpg highway, with larger V8 versions even worse. What does the green alternatives for clean diesel ML320 BlueTEC 18 mpg city / highway 24 mpg, and now the ML450 Hybrid model tops the list with 20 mpg city / highway 24 mpg.

The new ML model built in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is equipped with an advanced two-mode hybrid system by General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and BMW.Bigger, Better battery and radiator to
The Mercedes-Benz version of the Two-Mode system combines a 275-hp, 3.5-liter V6 petrol engine and two electric motors. Together, the complete drive train 335 hp and 381 foot-pounds of torque. But Mercedes-Benz is equipped with a separate, larger nickel-metal hydride battery that is 2.4 kilowatt-hours, almost half again as large as the packaging in a variety of GM's two-mode hybrid used. And Benz liquid cooling uses on the package and the healthy cells that have the best efficiency, complete break with a "super chiller" to air the package of coolant when the electrical system under stress, towing a trailer uphill to the heat of the desert, for example.None of these components comes cheap, but Mercedes-Benz have more room for higher prices than more mass-market big SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe / GMC Yukon twins.
As with other hybrids, the two-mode, the car can move at low speed all-electric drive for short distances. But in contrast to "single mode" full hybrid, including the archetypal Toyota Prius, the pair of electric motors and gear more sets, electric, to help fuel on the highway, hence the name "two-mode."
Externally, the only difference between the new hybrid and other MLs, the radiator grille and a slightly curved bonnet, to clear the power electronics, mounted on the front at the top of the engine. In a strange transformation, the company was AMG-tuning the appearance of the cap device so that it is a part, with its high-performance version of the ML is.
During a test drive in Manhattan traffic and the West Side Highway along the Hudson River, the ML450 Hybrid clearly distinguished from the GM Two-Mode sport utilities, including the posh Escalade version. Drive noise is all but imperceptible, and the sound attenuation (known as NVH engineers through automatic for Noise Vibration Harshness) is exemplary.
In fact, most drivers only to find that the ML is a hybrid of the motor show, the increase is not like most hybrids is parallel with the speed. Instead, these hybrid ring, and others such as cars with continuously variable transmissions-hybrid systems, which simulate the shift of power between the modes and the motor in its efficient speeds that the game with the electric motors.The simulation of an eight-speed automatic
Yet Benz is concerned that some ML owners might annoying to see that the discrepancy between engine speed and vehicle speed. The company developed a "shift" mode, which drives simulate the behavior of making an eight-speed automatic transmission. According Hybrid Control Systems Engineer Konstantin Neiss, using Shift mode, a 3-percent penalty puts on fuel.
Unlike Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and Honda, Mercedes-Benz are hybrid technology with the greatest improvement of the worst mileage vehicles to realize that gas-km regulations, the line-up disproportionately. With the diesel and hybrid ML variants head to compete in head to keep the industry analyst with stress in the eye, to see how much richer Mercedes-Benz appreciate buyers various levels of mileage, whether hybrids prove more appealing than oil burners and, more importantly, to what price points. There should be an interesting model Mercedes are years.