Wednesday 30th October 2013

Peugeot 208 Hybrid FE: Driven

Lightweight hot hatches a thing of the past? The 780kg 208 FE begs to differ

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There's hot and there's hybrid. The two have been introduced before but the union has either been a damp squib (Honda CR-Z) or supermodel fantasy (McLaren P1).

Hybrid FE based on 1.0-litre, 68hp 208

This time Peugeot blends the two in a project that uses racecar tech and knowledge to create a hottish hybrid hatchback that has officially recorded 149mpg but will still dash to 60mph in eight seconds. And that's without charging the batteries from a plug.

After a long explanation and a short drive of the 208 Hybrid FE at a test track near Paris earlier this week, we started to question what it means to be a PHer.

Then again anyone bonkers enough to rip out the front and rear suspension and replace all the springs and torsion bars with two radical glass-fibre blades in the name of weight-saving and 'what-if?' is welcome in our camp.

The guys responsible definitely aren't the beard and sandal brigade. All are from the company's racing arm Peugeot Sport and most were refuges from Peugeot's axed 908 hybrid Le Mans project.

Electric motor comes from 908 Le Mans racer

"Economy and racing is exactly the same," project leader Christophe Mary told us enthusiastically.

By the end he'd managed to convince us. The car started out life as a bog-standard 208 runaround with a one-litre three-cylinder engine. This is a 68hp shopper just about saved from plodder status by its 975kg weight.

But the Peugeot Sport guys managed to remove more than 200kg from this and made it so economical they'd cut CO2 output by more than half.

The 908 donated its tiny electric engine designed to push out 120hp of power, but here restricted to 40hp. A 90-cell lithium ion battery pack supplied the juice.

Just like the 908 hybrid was going to run under electric power in the pit lane, the 208 FE moves away silently and essentially push starts the car so the engine turns over on inertia alone. Great, now they can whip out the starter motor. The weight reduction has started.

Longer tail contributes to 0.25Cd

And because they've converted some of the battery power to 12V, they can run all the electrics off the lithium ion unit. So out goes the 5kg standard car battery. No alternator needed either - another 4kg gone.

By redesigning the engine's water jacket they've reduced the volume of cooling liquid by FIVE times. Of course then they could shrink the radiator. We had a peer in the engine bay and it was just like in that terrible Griff Rhys Jones Vauxhall ad from the late 90s where he was loading shopping under the bonnet of an old Cresta - gaps everywhere.

Of course the hybrid gubbins added about 40kg, including a 25kg battery, but the engineers reckoned with all the other savings, the combined drivetrain weight was exactly the same as the original 1.0-litre car.

Mary refuted our criticism that all the exotic materials meant the hybrid FE was every bit a fantasy car as the McLaren P1. "If you make a clever design you could use 70 per cent of this in a normal car," he told us.

ECO mode or FUN mode?

Okay, maybe not the pricey titanium engine conrods, which were adapted from the 908 and weighed as little as a slim fountain pen. The whole three-cylinder engine was reworked for economy, including designing a new cylinder head weighing half as much. Almost everything inside that moved was coated in low-friction Diamond-Like Carbon and bathed in a very low-viscosity 0W12 oil from partners Total that reduced resistance even when cold. The result, they reckoned, was the same levels of friction at 40 degrees as nearer operating temperature at 80 degrees.

The continuing virtuous circle meant that 149mpg could theoretically give over 600 miles from a tiny 20-litre tank. Saving weight again. Those amazing suspension blades removed 25kg, and a composite bonnet took out 7kg.

There was plenty to say about the aerodynamics, which cut the drag to 0.25Cd using tricks like extending the tail, fitting tall skinny tyres, and mostly blocking the grille.

46g/km and 0-62 in 8 seconds? Cool hybrid!

But now we wanted to drive the thing. The jet whine of the electric motor gave a fascinating insight into what the ill-fated 908 hybrids might have sounded like, and our first instinct was to switch it straight into FUN mode, which keeps the three-cylinder motor running permanently after starting.

First though, an ECO-mode run-though and the FE whirred away keenly before the engine arrived with a thump at 50km/h. The gearbox is the same EGS automated manual system Peugeot and Citroen have long tortured drivers with but here made seamless because the electric motor fills in those lurching torque dips on changes. Smart take note.

We're basically driving up and down a straight track so had no bends to measure how its lightness helped dynamically, but the steering was direct and feelsome through those skinny 145-section tyres. Finally we got a FUN run and the FE smartly jumped forward when we showed a heavy boot. The 208 GTI is quicker, but the fascinating FE Hybrid is nonetheless a very cheering glimpse into a future where professional petrolheads won't have forsaken production cars, but instead will be striving to insert the comical into economical.

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PEUGEOT 208 HYBRID FE
Engine: 1.2-litre 3-cyl, direct-injection / electric motor 
Transmission: Five-speed automated manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 107
Torque (lb ft): 111
0-62mph: 8 seconds 
Top speed: N/A
Weight: 780kg
MPG: 149mpg 
CO2: 46g/km
Price: Not revealed. But put it this way, 1 million miles at 149mpg and it still won't have paid for itself

 

[arkenphel]

Wow! That tech makes for awesome reading, especially the weight of the stuff they've thrown out that became redundant!

I like!

[b14]

780kgs is an incredible achievement for a car the size of a 208. Really impressive weight savings, puts all the "20kgs saved" Supperlegerras and Stradales into perspective.

[Frimley111R]

Wow, suspension copied from the rear of my 1980 Tamiya Holiday Buggy

[cookie1600]

The Crack Fox said:

If only Peugeot had the balls to actually make stuff like this. But they dont't. And that's why they're in the st.

How much do you reckon a vehicle like that would cost, even if they could productionise it? Would it be a profitable thing? doubtful, would many people actually buy it at say £35,000 or £45,000?

It's more about learning what can be done for future models and introducing small incremental changes to new cars I guess.

[carreauchompeur]

Fascinating, love the attention to detail and the weight saving is so clearly the way to go... I do wonder how much it costs though!

[chrisw666]

What would be interesting is how much of an improvement the weight saving would give without the electric motor. I suspect some modern cars would easily crack 100mpg if they were lugging around a lot of extra weight.

[Krikkit]

cookie1600 said:

The Crack Fox said:

If only Peugeot had the balls to actually make stuff like this. But they dont't. And that's why they're in the st.

How much do you reckon a vehicle like that would cost, even if they could productionise it? Would it be a profitable thing? doubtful, would many people actually buy it at say £35,000 or £45,000?

It's more about learning what can be done for future models and introducing small incremental changes to new cars I guess.

Agreed, just like the XL1 that VW is making a limited run of, it's a working concept. Some of the weight and efficiency developments will find themselves used in other cars, but it's not practical to expect all that work in a reasonable OTR price.

[will-w]

An everyday hybrid that actually looks and sounds good.. Was that a pig that just flew past the window?

If Peugeot actually made and sold it for less than £25,000 then I think they'd be onto a winner.

Especially if they let us have more than the restricted 40hp from the electric motor

Edited by will-w on Wednesday 30th October 09:44

[dukebox9reg]

Been reading for a while that carbon blade like suspension would be coming. Didn't think I would see it on a Pug first.

It obviously has good weight advantages and aero benefits. Not sure how they would cope when in the winter cold though with British potholes.

An extra note. I prefer the fat arse on this

[GroundEffect]

will-w said:

If Peugeot actually made and sold it for less than £25,000 then I think they'd be onto a winner.

Sigh.

[abbotsmike]

will-w said:

An everyday hybrid that actually looks and sounds good.. Was that a pig that just flew past the window?

If Peugeot actually made and sold it for less than £25,000 then I think they'd be onto a winner.

Especially if they let us have more than the restricted 40hp from the electric motor

Edited by will-w on Wednesday 30th October 09:44

That's got to be the future of remaps! Don't wind up the boost, swap out the motor drive

[cianha]

Very cool, a great approach to making fun cars. Efficiency doesn't have to be dull!

[scarble]

Appealing from an engineering point of view, not sure I'd want to drive one.
probably the most interesting aspect is the suspension.
I've never really though about how composites stand up to fatigue?
Or stone chips?

But they say the powertrain weight is roughly the same, so all the starter motor, alternator and battery weight saving is nullified by the hybrid. So just how much weight have they saved with these gfrp springs and where's the rest gone and when can we have those weight savings on a road car?

[IrishAsal]

I have to say, this is the first time I've been truly interested in a hybrid.

I also have to say, I find this more interesting than any article about a Lambo, Aston, the P1 vs LaF vs 918, 135i M comparisons, etc., etc.

What I have always loved about cars is creativity and ingenious problem solving. Outside of the marketing departments, that has been severely lacking of late but this car, and article, really interested me. Thanks!

[ajh38]

I appreciate that there's different technology involved in this but the 3008 Hybrid starts at just over £27,000. If it became a production car it would still use a lot of the parts from a standard 208. I would guess it would be about £23,000.

[kambites]

That suspension design looks rather like the Corvette's.

[Blackpuddin]

Would love to see more about the suspension, one area that seems long overdue for a rethink.

[jamespink]

Great achievement here, I love it when truly innovative engineer/designers are let loose! Hot version Sir? Certainly, plug in this flash card, 140bhp!

[J-P]

cookie1600 said:

The Crack Fox said:

If only Peugeot had the balls to actually make stuff like this. But they dont't. And that's why they're in the st.

How much do you reckon a vehicle like that would cost, even if they could productionise it? Would it be a profitable thing? doubtful, would many people actually buy it at say £35,000 or £45,000?

It's more about learning what can be done for future models and introducing small incremental changes to new cars I guess.

I would 0-60 in 8s and 149MPG - yes please! Plus all that cool tech? Can you imagine what that would be like in a car with a lighter platform in the first place?

[bob 180]

IrishAsal said:

I have to say, this is the first time I've been truly interested in a hybrid.

I also have to say, I find this more interesting than any article about a Lambo, Aston, the P1 vs LaF vs 918, 135i M comparisons, etc., etc.

What I have always loved about cars is creativity and ingenious problem solving. Outside of the marketing departments, that has been severely lacking of late but this car, and article, really interested me. Thanks!

agreed