My thanks to Tobias for supplying the following translation from e24, who have had a reasonable amount of news about Saab lately.

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Saab is developing GM’s diesel with hybrid technology. SvD(?) have been granted access to the secret rooms of Saab.

First up is a white Saab 9-3 Sport Combi that is fully stuffed with hybrid technology, where electric engines are driving the car in lower speeds and normal combustion engine takes care of higher speeds. It’s like a Prius, just a little more complicated (and better looking, and safer, and more comfortable, and…. – SW).

We are in Saabs development centre in Trollhättan. Here the technology is fitted to the cars. Everything is hush hush but on the driver’s seat is a key with the text “9-3 diesel”.

Is it a diesel hybrid? The face of the man in charge, Magnus Wall, goes pale.

- We are developing hybrid technology for different kinds of engines.

Before the talk about hybrid and diesel was believed to be too expensive and the concept is not for SAAB and GM. But later on Peugeot, among others, has shown that it is possible.

But is this a diesel hybrid? He is getting even more pale and takes look at the press director.

Well yes

Isn’t it hard to get the diesel to work, which is hard to start, with the electric engine?

The colour is back in his face.

No that is possible.

So it is very secret all the time but at the same time the engineer is so proud he can’t wait to tell more.

We will get everything to work together. With the next generation of hybrid we can lower the fuel consumption up to 40 percent. This is possible with the use of more electricity.

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And there’s more…..on the 9-5 perhaps?

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The biggest secret is located far back in the room, covered in a grey blanket.

It is probably the new Saab 9-5 due to be presented in two years time. A beautiful sculptured sedan fully loaded with hybrid technology under the bonnet. I’m taking a glance and all I can see is that the car is white. I’m just a quick grab and a picture away from revealing Saab’s big secret.

With all of the recent debate here at TS about V8 engines in Saabs (cars, that is), I thought that I would open the comments about engines in general, and what you see as the ‘right’ place to spend the Saab power plant development resources in the near future.

Keep in mind that the new 9-5 and the upcoming 9-1 may be radically different cars and have very different engine requirements.

We all, of course, have our favorites. Mine happens to be the B202 2.0 Liter 16-valve 4-cylinder turbocharged and intercooled engine in the later classic 900 line up. The exhaust note is truly unique, and the engine seems to come alive at speed. And, it does this without the very un-PC stigma that the larger displacement engines have.

But I’m aiming for comments that would pave the way for future Saab engine technology.

I’ve gone on record here as an ethanol skeptic. I really think that E85 has two fatal flaws for adoption here in the US: infrastructure to distribute the fuel does not exist and would have to be built at great economic and environmental cost, and that it is still basically the same basic internal combustion technology and doesn’t gain efficiency as a result. So, of course, I don’t think that Biopower will be a long-term solution.

On the other hand, the plug-in hybrid, despite it’s scandalous history, works for me. In spades. I happen to live in an area of the world with amazingly low electricity rates — only one or two regions of the United States have lower electricity costs. Additionally, electricity that is generated in my local area has very low air emissions on average — hydroelectric and nuclear power make up the majority, and the largest coal-fired plants all have state-of-the-art emissions controls in place. Finally, a 30- or 40-mile (50- or 65-kilometer) range for electric-only operation would be perfect for most of my local driving. I may need to add fuel only once every couple of months if I had a good plug-in hybrid.

With as little fuel as I would need with a plug-in hybrid, it seems a little silly to even attempt to optimize the combustion process, but if I had my way, the power generating engine in my plug-in hybrid would ideally be a turbocharged biodiesel engine. Again, I could take full advantage of what is available to me locally; soybean and corn oils are abundant here. No need for a belching refinery to create the fuel or distill it into alcohol, no need to expend energy transporting the product halfway across the world and, most importantly, no need to develop a great distribution network for the fuel. It already exists. As an added benefit, it’s non-toxic and completely safe to handle. Emissions would still need to be controlled, but the great news is that the particulate emissions from biodiesel are not volatile petrochemical byproducts nor are they toxic.

So, for me, the ideal Saab power plant would be a turbocharged biodiesel plug-in hybrid. If I could get about 30 miles on the electric charge before the diesel started up, my mileage would be in the neighborhood of 150 miles per gallon of soybean oil plus about US$90-US$140 per month in electricity (a VERY rough estimate on my part). That’s a winner for me. It’s a HUGE cost savings and is VERY environmentally friendly.

So, what’s your take? Comments await! Extra credit for answers that are concise.

Thanks to 1985Gripen for all the ideas that follow:

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In my editorial on The Truth About Cars a few days ago I mentioned that if you wanted to describe Saab’s recent history in one word, that word would be underinvestment. That sounds a little unfair on the surface as Saab did some absolutely brilliant work over the years on a pretty small budget. But the fact is that Saab haven’t always had the financial muscle to bring all their ideas to market.

This post will cite only two examples, but I’m sure there’s a few more.

The Solar Cell

Remember the Saab EV-1 concept car? Designed by Bjorn Envall, the removable roof had solar cells embedded in it that drove a vent fan to keep the interior temperature as close to ambient temperature as possible.

Solar cells don’t come cheap nowadays and I can’t imagine what an option like this would have cost back in 1985.

In 2007 it will cost you US$790 as an option on either the Audi A8 or the A6.

Like the EV-1’s solar cell, the Audi solar sunroof drives the fresh air vent in the cabin when required. It works in exactly the same way as Bjorn Envall’s idea 22 years ago.

The electric assist engine

OK, to be fair, this hasn’t been released yet and is theoretically still in ‘concept’ form, but once again Audi are planning for the market introduction of an idea that I first saw on a Saab (it may well have been on another vehicle prior, but I don’t know).

This week, Audi took the wraps of their new Mini-fighter, the A1.

In addition to a bunch of other features, the A1 features an electric motor driving the rear wheels providing 30kW of power and 200 Nm of torque. Normally a FWD vehicle, the pocket rocket will have what Audi call ‘tractive power’ of around 440 Nm.

It never received as much attention, but Saab’s BioPower Plugin Hybrid Concept had two electric motors, one of which was a 38kW motor between the rear wheels.

As mentioned, I have to be fair about this one, and it may be that Saab’s investment in this technology will pay off in the future with the adaptation of this drive system into a future 9-5 or 9-3.

The Audi A1 is due in 2009.

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That’s two examples of technologies I’ve first seen in Saabs that are being used in other makes rather than in Saabs. I’m sure there’s more, though, so if you know of any then please leave the story in comments.

Saab have done a heck of a lot of innovation for such a small company over the years. It’s a pity that they haven’t always been in a position to capitalise on their own work.

There was an article published here during the week that was, well, not quite as accurate as it could have been. I covered it as it appeared to be the first article on the topic that I got access to. But it seems that the writer of the article may have either added something in translation (from German to Swedish) or just added something wrong.

Another Swedish publication, Nyteknik, has also covered the article, and once again CTM has been kind enought o provide us with a translation:

According to information from GM, the new Saab 9-1 will be available as a hybrid from day one. The new smaller Saab goes into production after 2010. Saab in Trollhättan now wants all GM hybrid cars in Europe.

According to auto industry paper Automobilwoche, GM’s new Delta platform is being developed to accept a hybrid powertrain. The paper cites sources inside GM who state that both Opel Astra and Saab 9-1 from day one will be available as hybrids. This is especially important for the US market, where Saab is marketed under it’s own brand name while Opel Astra is marketed within the Saturn brand.

The Trollhättan plant is one of four plants in Europe to produce the smaller GM cars developed on the Delta platform. The others are located in the UK, Germany and Poland. GM has decided to invest about 4 billion USD to adapt the plants for the new platform.

There is no information yet about the breakdown of the investment between the factories, but either way most of it will be used to make production of hybrids possible. There is a big difference between a hybrid powertrain and powertrain with a more common engine. The batteries are one such thing.

[Read the rest of this entry →]

This ain’t news to Bob Lutz, but it will be to some of Fastlane’s readers: Saab has a plug-in 9-3 Convertible.

In his latest posting the GM Fastlane blog, Bob Lutz talks about the development of the new Hydrogen fleet that GM’s looking to establish with a view ahead to a time when the hydrogen infrastructure is more established and able to support the profitable large scale manufacture of hydrogen vehicles.

He also briefly mentions that hydrogen isn’t the only arrow in GM’s fuel-strategy quiver. There’s also E85 and the upcoming two-mode hybrid system (which, incidentally, has been added to the aforementioned Saab 9-3 Hybrid Biopower Convertible to be shown at the Paris Motor Show later this month). Then he drops this little nugget:

We are also studying plug-in hybrids, and will have more to say about those soon. The whole key there is the development of significantly improved battery technology. But rest assured I truly believe that electric-drive vehicles have a real future in this country and around the world

More to say about [plug-in hybrids] soon??? Is there a remote possibility that Saab will be allowed to unveil the plug-in capability of the 9-3 Convertible Hybrid in Paris later this month?

A little bit of backstory for those who aren’t familiar:

Back in March 2006, Saab unveiled a hybrid 9-3 Convertible at the Stockholm Motor Show. The car has batteries in the back, electric motors to the front and rear wheels, is capable of running on E100 or gasoline, or any mix of the two. That’s what the official press releases told us.

What a lot of people don’t know is that the official press release was a re-draft of an earlier release that included the plug-in capability of the car as well. Any references to the plug-in functionality were removed in the official release.

How do we know this?

Well, someone in Sweden made an error and circulated the first draft of the press release, the one that mentioned the plug-in capability of the car. This was first uncovered by Robert Collin of Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper and I reproduced the story for the english-speaking world. Click here to read the original Trollhattan Saab story.

Shortly after that, a few enterprising Googlers found links to motoring publications that ran the original press release rather than replacing it with the edited version. I have a screendump of one of these services with the original release – click here to take a look or click here to go to my original story on this original, unedited press release.

Regular visitors to this site may remember when this story first broke and ask: Why is he persisting with this?

Well, Saab deserves the kudos.

Saab’s always been an environmentally conscious automotive entity and the addition of plug-in capability would be a perfect fit for the brand image, especially in Europe where they’re already a leader in the manufacture of vehicles running on environmentally responsible fuels. Sweden is the leading market in Europe for E85 availability and the Saab 9-5 Biopower is the biggest ‘green fuel’ seller in this market.

It went unnoticed in many circles in the last weeks that Australian political pioneer, Don Chipp, passed away recently. In the 1970’s, Don Chipp established the third major political party here in Australia, The Democrats. The mission of that party was provide a third voice in Australian politics that would keep watch over the policies and legistlation introduced by whichever party was in power. By doing so, they would “keep the bastards honest” (his words, not mine).

Perhaps it’s a pipe dream that Saab will be allowed to unveil this technology first, but one can dream – and keep a record like this just to “keep the bastards honest.”

I’ll await the Paris show with interest.

The Saab Biopower Hybrid first shown at the Stockholm Motor Show earlier this year has been further enhanced for it’s latest display at the British Motor Show.

Now they’ve added the GM Two-Mode Hybrid transmission that’s been developed in conjunction with BMW and Daimler Chrysler. With the additional two electric motors in the 2Mhybrid transmission housing, I think that brings the total number of motors in the Biopower Hybrid to 3,675,921. Give or take a few.

The relevant exciting bits in the press release are as follows:

This unique concept, showcased in a Saab 9-3 Convertible, is the first vehicle to combine a fossil-free bioethanol fuel (E100) capability with electric-only propulsion by utilizing the advanced two-mode hybrid system which General Motors Corp. is co-developing with DaimlerChrysler and BMW Group….

….”This concept allows us to evaluate and explore the potential of hybrid technology in combination with BioPower,” says Jan Åke Jonsson, Saab Automobile’s Managing Director. “As part of this process, we are now developing our expertise further by introducing the two-mode hybrid technology. It shows how we can continue to express the sporty performance associated with Saab while using renewable resources and saving energy overall.”….

And for those that don’t know much about the Two Mode system (count me in) –

Two-Mode hybrid technology

The Saab BioPower Hybrid Concept showcases the state-of-the-art two-mode hybrid transmission. This sophisticated technology represents a major industry milestone, achieving an unprecedented level of integration by combining two electric motors and four fixed gears within a single transmission housing.

Commonly described as a two-mode hybrid due to the low- and high-speed electric continuously variable transmission (ECVT) modes, the fuel-saving technology also incorporates four fixed gear ratios for a total of six operating functions. The result is trend-setting hybrid technology that provides superior fuel economy, performance and load carrying potential.

The two-mode hybrid’s electric motors can be used for electric-only propulsion, boosting the internal combustion engine and providing regenerative braking.

Additional fuel-saving efforts include removing auxiliary functions, such as the water pump, air conditioning and power steering systems, from the engine’s belt drive and transferring them to electric power through the hybrid system.

The two-mode hybrid transmission is similar in size to a conventional automatic transmission. Its adaptable design allows it to be scaled to the size, mass and performance needs of various engines and vehicles.

Hopefully these continued developments might mean that something like this is actually in the pipeline for production rather than just the concept merry-go-round (as fun as that is). This paragraph from Channel 4 would seem to pour some cold water on that idea, however:

Sadly, the Biopower hybrid powertrain is a long way off production. Nash says that there are still many issues to solve, not least the sheer cost of manufacturing it, and problems of safely recycling its materials at the end of its useful life. “We’ll have to pass the cost onto consumers”, he said. “The hybrid is a tomorrow product and solution. The Biopower models are a today solution. “

And no, GM are still not mentioning the plug-in capability of the original concept. Interestingly though, Channel 4 did contain this subtle rebuttal for the plug-in conspirators:

The batteries, charged under regenerative braking and thus requiring no auxiliary plug-in charging,

Don’t believe it.

A few days ago, it was alleged by Robert Collin in Aftonbladet (Swedish newspaper) that GM had told Saab to cover up the fact that the 9-3 Convertible Hybrid Concept was, in fact, a plug-in hybrid. It was said that GM told Saab to glue shut the plug cover, located behind the badge at the rear of the car. It was also said that GM got Saab to re-write the press material so that the plug-in capability wasn’t mentioned.

It seems Autoweb in Australia received the old press material and ran with it:

To optimise the availability of ‘Zero Mode’, a plug-in-feature is available which allows the battery bank to be connected to a mains electricity supply for additional charging in the garage. This would, for example, allow a driver commuting in heavy traffic to immediately resume in ‘Zero Mode’ the next morning after arriving home the previous evening having used up all its range. A neat socket is located behind the Saab badge on the 9-3 BioPower Hybrid Concept’s trunk lid.

That paragraph is missing from the press release that I received and reproduced here.

So it seems that Saab, after taking a lead role in the development of this technology, was pushed into hushing this up. The question now is what car will the plug-in feature on? And what is GM’s real attitude towards Saab being seen as an innovative, environmentally responsible and yet sporting brand within the GM portfolio?

The full, original story about this issue is here.

My thanks to Kayfer for finding this link and essentially proving the original Aftonbladet claims.

For the record, here’s a screendump of the original story on Autoweb. The offending paragraph is circled. Click to enlarge.

IMPORTANT: check the bottom of the story to the follow-up to this piece.

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Some things are more important than a house-moving hiatus…..

Could this badge be hiding a multitude of sins?

Word from Robert Collin at Aftonbladet this morning that GM may have thwarted Saab’s Hybrid being announced as an even bigger breakthrough than it seemed to be. As it is, the Saab 9-3 Hybrid won rave reviews for being the first hybrid vehicle to potentially return zero fossil fuel emissions.

Aftonbladet are reporting today that what Saab didn’t say about the Hybrid was that it is a plug-in hybrid.

And why didn’t they say it?

Well, if Robert Collin is correct, they were gagged. A translation of the Aftonbladet article, from Tom at iSaab, a Swedish Saab forum:

A couple of days previous to the premiere at the Stockholm Autoshow the orders came from Detroit: Not a word that the car can be charged from the socket! The Saab emblem on the boot, that hides the 220-volt intake, was glued shut. The pressmaterial was withdrawn and had to be rewritten. In Trollhattan they don´t know why, but it might be that GM will show a similar solution on one of its American brands that will be shown at the autoshow in New York later this April.

So why the fuss? Go to Calcars and check out why they’re touting Plug-ins. In short, there’s the mileage benefits, cleaner energy source benefits, lifetime service cost benefits and power storage benefits.

Plug-ins are the current darling of the environmental set and if you’re that way inclined, then being the first car company to produce a good, practical and realistic working prototype would be a major coup. The significance of the Saab Hybrid concept lay in the fact that they did it with an existing model, and to prove that it wasn’t going to be a huge bulky proposition, they did with a convertible!

This sort of clever design and development is a perfect fit for the environmentally responsible Saab brand.

Apparently GM killed it in Stockholm because they want to debut it, possibly on one of their home brands, at the New York Auto Show. If so, then GM’s true commitment to Saab and the realisation of its true growth potential must be questioned, in my opinion.

Saab is the one brand amongst GM’s portfolio with huge growth potential, and a vehicle like this, especially in a truly revolutionary configuration like the plug-in Hybrid, would have been a huge boost to Saab’s profile and in perfect keeping with its previous history of drivetrain leadership. Anyone but me notice how a lot of recent articles on future powertains are mentioning turbocharging?

If this story is accurate, then GM should come out and give credit where credit’s due. If they debut a plug-in hybrid on anything other than a Saab later this week in New York, then it’s shame, GM, Shame.

My thanks to Tom from iSaab.net for the tip-off, links and translation.

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UPDATE: There’s a follow-up piece to this story and the title says it all: The Smoking Gun. The original press release was found, with the reference to the plug-in capability.