Peugeot 2008 First Car Fitted With Hybrid Air Engine

Peugeot is to reveal a 2008 concept powered by the brand’s Hybrid Air engine at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

This system uses compressed air and was first shown in a Citroen C3 at last year’s show, but Peugeot has hinted the next-gen 2008 could be the first production model equipped with the innovative powertrain. It is expected that the next generation Peugeot 2008 will be the first production model fitted with the new hybrid tech and will be launched in 2016 with refreshed styling to help it distinguish from the rest of the range. The French car maker has previously announced plans to apply the new tech to other B and C segment vehicles in the future.
How does it work? It works similarly to today’s production hybrid but instead of deploying expensive batteries, compressed air is used to give power to a new three-cylinder PureTech petrol engine. The mixture of compressed air and petrol engine in a B-segment car is said to deliver in excess of 94mpg, with CO2 emissions claimed at only 69g/km. Like traditional hybrid cars, driving at slow speeds on the motorway, only the petrol engine will be used, while in stop/start traffic, the car will make use of the Air Mode. When you push the accelerator, these two powers will combine to work together.
As this hybrid system doesn’t need any expensive metal-based batteries like the traditional hybrid cars, hence these cars will be cheaper than today’s petrol-electric cars.