Hyundai Motor Group has announced the development of a new transmission technology for their Hybrid car line-up called Active Shift Control. The new innovation by the company is a world-first technology which improves gear shift efficiency in Hybrid cars. The technology is now set for mass production and will debut on the upcoming Hyundai and Kia hybrid cars.
Active Shift Control or ‘ASC’ in short employs a new control logic software to the Hybrid Control Unit which in turn controls the electric motor to align the rotational speed of the engine which helps in reducing the gear shift time. This mitigates the issues related to slower gear shift times by 30% and reduces fuel consumption due to power lost during the transmission process.
The Hybrid Control Unit, with the help of a sensor, monitors the rotational speed of the transmission at 500 times per second to quickly synchronize the transmission which reduces shift times from 500 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds improving the acceleration of the hybrid vehicle, fuel efficiency as well as the durability of the engine by reducing the friction created during gearshifts.
Although torque converters are fuel-efficient they take a longer time so as to warrant smoother gear changes and loose energy in the transmission process and hence, to further improve fuel efficiency conventionalised hybrid vehicles do not employ torque converters.
Kia Motors recently opened booking on their first product in India, the Kia Seltos which is slated for its launch on 22nd August 2019. The brand has commissioned its first manufacturing plant in India located at Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh which has a manufacturing capacity of 3,00,000 units per annum. The brand is one of Korea’s oldest carmaker and manufactures 3 million cars a year from its 14 manufacturing and assembly plants located in five countries which are sold and serviced in 180 countries worldwide.
