Also realizing the need for a diverse product offering Citroën has been producing a mild diesel-electric hybrid vehicle, the Xsara Dynalto. There is also the parallel hybrid, Xsara Dynactive, a Hybrid Zero Emission vehicle where the driver can choose to run on either the internal combustion engine or the electric motor.
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| The Citroën Xsara Dynactive is a Hybrid Zero Emission vehicle where the driver can choose to run on either the internal combustion engine or the electric motor. (Photo: PSA Peugeot Citroën) |
Another type of hybrid vehicle that Peugeot-Citroën will be bringing to mass market between 2005 and 2010, will be an electric-fuel cell hybrid. It will be an electric powered commercial vehicle with small onboard hydrogen fuel cells used to back up the battery driven powertrain.
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| Robert Peugeot, PSA Vice President, Innovation and Quality, reaffirmed the Group's strong commitment to fuel cell related research, and cited the fuel-cell powered H20 concept as an example. (Photo: PSA Peugeot Citroën) |
By the time the ball drops in Times Square, NYC on the eve the next millennial decade, seven years from now, the PSA Group predicts that fuel cells will be the main source of energy for vehicles. This progress will be achieved with an onboard hydrogen producing system using a bioethanol or syngas (synthetic gas) reformer, instead of the pure hydrogen source. Hopefully by then, they will not only have an alternative fuel vehicle that reduces the amount of pollution spewing out from the tailpipe, but delivers the levels of horsepower and torque that most of us have come to demand from our vehicles.
Last month, at a joint press conference with PSA Peugeot-Citroën and French Hydrogen Association (AFH2), Robert Peugeot, PSA Vice President, Innovation and Quality, reaffirmed the Group's strong commitment to fuel cell related research, highlighting PSA Peugeot Citroën's two demonstrators, H2O and Taxi PAC.