we're here at the Detroit Auto Show where ram has just revealed the
brand-new 2019 ram 1500 and of specific importance to us as this new powertrain
mild hybrid choice they're offering with us now Michael did Haim who's going to
talk to us about exactly how this works yeah Mike thank you very much for
spending time yeah thanks for having me here so you know as we were beginning
the engineer the RAM we wanted to focus on making sure we maintain durability
and efficiencies but real on focus on efficiency and technology so this brings
us to our new edition of electrification re-torque system it's a 48 volt system
that's mounted on the front when the traditional area where the alternator
would go and basically we use this to start and stop the engine it starts it
very fast very seamlessly in less than four tenths of a second so I'm assuming
you guys don't have a PA numbers yet but no but is there a percentage improvement
so so we're expecting you know somewhere I think
rough numbers are about 10 percent improvement in our fuel economy numbers
so a pretty pretty significant game and it's actually both on the 30 and the v6
and the v8 its standard on the v6 it's optional on the v8 and then our a torque
system we use this basically as I said to start and stop the engine we also use
it as part as recuperation so as the vehicle is slowing down we'll
take that energy its absorbed by this and recharges the 48 volt battery in the
system so it's technically the mild hybrid system that allows the start and
stop capability that's great in the transmitter so the start/stop is all
done by the mild hybrid system so we integrate all of our controls through
the powertrain in the vehicle so it's actually a controlling system it's one
unit as we look at it so it it has ability to start and stop it helps the
engine with four cylinder and and eight cylinder activations
and also we use it to help boost when we're in 4-cylinder mode so many times
in 4-cylinder mode we just want to tip in a little bit and it'll switch the
eight cylinder we can use the 130 foot-pounds of torque in the e torque
system to help assist the engine and remain in four-cylinder motor long as it
is so walk me through exactly when I'm driving when I'm getting the benefit of
it so when it stops oh when we're driving around town and the whole
vehicle shuts down at a red light that that makes perfect sense am I getting
the benefit of the battery power at takeoff
gently so what we do is when we we go to launch the system basically we use the
430 foot-pounds of torque to start the engine and we continue to boost until
the engine torque comes up now on the eight cylinder and the 600 of torque
comes up pretty quickly so we use that to fill the lower end and then let the
engine take over so it helps us with some acceleration as well when we can
this star excellent so when I'm driving at 50 or 60 miles an hour and I punch
the throttle isn't that am I getting some benefit at that point no we won't
get much benefit there basically that's all the engine but when we're driving at
50 60 miles an hour this basically acts as an alternator then and then inside of
the battery pack there's a conversion system that takes the 48 volt system
into the 12-volt and supports the whole 12-volt system of the vehicle do you
have any sense on how many of these are gonna be consumers are going to be
interested in purchasing you know I don't know it's it's a very good product
for us we're extremely excited about it brings good technology to the vehicle
gives us a lot of efficiency as well and 10% boost is it only gonna cost 10% more
pricing numbers as we look it's excellent it's be very interesting to be
able to get this vehicle out India yeah well it drives like it's amazing when
you get to drive it you don't know the engine started you know traditional
starter based systems you feel the start and the shake of the engine this just
seamlessly starts it's just all of a sudden it's just running it's how
modular is this in the future could we have something that is more aggressively
electric in a half-ton pickup truck or is this system pretty well this is very
well designed right now for for what we're at you know in the future we'll
see what the future lies if we if we bring more electrification to the
full-size what about towing is there any benefit that the system has this system
as far as towing if we're in 4-cylinder mode I said we help with that and some
of the grades but that's where I use the base power of the systems but what the e
torque system does if we're in towing and our upgraded 8-speed transmission we
have almost over 440 shift patterns that we can select from so the e torque
system will automatically choose those pieces so if we're in towing it'll know
we're towing as well as inside of the vehicle and the shift selector there's
certain driver modes that you can select okay excellent
Mike thank you very much thank you so much appreciate that thank you so much
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