Kia 48V Mild-Hybrid Diesel powertrain rolling out THIS year

Kia is introducing EcoDynamics+ 48V mild-hybrid diesel engines to their UK range later this year in a bid to reduce emissions.

In a bid to reduce emissions, Kia is delivering a new 48V mild hybrid diesel powerplant to its UK cars this year (Kia say in the second half of 2018) initially in the Kia Sportage but likely to be offered more extensively across the Kia range.

The system looks to be pretty straightforward with low cost and weight penalty, and although it will only reduce CO2 emissions by around 4 per cent (WLTP), every little helps.

The new mild hybrid comes with a 0.46kWh 48V lithium-ion battery, and a new mild-hybrid starter-generator (MHSG) connected by a belt to the crankshaft which can deliver up to 10kW of electric power to the engine when acting as a motor, and harvest kinetic energy during braking and in-gear deceleration. It can even deliver a ‘Moving Stop-Start’ if there’s enough charge in the battery.

Kia say the big plus for the new 48V system is that it’s so compact it can be easily integrated in to existing vehicle architecture (it’s heading for Kia’s petrol engines too) without the need to reconfigure the engine bay or lose space to a big battery. And because the 48V battery connects to the car’s on-board power supply it means a smaller 12v battery and starter motor.

Kia say the new 48V mild-hybrid system means “Kia is the first manufacturer to offer consumers hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery-electric and 48-volt technology across its model line-up“.