Stagnant traffic is very common in urban areas. There will be hundreds and thousands of vehicles stuck in traffic especially during the peak hours. Almost all these vehicles will be idling. Just imagine how much fuel gets wasted? How much tonnes of pollutants are deployed by these vehicles without any use? Micro-hybrid technology helps vehicle’s engine to stop in such situations without the driver’s influence. How it works? This should not be confused with push button start as it is a
Start stop system needs a lot of sensors around the vehicle and an on-board computer to monitor the system. Before getting into that let’s understand how this system works physically. If you happen to drive a vehicle with a start-stop system, the moment when you hit a stagnate traffic, shift to neutral and release the clutch and accelerator if engaged. The engine goes off which can be felt very easily. The moment the clutch is pressed for a gear shift, the system responds within a fraction of a second and starts the engine. This process is so quick that it brings the engine to life even before you have shifted the gear. The main thing to be noted here is that this system shuts the engine only if the vehicle comes to a complete halt and the gear is in neutral.
Coming to the working, this system needs various sensors like,
Neutral position sensor-To check whether the vehicle is in neutral gear.
Foot pedal sensor-To check if the driver presses the clutch.
Wheel speed sensor-To check whether the vehicle came to a complete halt. Crankshaft sensor-To find the position of the crankshaft at that instant.
Apart from these sensors, it needs an on-board electronic controlling unit to monitor everything. Generally, these vehicles are provided with a better battery (Lithium-ion sometimes) in order to make sure that all the auxiliaries are powered when the engine is turned off. Sometimes, the vehicle might start just like that and this will happen when the load increases. Mostly the pumps, A/C compressors, etc are powered by an electric motor.
Mahindra is the first company to introduce this in India. SHVS technology from Maruti Suzuki which was introduced in Ciaz is very popular. Rumours are spreading that the upcoming Honda City would have this technology and much more cars already have them.