Even though EVs are continuing to sell in bigger numbers, they aren’t selling as well as many automakers were expecting. Multiple factors are contributing to this situation, such as vehicle cost as well as the related issues of range and charging infrastructure. Still, fuel economy and emissions are concerns for customers and governments alike, so many car companies are looking more at hybrids as an intermediate solution as EVs further develop. This could present difficulties for some companies though, as they may have been developing some EVs without the potential for any other powertrain. That’s where Horse comes in. The powertrain company, in addition to a truly tiny engine for range-extender purposes this week, also revealed an option for more conventional hybridization of existing EV platforms.
This Is Designed To Run Mainly On The Engine
While both engines Horse showed this week are small four cylinders, the one we’re talking about here is not solely an electricity generator. It’s called the Future Hybrid System, or FHS, and has two variants. Each uses a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter unit is actually used to power the wheels directly, along with electric assist. They’re also designed with a front-wheel-drive layout in mind, with the powertrain in a transverse arrangement. The first is called the “ultra-compact” one, and it features a single electric motor sandwiched between the engine and the transmission. The name makes it clear the appeal is that it doesn’t take up a huge amount of space, and it measures 25.6 inches from end-to-end. Also, Horse said it’s looking at adding a three-cylinder variant in the future for even smaller applications.
The other is the “performance” version that has two electric motors. Horse describes the motor placements as at the engine output shaft and the transmission output shaft. We take that to mean it’s mostly like the compact version, just with a second motor on the end of the transmission. It also adds 3.5 inches to the length of the powertrain. With more motors and a “performance” designation, it would follow that this powertrain makes both more horsepower and torque than the compact version, but Horse didn’t give output for either engine.
Horse also pitches the engine specifically as a way for a company to quickly adapt an EV to hybrid power, since the powertrain is relatively small and potentially easier to fit in a chassis that might not have been designed with a hybrid internal-combustion powertrain. However, it seems to us as though it could be a potential option for a company looking to quickly add a hybrid engine to just a conventional combustion vehicle. That company would still need a battery solution, but a small battery for normal hybrid duty isn’t too difficult to implement at this point, at least compared to larger packs for plug-in and fully EV models.
You May Not Know Horse, But You Know Its Parents
Horse isn’t an especially well-known company, but the companies that created it are. The company formed in 2023 as a joint venture between Renault and Geely. Its main purpose is to develop and manufacture hybrid powertrains, and it has quite a few factories for engine building. Among current and upcoming applications of some of its engines are the hybrid in the Dacia Bigster SUV, engines for the new Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class, and a few small Renault and Nissan engines.
