Hyundai Is Taking Orders for Elantra LPI Hybrid, the First of Its Kind

Elantra LPI HEV

Before officially introducing the car in Korea, Hyundai is now taking pre-launch orders for the company's first hybrid vehicle for commercial sale. And it's no ordinary hybrid either, as it is touted as the first hybrid electric vehicle to be powered by a Liquefied Petroleum Injected (LPI) engine.

First unveiled at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show in April, the model will eventually be sold under the Avante badge in Korea.

Qualifying as a SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle), the Elantra LPI HEV houses an LPI Gamma engine displacing 1.6 liters, a 15kW (105 Nm) electric motor and a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). These enable it to emit just 99 g/km of CO2 and 90 percent fewer emissions than an equivalent standard gasoline-powered Elantra.

With the Elantra LPI Hybrid, Koreans have another thing to be proud of as they claim it's the first hybrid to use advanced Lithium Ion Polymer rechargeable batteries. Compared to Lithium-ion ones, these have higher energy density, lower manufacturing cost and can take more charge/discharge cycles before the storage capacity begins to degrade.

Compared to a conventional 1.6L Elantra, the hybrid is said to boast a 47 percent improvement. To be more specific, Hyundai says that the Elantra LPI Hybrid takes 5.6 liters per 100km or can go for 42 miles on a single gallon of fuel.