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A key element of General Motors' Advanced Propulsion Technology Strategy is the electrification of the automobile. The objectives of this strategy are reduced fuel consumption, reduced emissions and increased energy security/diversification. The introduction of hybrid vehicles was one of the first steps as a result of this strategy. To determine future opportunities and direction, an extensive study was completed to better understand the ability of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) and Extended-Range Electric Vehicles (E-REV) to address societal challenges. The study evaluated real world representative driving datasets to understand actual vehicle usage. Vehicle simulations were conducted to evaluate the merits of PHEV and E-REV configurations. As derivatives of conventional full hybrids, PHEVs have the potential to deliver a significant reduction in petroleum usage.

Six chemically defined fuels have been run in a 2.0 liter production engine, in both a deposit-free and deposited state, at five different operating (speed/load) conditions. The fuel used to produce the deposits minimized the development of deposits in the intake system, so that primarily the effect of combustion chamber deposits were considered in this study. The six chemically defined fuels investigated were based on an iso-octane and toluene mix (base fuel). Methyl tertiary butyl ether, cyclohexane, diisobutylene, 1,2,4 trimethylbenzene and ethylbenzene were added to this base fuel to form five tertiary fuel mixtures. Engine-out emissions of speciated hydrocarbons, NOx, CO and CO2 were measured for the base fuel and five tertiary fuel mixtures in both the deposit-free and deposited state. NOx emissions were seen to increase relative to the base fuel for the cyclohexane and ethylbenzene tertiary fuel mixtures.