AutoblogGreen

A 5,000 pound passenger vehicle's going to be wasteful, no matter what's powering it.

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GM has already equipped the 6.2 V8 with a camshaft vane phaser for VCT.
That replaces the eEGR system. All they need to do is implement a complete cylinder shutoff system.

GM's current implementation is a half-ass job. The engine can not run indefinitely on 4 cylinders. They need another oil circuit and 4 more solenoids.
Then the engine can run one minute on one set of four, then switch to the other four for the next minute.

to make it more useful, the axle ratio can be changed from 3.42 to 3.73 (unless they have ~3.55 somewhere, it is not like it needs to be any faster)

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A hybrid Escalade does seem a bit of an oxymoron, no???
I wonder how long the return on investment for this vehicle's hybrid tech is.

The hybrid Escalade driver putting on 15,000 miles/year would probably save around 250 gallons of gas. They could always scale down to a Ford Edge, Mazda CX-7, or Nissan Murano and have a much more dramatic effect on fuel economy.

I usually hate to see people dogging GM on their decisions, but this is a bit dumb. A waste of the tech- since battery supply is low, the batteries could be used more wisely in the upcoming Chevy Malibu Hybrid.
But I can see GM's motivation. I might do the exact same in their shoes.

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MikeW, you're an idiot. Do you realize how much extra cost an extra set of collapsable lifters would cost (with no gain in fuel economy)? It's not like their current cylinder deactivation is causing additional wear compared to a non C/D engine.

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Going hybrid in less fuel efficient vehicles saves more gas than converting an already fuel efficient vehicle.

Using the 15,000 miles per year, increasing a SUV from 15 mpg to 20 mpg (33%)saves 250 gallons a year.

Going from 30 mpg to 40 mpg (again 33%) only saves 125 gallons.

Replace 100,000 current SUVs with hybrid ones, save 25 million gallons of gas a year. Since GM sells 800,000 SUVs a year, I think 100k is a doable number. Offer it in pickups too, and in a couple of years you are saving 100 million gallons of gas a year.

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Your kidding right?
This is from GM's mouth
"The incremental cost for the customer is nominal per engine."
http://media.gm.com/us/powertrain/en/product_services/2007/Whats%20New/07_L76.doc
So if it is already next to nothing, what is 8 more lifters and 4 more solenoids, and a revised LOMA, and some wiring and new programming to the ECM. [how much does GM sell the tahoe/suburban/avalance and upscale twins for?]

It would improve mileage where the cylinder shutoff times out, and needs to re-engage to bring the idled components up to temperature and dimensional spec.
Just imagine some old timer guy/gal driving cross country in tahoe/suburban setting the cruise at 60. Even with the 6L80 there would be an improvement.

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People you don't understand successful people that are making money simply DO NOT THROW MONEY AWAY. I will definitely be a consumer of the Hybrid Escalade. I'd rather put the money in my pocket than someone elses.

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GM IS CURRENTLY MAKING 2007 TAHOES, GMCS, ETC WITH FLEX FULE E85. THE NEW 2008 HYBRID IS NOT GOING TO OFFER FLEX FULE E85, ISN'T THAT A STEP BACKWARDS ? ?
THE 2008 HYBRID BRAGS ABOUT A 25 PERCENT SAVINGS IN FUEL ECONEMY, THAT MEANS ONLY A 3 MILES PER GAL SAVINGS IN CITY DRIVING, 13-MPG VS 16-MPG, NO BIG DEAL, AND YOU ARE NOW FORCED TO SUPPORT THE OIL INDUSTRY AGAIN, AND MAINTAIN HYBRID BATTERIES TOO ?
WHAT ARE WE IDIOTS, DON'T SUPPORT THIS DISCRACEFUL UN-IMPROVED TECKNOLIGY, DON'T PURCHASE GM SUVS UNTIL THEY GIVE US SOMETHING REALLY NEW AND WORTH THE PRICE AND WORTH WAITING FOR.
THEY HAD PLENTY OF TIME AND SPENT PLENTY OF MONEY ON NEW TECKNOLOGY ONLY TO JERK US AROUND. IT SEEMS THAT THEIR LOYALTY IS TO THE OIL COMPANIES AND NOT TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.

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