Berlin and many other cities are facing continuously growing problems from inner city transport, that substantially affect the quality of urban life (traffic noise, air pollution). New environmentally friendly technologies can help to solve many of today's problems. One of the most promising approaches is the hybrid technology, i.e. the combination of two autonomous propulsion systems. Conventional power trains using ICE or diesel engines can only be operated efficiently in certain load ranges, while under real life conditions all load ranges (i.e. the complete engine operating map) are traveled through. Especially under low load conditions in unfavourable areas of the engine's operating map the ICE is forced to operate with a suboptimal degree of efficiency. The solution to these problems is one of the major challenges for developers of new propulsion concepts. In hybrid vehicles the combination of different components positively influences the energy balance as well as noise and exhaust gas emissions.
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