Hyundai's first diesel-electric hybrid concept car showcases a raft of energy saving recovery technologies

The i-flow, a graceful mid-sized four-door emanating from Hyundai's German design studio, combines the company's new U2 1.7-litre turbodiesel four with a lithium-polymer powered electric motor, putting its as yet undisclosed kilowatts and Newtons to the road through a six-speed, dual-clutch transmission.

'Fluidic sculpture' design elements like the pointy front end, an arched roofline, kick-up creases and a boat-like rear combine with adaptive aerodynamics to keep the car's drag coefficient to an ultra-low 0.25Cd. Hyundai claims fuel consumption of 3L/100 km and CO2 emissions of 85g/100km.

The company describes the car as "a test bed for new energy harvesting ideas", developed with German chemicals giant BASF. These include flexible solar roof panelling and engine insulation designed to preserve heat after the engine is switched off, with the aim of helping the engine warm up as quickly as possible next time it's started up. The insulation keeps a shut-down engine above 40 degrees for 14 hours -- without it, an engine will cool down below that in three hours.

Hyundai says this alone helps generate handy fuel savings and emissions cuts 5 per cent in summer and up to 9 per cent in the colder months.

A thermoelectric generator fitted to the exhaust manifold turns exhaust heat that would otherwise go wasted into energy savings of about 250 watts at 80 km/h. That's around 5 per cent -- a useful addition in powering auxiliary systems.

A sophisticated navigation and driver-assist package adds an 'eco route' function to more predictable features such as instantaneous and average fuel consumption display and shift indicators. It uses 3D satnav and real-time traffic data to calculate the most fuel-efficient route to an input destination, then adjusts the powertrain components to suit.

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