Citroën’s Hypnos is the first model to combine a diesel- burning engine with a battery-powered electric motor that recharges while the car is braking. Admittedly it is a prototype, but the company says the technology will be rolled out across its range by 2011.
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The Hypnos certainly looks the part — a mesmeric assortment of curves, swoops and slots — but it is the engine technology that will truly set this car apart. And on that score, Citroën says it has only just begun. Further down the road to the future, lithium-ion batteries (such as those already used in the Tesla Roadster) will boost the amount of electrical power that can be stored onboard.
And by the time it arrives, the diesel hybrid is likely to have a plug-in facility so the batteries can be recharged from the mains as well as from electricity generated during driving.
