Peugeot Racing Hybrid Powertrain Points to Hypercar Potential

Paul Myles

TU-Editor

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14th December 2020

Peugeot has released details of its racing hybrid powertrain in what some will be hoping will make it into a road-going supercar.

Although powertrain developed for its Hypercar LMH entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship has a combined potential power output of 944bhp, racing regulations restrict overall power to 676bhp, which is the power output of the gasoline engine element in the powertrain. The Peugeot Hybrid4 employs a mid-rear, 2.6-liter twin-turbo 90-degree V6 gasoline internal combustion engine capped at 408bhp combined with a front-mounted 268bhp motor generator unit. Weight is kept to a minimum with the gasoline motor tipping the scales at just 363-lbs.

François Coudrain, Peugeot Sport’s WEC program powertrain director, said: “The architecture of the powertrain is the result of a highly- detailed brief shaped by the new FIA WEC regulations. We initially considered a single turbo but that would have prevented us from achieving our engine’s center of gravity target. A twin-turbo V6 block offers the best trade-off between technology, weight, packaging of the engine’s ancillaries, reliability and performance.”

There’s also a robotized sequential seven-speed gearbox controlled by steering- wheel-mounted paddle shifters and its brake-by-wire system will also be managed electronically. The driver will be able to adjust the level of engine-braking generated by the electric motor under deceleration and the force applied by the pads to the braking discs to achieve the optimum electric regenerative/hydraulic braking split. Optimal energy management, both under acceleration and during energy recovery, also capped by the regulations at 268bhp, will govern the car’s performance and efficiency.

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in London. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_