Electric Driving with E-Flex

General Motors presents the third variant of its electric vehicle architecture E-Flex, the Opel Flextreme. Its energy source is a battery that powers the electric motor. Another energy source on board – such as a hydrogen fuel-cell or combustion engine – provides more power to increase operating range. In the case of the Flextreme, this is a 1.3-liter CDTI diesel engine. Electric propulsion and a combustion engine are used in a manner fundamentally different from that of conventional hybrid propulsion vehicles. Regardless of the Flextreme’s operating mode, it is always electrically powered. The diesel engine is onboard solely to power the generator and charge the battery, always running in optimum operating range.