The Maruti Suzuki Ciaz SHVS was introduced in the country on 1st September 2015, while the Ertiga SHVS was launched in October, the same year. The SHVS is available with the diesel engine only, which forms the bulk of the volumes and also helped the manufacturer improve the fuel efficiency figures on the models significantly. Moreover, the SHVS technology has also helped Maruti avail the Indian government's FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles in India) subsidy on both models.
Maruti Suzuki SHVS Engine
How does it work? Maruti's SHVS tech uses an integrated starter generation and a high capacity battery to supplement the engine's power. This helps make the engine more efficient over the conventional setup and saves energy while braking. Essentially, the SHVS tech comes with main features - idle start-stop system, engine assist and brake energy regeneration.
Maruti Suzuki SHVS - Auto Start-Stop System
Celebrating the success of SHVS sales, Maruti Suzuki - Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, RS Kalsi said, "As we move towards hybrid and electric cars, we see this as a first important step in this space. Both Ciaz SHVS and Ertiga SHVS are high on fuel efficiency, come with reduced running costs and lower levels of CO2 emission, thus making these popular among customers. The response we have received for SHVS equipped Ciaz and Ertiga encourage us to continue to invest in new technologies that support the environment while benefitting the customer."
Major components of an SHVS engine
With the SHVS tech, the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz returns an ARAI certified fuel efficiency of 28.09 kmpl, which is the highest in India, while the Ertiga returns 24.52 kmpl. In fact, Maruti says that the SHVS equipped vehicles make for over 60 per cent of the total sales of the two cars. The company also stated that the SHVS vehicles have helped offset around 4 lakh tonnes of CO2.
With the SHVS system being so popular, Maruti Suzuki is expected to introduce the tech on more models in the future. The Baleno already gets the tech internationally and is expected to be introduced on the India-spec model in the next update. The new generation Swift and DZire are also expected to feature the technology, while Maruti could introduce the new generation Swift petrol hybrid too sometime in the coming years.
