GM has recently obtained a patent for a new hybrid propulsion system, giving hints at what we might see from future GM hybrid models. It was filed through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with patent number 12,311,767 B1. The patent is dated May 27th, 2025, but it was first filed in October of 2024. The inventor is Alan G. Holmes of Clarkston, Michigan, implying an intention to use this new hybrid system for the North American market.
There are many hybrid powertrains already on the market, so what makes this one special? “The present disclosure relates to a hybrid propulsion system for a vehicle that provides full electric all-wheel-drive operation and avoids losses associated with [the] use of a large electric motor for a hybrid transaxle,” reads the introduction of the patent filing.
This hybrid system aims to improve regenerative braking efficiency and power distribution while optimizing battery charging and discharging strategies to maximize fuel economy.
“Hybrid propulsion systems incorporating traditional internal combustion engines in unison with electric motors are becoming more prevalent in automotive vehicles,” the filing continues. “The demands of hybrid-electric vehicles require [the] use of electric motors that can provide torque and power needed to power the vehicle in various operating conditions.”
This powertrain is specifically a HEV setup with all-wheel drive, and the patent filing shows a list of operating modes. There are modes for vehicle standby, full acceleration, highway cruising, passing, and regenerative braking, but the one that caught our eye is labeled “Obstacle Climb (High Torque).” This implies a use intended for off-roading, similar to the Terrain mode already found in some GM trucks and SUVs.
The patent goes on to say, “There is a need for a new and improved hybrid propulsion system that allows an otherwise large electric motor of a hybrid transaxle [to] be selectively disconnected, allowing the electric motor to have a larger gear ratio and thus, be smaller than would otherwise be possible, without including in the hybrid transaxle the number, size, and weight of components necessary to provide multiple gear ratios or a variable drive ratio for the electric motor.” The packaging of this hybrid system could be compact enough for use in smaller vehicles, like compact or subcompact crossovers, and possibly even sedans and hatchbacks, rather than just big and tall trucks and SUVs.
GM has previously announced that new PHEV models will be introduced to the U.S. market as soon as 2027, and this patent filing implies that HEV models are also in the works.
Comments
Propulsion for the next gen POTUS limo? also sounds good for an omega based deville for the rest of us, please GM.
Next beast will be a Gen 6 big block Chevy sorry.
What, no custom 20,000 lb Celestiq called “the whale”?
POTUS is zombie-proofing the Oscar Meyer Weiner-mobile
Hopefully this applies to Cadillac and Buick and that both brands will get Plug-In Hybrid offerings in North America as well in addition to Gas and Electric? Cadillac and Buick need to continue to offer Gas Engines as well as adopt Plug-In Hybrid Technology past 2030 and back away from and Not rush into going All-Electric. I don’t want an Electric Vehicle and will never buy one. If Cadillac and Buick continue to offer Gas and Plug-In Hybrids in 2027 and beyond I’d be interested and would Only buy Cadillacs and Buicks offering these 2 Powertrain choices.
Hopefully it’s non plug in. I’d want to not worry about charging at all if the engine can do it
Why would anyone buy a hybrid that does not plug in? You are negating ine of the biggest advantages of the electric powertrain.
2.7L with electric assist
The front wheels need to be ahead of the motor, and not have a motor hanging ahead of the wheels.
Basic building a car 101
2.7L with electric assist … was this a question … or a suggestion?
The patent has three electric motors (56, 58, and 60) and one gas motor (20). It will be all wheel drive as motor 60 powers the rear wheels.
Sounds fairly complex and expensive, the article never says how much the hybrid option will cost.
Multiple electric motors is not complex. An ordinary car has over 50 electric motors in different operations, yet very few ever fail. A normal gasoline engine has at least ten parts per cylinder (I rebuilt one in 1975) and the hydraulic transmission has over 300 parts. Yet you consider a hybrid transaxle with less than 40 parts “complex”? You are defitively not a real mechanic or engineer (I am)!
“The packaging of this hybrid system could be compact enough for use in smaller vehicles, like compact or subcompact crossovers…” The HF35 transaxle of the Ford Fusion Hybrid (2013 – 2022) holds two electric motors, clutch, and differential in a package smaller thran a regular transaxle or transmission. Search on YouTube the Weber University videos of the Ford HF35 disassembly and see for yoursejf how small it is.
No thanks, why would I want the added cost and maintenance of two propulsion systems? With gas at less than $3, I don’t believe that a hybrid would ever save any money.
Go ask Toyota
I drive American.
My 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid is American. After ten years it had no problems. Just one oil change per year. It gets up to 55 MPG Aand over 50 every day. Although it is not built anymore, Consumer Reports highly recommend it as a used car.
I got 53.2 mpg yesterday in my 2013 Ford C Max Hybrid. Best car I have owned. Almost at 190k miles.
I got 52 mpg in a Prius rental. I’d love to get that mpg out of an SUV. Hybrids aren’t that complicated.
Ask the thousands of hybrid taxi drivers. They beat the hell out of those cars and always go for the least expensive to operate option.
Whaaaaaat? I thought gas was too high when it reached 1.50/gallon. I miss the days I could get $5 worth and drive around for the day. And now you say $3 is cheap? I guess your mama gives you her credit card to fill it.
So are these Hybrids going to be with loud Turbo 4 Bangers or the Hybrids with the V-6 Liter engines?
None of the above. The will incorporate AI technology and artificially add the sound of your favorite V8…or V6. 😉
GM has had a long line of inventions and outright failures as sampled by the VOLT and other Hybrids which fell on their face. What makes them so sure these will work unless they test them instead of the public test them. remember the original 2-4-8 cadillac and then the lifter control 5.4 in 2004 ? The kits to eliminate them became so popular due to their lameness.
Then their is the recent engine replacement recall……Unless GM slaps in a Prius engine into the GM cars…I do not see a bright future according to the stats they made so far.
Agree, I’ll pass.
At least the V8 hybrids they had were getting 23 City back then. They need to partner with the Japanese
Sorry GM did make a competitive hybrid, you might remember, maybe not, GM offered a decent Hybrid in the 2016 to 2020 Malibu not long ago. EPA mileage was better than the Sonata and Fusion hybrids and within two MPG of the Honda Accord. But the real test was during Car & Driver comparison test where the Malibu recorded 3 MPG better than the Accord on the Car & Driver observed MPG. And test engineers at GM typically recorded 52+ MPG during testing when driving normally. And in a mid size very comfortable car with good reliability. I know, I was one of the engineers…
GM just needs to buy Toyota or Hondas hybrid tech and be done with it. Or use the tech from the last hybrid Malibu. We would like hybrid SUVs also. I’d drive a hybrid before EV any day
My employer had several of the hybrid Malibus and they spent a lot of time in the shop, unloaded them quickly.
Maybe your employer didn’t buy the classic version.
Fun facts:
– Ford started their hybrid program in 2004…
– my wife’s new Escape Platinum Hybrid is currently averaging 45.6 mpg
Then why are they giving the escape the axe? Thats right, its junk
24+ year run? So junky….
Look at numbers from year to year. It has done very well for Ford.
Maybe they’re eyeing another name or a new platform…who knows.
@Nate
I believe that the Ford Edge has been discontinued, not the Escape.
I have a hybrid Malibu and its a great car. Get 50 MPG uses a Chevy volt drive-train that is modified. The Volt was a excellent car btw far better than anything Toyota makes today. Toyota actually bashed the volt when it came out saying it catch fire and now the president of Toyota is making fun of Electric cars because they dont have one for sale. Toyota is not a nice company.
Toyota sells an electric vehicle, has for a while.
The first bzx4 cars had their wheels falling off. Search for the report on the web.
GM offered the EV1 for lease on the west coast in 1996. Toyota offered the RAV4 EV for lease in the US in 1997 until 2003. Think the total sales was 1500. Tried again in 2012 to 2014. Recently offered an updated RAV4 EV in 2022. 2023 sales were estimated at 9K. Sales of all electric are hard to find since some plugin hybrids being included as all-electric. By contrast GM sold 38,122 Bolts in 2022 and 46,250 in 2023.
And GM is? Go see the movie Roger and Me. Or consider how many people died due to their faulty ignition switches in Cobalts, HHR’s and G2s, et al. They tried to use bankruptcy as a shield to avoid compensating aggrieved families for their losses.
So, how many people died as a direct result of the faulty ignition switch? Most likely not as many as CNN, The New York Times, Motor Trend and many others that wrote headlines that “GM was responsible to 124 deaths and 275 injuries” claimed. Kenneth Feinberg, charged by GM to independently accept claims and payout to families of those who died or were injured in vehicles with the faulty ignition switches, used the following criteria to decide if a payout was required. If there was a crash in one of these vehicles a claim was accepted if the air bags didn’t deploy or it couldn’t be determined if there was a deployment. In other words, there was no proof required to determine if the ignition switch moving out of the run position was the cause of the accident. Claims were considered regardless of where the occupant was sitting(most cars had frt bags only). Pedestrians and occupants of other cars involved in wrecks with the recalled cars were also considered. Also Kenneth Feinberg was the last word on whether or not to accept a claim, the amount of an individual payout(things like a decedents income, head of a household, etc). There was no limit on the amount he could award for individual claims, nor on the total amount of GM’s money he could spend. So GM didn’t use the bankruptcy “as a shield to avoid compensating aggrieved families for their losses” like you state. Look it up.
cont’d
In an article written about the first thirteen deaths attributed to the faulty switch, the reporter told the back stories of the crashes and surmised that 11 of the 13 were likely not the cause of the switch. The one that stood out the most involved a young lady at a party who after some drinks had a fight with her boyfriend, jumped in a car with a faulty switch, raced off reaching speeds of 65 mph in a residential neighborhood, lost control, hit a curb and then a tree. Contact with the curb jarred the switch out of the run position which disabled the airbags. I remember and accident years ago with similarities, 65 mph and a solid object, involving one of the safest cars on the road at the time(a Mercedes) that killed Princess Diana. So could the airbags have saved this young lady driving this GM car? Possibly but not likely. I remember doing an experiment with a Cavalier that I owned around the time that this whole issue was unfolding. I was driving on a two lane road with absolutely no other vehicles within half a mile, and decided to turn the ignition from the run to the on position. When I did it the car did not swerve into the left hand lane or run off the road to the right, it continued to roll straight down the road. I could steer to the left or the right and even though the steering was a little stiffer(much like a car I had when I was 16 with no power steering). And I had power brakes, the first three times I pumped the pedal, with a slightly harder pedal for the fourth and later pumps but the brakes worked by pressing harder. Point being when the switch went to the on position the car didn’t have a mind of it’s own. And I don’t begin to know what happened when the switch came out of the run position on the vehicles driven by the 124 folks that died or or the 275 that were injured. And every death was a tragedy for sure. But there is no proof that the switch caused all of the deaths and injuries and it was irresponsible for the news outlets to suggest that was the case just to get a headline.
I disagree that the Volt was a disaster. Designed in the single digit 2Ks and I still see them everyday on roads in my town. The Yugo was a “disaster” but the Volt was not. It was horribly marketed by that crack group at GM, but what GM vehicle has ever been well marketed?
Agree, the only GM commercial I can remember was for the patty cake GMC truck. I only remember that one because it was so lame and embarrassing. They never marketed the Camaro and then wondered why it failed.
Once Trump’s budget bill passes, no one will want EVs or even hybrids. There is a provision in the bill levying a $250/yr tax on EV drivers. Likewise, there is a provision levying a $100/yr tax on hybrid drivers. The Feds want the money they are missing out on from drivers not buying gas, or buying less gas, and driving the same number of miles.
My state has also implemented an additional $250/yr fee to renew registration on a BEV, and an additional $65/yr for a PHEV. Mild hybrids are not included.
That means for EV drivers in my state, between state and federal taxes and fees, they will pay an extra $500/yr to operate that EV. PHEV drivers will get hit with $165/yr in additional fees. Over the course of 10yrs, those EV drivers will pay an extra $5,000, PHEV drivers will pay an extra $1,980, and mild hybrid drivers will pay an extra $1,200 (federal only).
What is my motivation to save money on fuel consumption, just to end up paying potentially more in taxes and fees to the state and the federal government? No thanks, I will just buy an ICE vehicle and press on.
That will go away by 2029.
EV drivers aren’t paying road use taxes at the pump. That extra registration fee accounts for that.
Diesel Electric locomotives have been around for decades. Why haven’t we seen a manufacturer design a car in similar fashion where the drivetrain is completely electric and the motor is used just to generate current for the electrical drive?
Ken – go to Europe. Almost all of their trains are electric and have been for decades. China is electrifying their trains. America just cannot get its act together. Actually, it’s the oil and gas industry making it impossible to electrify.
Volt and ELR
Yes, it started in 2001 for the project and leap frogged Toyota. The Volt is a known solid, reliable car. Common to know driver’s with over 190K thousand miles with nothing more than oil changes and tire replacements. Owner’s love them. 0-60 in 7 seconds, 150 horse power and 300 foot pounds of torque from the traction motor. 1.5 liter atmospheric linked to a 55 kilowatt generator to power the traction motor. Direct drive to the front wheels above 72 mph. The locomotive inspired auto that Toyota latest and greatest Prius attempts to match. It was a really GOOD car.
Hmmm. GM has limited experience with hybrids. They can’t even get their 6.2L V8 right. Why would I want one? Oh, I don’t.
Did GM actually get a patent for a clutched motor that small but geared for torque? Seems too obvious for a patent. It merely combines two things that are already done.
But will there be any interest in bringing it to market?
hydrogen is coming from competitors, wake up GM
Hydrogen fueled autos use a fuel cell. Great technology but very expensive. And hydrogen fuel is difficult to transport. Toyota has sold the hydrogen fueled Mirai for 15 years and it’s been a disaster since owners cannot find the fuel.
I couldn’t care less about mileage. I worked and saved my whole life. I love my V8s and enjoy the power and sound in my new Tahoe and C8.
We have a 2012 Escalade Hybrid. Nice ride.
Interesting article. Does it mean GM / Chevy will start making plug-in hybrids. GM made the Volt, a plug-in hybrid, starting in 2011. It could travel over 50 miles just on electricity from the battery and then another 300+ miles on electricity from the gasoline fueled generator. Unfortunately, the cost of batteries in the 2010s and cost to build made it too expensive. With current batteries and current EV technology, these might fill a gap to transition EV driving.
I just want a no frills gas powered anything ! Being retired i maybe only drive 30 miles a day at most ! My next vehicle i would buy would be a Colorado WT ! If i ever needed something new ! My 02 zr2 5 speed has been super reliable and gets great fuel economy ! Maybe i will.just keep that and my chevy s10 2.2 with over 667,000 miles on all original eng -trans and rear end !
This is not something new, trains have been running up and down the tracks with this type of system for years. With that said Trains don’t get bounced around and only go forward and backwards. Road vehicles get beat up on and off road so I would hope GM will try and make it bullet proof.
Looks like a great fit for the 6.2 power plant . What could possible go wrong
I like seeing GM moving forward in this way. I still prefer just a basic truck with an ICE, but I see that HEVs and PHEVs are drawing a considerable amount of market interest. GM needs to have a presence in this market. As battery technology continues to improve, a PHEV may become more common in most cities. I want a good percentage of those vehicles to come from GM.