While Subaru has flirted with electrification previously with its e-Boxer mild-hybrid powertrain (and the Toyota-based Solterra), the Japanese carmaker never made a proper hybrid powertrain… well, until now. This is the brand’s next-generation “Strong Hybrid” powertrain, which will debut in the Japanese-market Crosstrek S:HEV later this year. And its magnum opus? Up to 1,000 km of range from a single tank of fuel.
The new hybrid powertrain is the result of Subaru’s latest tie-up with Toyota and Mazda, and that’s why it shares many of its electrical parts with Toyota. Despite that, it’s still undeniably Subaru, as it’ll still have all of their signature brand mainstays like the mechanical Symmetrical AWD system, and the horizontally-opposed boxer engine.
According to Subaru, the next-generation hybrid powertrain will be a series-parallel system. This means the powertrain can seamlessly switch between using the engine, the electric motor, or both to power the wheels, depending on the driving situation.
Unlike Toyota’s E-Four system, which uses solely an electric motor on the rear axle for all-wheel drive capabilities, Subaru will instead be sticking to its iconic Symmetrical AWD system, with a mechanical linkage to the powertrain on all four wheels.
This is courtesy of a newly-developed transaxle, which houses two electric motors (generator and traction), an eCVT gearsbox, front differential gear, and the electronically-controlled coupling, routing both petrol and electric power to the wheels.
On the petrol engine front, it’s a brand new 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder boxer engine that makes 160 hp and 209 Nm on its own – itself already more powerful than the outgoing e-Boxer system. As for the electrified portion, the traction motor is capable of producing 120 hp and 270 Nm to drive the wheels.
With a 1.1 kWh battery onboard to power the motors, paired to a larger 63-litre fuel tank (up from 48 litres in the previous generation Crosstrek e-Boxer Hybrid), Subaru claims this system offers a 20% improvement in fuel consumption over the previous-generation system, translating to a range of over 1,000 km.
As an extra bonus, the new Strong Hybrid can even act as a powerbank on wheels, with its (optional) vehicle-to-load (V2L) feature outputting up to 1.5 kW of power through the outlet in the boot.
Following the Crosstrek, Subaru will also be introducing the new hybrid powertrain in the all-new sixth-generation Forester next year.
