The owners of Ducere Holdings, a green-energy start-up, believe that they have the technology that will change the way the world looks at transport for ever.
The revolutionary MISER® hydraulic hybrid transmission technology is a new approach to kinetic energy recovery and storage, resulting in engine optimisation – and the technology allows for reapplication for any form of vehicle.

“Our current project, the MISER® Hybrid Kinetic Energy Recovery System (MISER®-HKS), keeps us involved at the forefront of today’s automotive hybrid technology and that is where we like to be,” says André Reyneke, managing director. The MISER®-HKS is a retrofit hydraulic hybrid transmission specific for heavy-duty vehicles.

“The system complements various other technologies aimed at dramatically improving fuel consumption, vehicle performance and total cost of ownership – while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.

“MISER® achieves this with a hydraulic solution using a combination of braking energy recovery, engine optimisation and various modes such as torque summing, regenerative braking and launch assist. This provides an efficient medium for the fast storing and release of energy, while at the same time optimising engine performance by keeping the engine on the ideal brake-specific fuel consumption line.

“The MISER® transmission is a hydraulic and mechanical, infinitely variable dual-path energy-transfer system with a sophisticated microprocessor control system. It has fewer energy-flow paths, fewer valves and fewer parasitic losses, such as charge pumps, than any existing hydraulic hybrid systems.”

He says MISER® is an enabler of electric vehicles.
“The best electric vehicles are electric-hydraulic hybrids due to its more efficient regenerative-braking abilities along with the launch-assist, reducing peak battery loads.”

The MISER® transmission is a compound-type hybrid drive. In some modes it is a series system (where the engine can charge the storage system with energy for later use) and in other modes it is a parallel system (where the energy is delivered from the engine or the storage system or a combination of both). This depends on which of the 13 possible modes the control system selects.
The MISER® system can be installed in one of two ways. The first option (recently made available to the marketplace) is the MISER®-HKS. It involves the fitment of the energy-recovery components only. Benefits are both regenerative braking and engine optimisation.

The second installation involves the replacement of the vehicle’s original gearbox as well as the fitment of the MISER®-HKS. This is called the Hybrid Transmission System (HTS). Several additional advantages include savings specifically advantageous in highway-type driving cycles.
“Our pilot project at a long-haul transport client using a heavy-duty truck delivered excellent results with MISER®-HKS, showing fuel savings in certain drive cycles in excess of 40%.
“The Gerotek Test Facility performed independent tests on the same truck and its results have confirmed ours.
“We have also started our new project that uses a combination of our hydraulic version and other power sources, specifically aimed at smaller passenger vehicles. We expect the first few vehicles on the road in January 2018. We believe that this will be a game changer as it incorporates a new way of thinking!”

Reyneke says they see the immediate market potential of MISER® as being aftermarket sales, followed by the new transmission and energy-recovery technology universally fitted to all forms of motorised vehicles and transportation systems over the next eight to ten years.

“Unlike electrical systems that cannot scale due to technology constraints, MISER® can comfortably be fitted to a range of vehicles – from a small car up to a large excavator. This gives us an advantage as we can participate in a wide range of sectors.

“Recent studies have shown that electric vehicles will benefit significantly from using hydraulic hybrids to improve current draw and improve battery charge cycles. While the world’s focus is on pure electric and electric-hybrid vehicles, there is very limited attention on the hydraulic hybrid solution. And this is the field in which MISER® aims to be the leader,” says Reyneke.