Jaguar Land Rover's efforts in the green arena are well-documented, and this week the push got a bit stronger at the Low Carbon Vehicle event at Millbrook, U.K. Showing off a joint-developed "flywheel hybrid system for premium vehicles" (FHSPV) on a Jaguar XF prototype, the company claims a gain of 20 percent fuel economy and 80-horsepower boost.

The FHSPV is similar to Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) hybrids used in Formula 1, relying on a flywheel coupled to a continously variable transmission to store and release energy that would have otherwise been wasted as heat during braking.

Jaguar Land Rover is partnered with Flybrid Systems, Ford, Prodrive, Ricardo, Torotrak and Xtrac in developing the FHSPV. The system spins the flywheel at up to 60,000 rpm, storing up to 80 horsepower (or, in more explicative metric terms, 60 kW) to be used during acceleration. Recovering and releasing the energy can save up to 20 percent in emissions and fuel consumption compared to a conventional engine system.

Porsche is also exploring a similar system with its 911 GT3 R Hybrid, which will see action at the 2010 Petit Le Mans in Atlanta at the end of the month.

[Jaguar, Torotrak]