It’s reported that Cadillac has introduced the first car sold here to use an all-LED headlight system.
Hella, a German lighting supplier that developed the system, recently showed off the new headlights at a demonstration for journalists at General Motors' GM Proving Grounds. Siegfried Hetz, senior product engineer for Hella, pointed out that there are several advantages to the LED headlights:
1. More styling options: LEDs allow designers more flexibility in designing headlight packages.
2. Lifetime durability: LEDs can last as many as 10,000 hours of use, while halogen systems are good for up to 1,200 hours and HID systems usually last about 2,500 hours.
3. Less energy usage: While this first-generation LED headlight actually uses more energy than other headlights, Hella engineers believe subsequent generations will use less energy.
4. More natural light color: LEDs produce a truer white light that emulates daylight better than traditional light sources.
Many drivers complain about the glare from luxury cars fitted with High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights, but Hetz explained LEDs solve that problem. The headlights on the Escalade Platinum feature five LED arrays for the low beam meaning the light is dispersed among five sources. HIDs typically use a single lamp, so the intensity is greater. The Escalade adds two additional LEDs for high beams. Hetz said that HID lights generally have greater output than LEDs, so the engineers had to work carefully to aim the light where it is needed. Hetz noted the Escalade Platinum's system puts out about 730 lumens set on low beams and 1,000 on high beams. Typical HID systems produce 830/1,200 lumens and halogens are typically 400/600.
To give journalists a sense of how the LEDs compare to other lighting systems, GM had Escalades with HID headlights as well as competitors' vehicles on hand for comparison during a brief test at the proving grounds. The LED lights definitely appeared whiter in the tests. It was particularly noticeable while we stood outside the cars on a large section of blacktop as each vehicle's lights were turned on. "It's a very daylight color compared to the HID," Hetz said.
Behind the wheel, we noticed that the difference between high and low beam was not as pronounced as in the other cars. But because the light was whiter than the other headlights, seeing the road seemed easier. While the HID lights seemed to have a defined cutoff point, the LEDs did not. Looking at the headlights from across the parking lot, the HIDs with their single light source produced more glare than LEDs with their multiple light sources.
Hella is planning a slow rollout of the technology, so the Platinum version of the Escalade is the only vehicle that will have the full LED headlights this year. Hetz said that the European version of the Audi R8 supercar has full LED headlights and some cars for sale in this country have partial LEDs, but the Escalade Platinum is the first in the U.S. with full LED lights.
Hella and Cadillac would not discuss costs of the system, but a parts department employee at a local dealership said that the LED light assemblies cost $3,044 for a pair, compared to $1,634 for HID headlights for a regular Escalade, a difference of $1,410 for the LEDs. While the light housings fit into the same holes, there are other parts required for the LED system. Escalades start at $64,485 and the Platinum adds $19,080 to the price, but includes several otherwise optional features, including the LED lights.
