Video: Toyota has goal of 37 miles electric only range for Prius
The video above is an interview with Honda at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Honda says they are in position to sell a fuel cell car by the end of 2008. Honda is working on fueling this hydrogen car with a Home Energy Station, which is a mini CHP (combined heat power) unit. Honda also mentions they plan to release a hybrid cheaper than the Civic in 2009. Below the fold is a video of Toyota at the Frankfurt Motor Show in which Toyota says the hybrids being tested in France have an electric only range of
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 2:38PM (9/16/2007)
Electric range only counts when you can do it at highway speeds. Parallel systems can't do that so Toyota is just "spin" ing. The plug-in Prius is just NEV when in "stealth" electric mode.
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Architeuthis 2:43PM (9/16/2007)
The all-electric range estimate depends on the equivalent test cycle used. That is, an AER determined from the Japanese 10-15 or even the new JC08 will be less than that say on new EPA, which has a higher top speed and harder acceleration, even if we're only talking about the urban part of the cycle. NEDC will probably be between JC08 and EPA. How is this 37 miles determined?
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Lascelles Linton 3:38PM (9/16/2007)
I think the current EV range for the Prius is 2 miles so whatever standard and if they enable EV only mode option, 8-37 miles sounds great to me.
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Domenick 3:45PM (9/16/2007)
I was going to comment on AT&T but I guess that was an ad and not an article in the article column.
(I know someone wants to make more money with this site but that (the ad location within the page) kind of sucks)
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Joseph 10:47PM (9/16/2007)
Why is there a Honda Insight there? It seems silly to show a car that you don't make anymore!
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Lascelles Linton 6:31PM (9/16/2007)
Domenick, yeah! I thought the same thing :D
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Anth 4:59PM (9/16/2007)
37 miles would be perfect, as thats just about my round trip commute every day (~30 miles). Even if I had to take surface streets and not the highways, it only saves me about 3-5 minutes per day.
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pedmac 6:43PM (9/16/2007)
is this on li-ion battery or nimh ?
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Chris M 7:38PM (9/16/2007)
Electric range counts at any speed, a lot of local driving is on slower speed local streets.
The current Prius models require the gas engine to rotate the crankshaft at speeds above 45 mph to prevent damage by overspinning motor/generator 1. The plug-in conversions had the same limitation. (Note I said "rotate", as the crankshaft can move without consuming fuel under certain conditions)
However, when Toyota designed their own Plug-in Prius, they used a more powerful battery, more powerful motor generators, and a different ratio on the power split device. Result is better acceleration and a maximum electric only speed of 60 mph. Future design improvements may allow for even faster electric only speeds.
Even at higher speeds when the petrol engine is on, the Plug-in Prius can make use of electric power to reduce petrol consumption, so even at freeway speeds the plug-in counts.
The current testing is with HiMH batteries, offering a modest 8 to 10 mile EV range, but the design can easily be modified to get longer EV range with higher energy lithium batteries, when they are ready and cost effective.
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Mike D 11:32PM (9/16/2007)
The CHEVY VOLT is a much better design. It uses a new type of Lithium Ion battery that does not contain cobalt so it will not suffer the same fate as recent laptop batteries have. Toyota does not have access to this tech yet so they are trying to make it seem like the NiMH tech is still relevant when in reality it is completely outdated.
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Bill 6:55AM (9/17/2007)
Yep, that's the question.
Can anyone make a battery pack more than ten times the capacity of the one currently in the Prius (e.g., 1.3 kWh Prius vs. 16 kWh Volt)
AND make it cheap enough to put in a $30,000 car?
It'll be 3-5 years before we know the answer.
>when they are ready and cost effective.
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Tim 8:57AM (9/17/2007)
Chris M- Fast acceleration and highway speeds in a Prius REQUIRES GAS, but you're right! Let's not let the great become the enemy of the good. The 10 year old Toyota tech is “good enough”. We’ll just patch it up with a plug, right?
By the way… WE CAN NEVER TOTALLY FREE OURSELVES FROM FOSSIL FUELS WITH A COMPLEX PARALLEL HYBRID SYSTEM!!!
Parallel means more complexity, more maintenance, more cost, more weight, fewer design options and less life than a pure Battery Electric Car with a small Range Extender for those OCCASIONAL long trips.
Toyota is just afraid of losing face!
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Rick 12:26PM (9/17/2007)
In the video the spokesman says they aim to build cars people can afford yet the new Accord is $30k when maxed??
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Lascelles Linton 12:36PM (9/17/2007)
Rick, you can get a Prius for 20 K.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/30/2008-prius-price-drop-with-the-new-standard-model/
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