So you think Toyota invented the modern hybrid? Think again!
With the debut of the third generation Toyota Prius just over a week away at the Detroit Auto Show, it's time to take a look back. To the vast majority, the name Prius is synonymous with hybrid and many people think Toyota invented the concept. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Ferdinand Porsche built his first hybrids at the turn of the twentieth century and there were even some developed earlier than that. However, the modern hybrid as implemented by Toyota, Ford, Honda, GM and others has its origins in the 1960s. The basic premise of combining an electric motor/generator with an internal combustion engine and a geared torque blending mechanism was born not in Japan or Germany but in southern California.
Dr. Baruch Berman, Dr. George Gelb, and Dr. Neal Richardson of TRW Inc. Power Systems division devised the first working example of hybrid electric drives we see today. Patent #3566717 was issued in March 1971 and several other patents were ultimately issued on related technology. The first working example was installed in a 1962 Pontiac Tempest in order to satisfy the patent examiners. It wasn't until a quarter century later that electronic control and battery technology advances allowed Toyota and Ford to finally develop systems robust enough to withstand daily use. You can check out the 1971 patent here.
[Source: Automotive Design and Production]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gorr 3:09PM (1/02/2009)
Japanese car engineers never invented anything since the beginning nor they will invent anything by their own, never because they are orders followers and slave workers including their politicians and car-compagnies managers and engineers.
They build motorcycles as an exemple up to 2 liters in engine size for europe and america and on their own market it's prohibited to own a motorcycle bigger then 400cc. This is an exemple but all their economic system is like that. In their head we are gods and them are learners. It's the price to pay to be conservative. They are zealous and are waiting for a bailout from washinton to know what to do.
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Joseph 4:03PM (1/02/2009)
What one second...
"However, the modern hybrid as implemented by Toyota, Ford, Honda, GM and others"
The Honda hybrid system is entirely different from Toyota's and Ford's and GM's.
Here is an excerpt from the patent. This is from the paragraph under "Summary of Invention"
“The invention can be generalized as the combination of …an internal combustion engine, an appropriate mechanical gear train…a battery….a generator, capable of converting prime mover power into a form suitable for storage in the storage device and/or delivering the power to a second power converter—typically a motor-generator- capable of transforming the said generated or stored energy into propulsive effort at the output shaft.”
Ok, so here we have one engine, a battery and TWO separate electric motors/generators.
This distinctly describes Toyota and Ford's hybrid setup. (I think the GM set up is similar) Toyota and Ford's hybrid systems have TWO electric motors, separate.
Honda's hybrid system only has ONE electric motor that is smashed into the engine. The engine and the electric motor is physically together. And there is only ONE electric motor.
I do not see why Sam grouped Honda (or maybe even GM, but I don't jknow enough about their hybrid system to judge) together with Toyota and Ford's hybrid system.
I admit, I did not read the entire patent, but I did the "Summary of Invention," from which they seem to be describing something akin to Toyota and Ford's (and maybe GM's which I do not know enough about) hybrid system.
I'm asking that Sam consider removing Honda from the list because this patent doesn't seem to describe Honda's hybrid system.
If he decides not to, I'll understand because he is an engineer (and I'm merely a car fan) and I'm sure he would've made the best decision.
But also a note: it doesn't really matter who "invented" something first because all ideas are derived from other people's ideas and it's nearly impossible to find soemthing entirely original. What matters is that an idea is not outright stolen. And Toyota and Ford and Honda and GM didn't do that. Their hybrids are a clear step up from the prototypes built decades ago. I once read a paper about a prototype hybrid built in the 70s. I forgot where, but I remember how bad it was compared to today's hybrids.
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Sam Abuelsamid 6:07PM (1/02/2009)
The Honda configuration is a mechanically simplified implementation of the same basic parallel hybrid principle. It still uses an engine, motor and blending mechanism along with a battery.
Mike!!ekiM 4:59PM (1/02/2009)
I think the point is, US has great research in basic science, and even this hybrid concept is beyond basic science. Yet, where are US CEO's, where their budget for long-term development. We in the US, have allowed our CEO's to transfer knowledge, our competitive advantage, to foreign countries, and what have we gotten for it? Reduced employment, and an Auto Industry in decline. Imports have turned into poisonous junk.
But, Big Beef and the Corn Lobby is happy because with "free trade", we protect those business interest above all other industries that would actually hire an appreciable number of people.
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Max 6:43PM (1/02/2009)
Toyota didn't invent the hybrids, but made them popular/known/mainstream. They deserve credit for that.
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Bobo 7:46PM (1/02/2009)
From the patent it appears GM continued building on the original submission and leveraged some of that technology into the EV1. Nice. Let's have some EV1s now.
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Mike!!ekiM 10:43PM (1/02/2009)
Yes, The EV1 has got to be more affordable then the Volt, at least if mass produced.