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If that sounds like Toyota will integrate a diesel engine into its Synergy hybrid drivetrain, you are right, according to Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America. (http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=118788)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2009_Toyota_Prius_III.jpgEdmunds Inside Line - Dec. 8, 2006

Maybe a Photochop but the 2009 Prius w/ a small 1.3 - 1.8L diesel as the fueled portion of the propulsion and a larger pack (possibly that 9 mile Li-Ion based PHEV as rumored last spring) for the electrical side of the equation would be an absolute killer!

TOKYO - Following Toyota's announcement that it will buy a 5.9 percent stake in Isuzu, the companies announced that they will pursue a joint diesel development strategy.

"Our belief is that the demand for diesel engines will increase globally," said Steven Curtis, media and investor relations national manager for Toyota. That marks a change for the company that has pioneered development of gasoline-electric hybrid powertrains in search of maximum efficiency.

In the Toyota/Isuzu partnership, Isuzu will take the lead in the areas of research and development for diesel engine production and for emissions-control technologies. Toyota, meanwhile, will concentrate on "environmental technologies, including basic engine and other technologies and other technologies related to alternative fuels," Curtis explained.

If that sounds like Toyota will integrate a diesel engine into its Synergy hybrid drivetrain, you are right, according to Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America.

"It is too early to tell where the Isuzu relationship will go," he said, "but eventually we will have hybrids on diesel, biodiesel, ethanol - the whole gamut."

The modularity of the hybrid system makes it applicable to a range of power plants and fuel sources, he added. "It is the same hybrid system that works with all of those."

The previously opposed hybrid-versus-diesel camps seem to realize that combining the technologies is the fastest route to fuel-efficient vehicles with existing technologies and fuels. Detroit's Big Three demonstrated this with their concept cars developed under the Partnership for the Next Generation of Vehicles program under the Clinton administration. All three companies produced diesel-electric hybrids in pursuit of an 80 mpg family sedan. A Prius with a diesel engine would closely resemble those concept vehicles, both in appearance and fuel economy.

What this means to you: Before your neighbors finish paying off their Hummer H2 (or its gas bill), you might be able to buy a super-efficient family sedan that was a futuristic concept car not long ago.

Wow, very interesting. Any word on the costs? (Up or down via previous model year)

I don't think we will see this in the states. By the time they get a clean diesel engine they will be on to the prius IV.

Hi Rich:

___We know Toyota has said the HSD will cost ½ of what the current HSD costs. With the price of a NiMH being more expensive then the equivalently powered Li-Ion, I would suspect HSD will be in the range of ~ $1,500 for the hybrid portion. For the diesel portion, I am not sure? They have the variable vane turbo and ultra expensive Piezo injectors more then likely but not really an intake manifold mechanism like a SI-ICE. It is the after treatment that I wonder about. Honda is supposedly working on a single NOx like catalyst to remove the NOx and probably using a clean injection management solution to remove most of the PM w/ ultra high pressures before it is burned. I did not remember seeing a DPF on the Honda diesel schematic. Whether Toyota has the technology to follow or has to use a much more expensive Blutec and DPF like solution as the European’s will, I am not sure? If Toyota has come up with a method similar to Honda’s for emission control, maybe another $1,000 for emissions and $1,500 for the CI-ICE. If Toyota uses a Blutec like solution w/ a DPF, I would guess another $3K on top of HSD and the car to begin with. The second alternative would probably be to expensive. Toyota knows its markets like no other so I would suspect a Honda like emissions control scheme with the third/fourth gen HSD to knock it out of the park.

___It would be very interesting to see what they come up with. This is yet another nail in the domestics unless they get there head out of the sand yesterday. I don’t think they have the tech to keep up if Toyota really does release a line of Prius III’s with a diesel HSD solution. We are talking huge numbers on the FTP75 and HWFET as we know them today. I can bet the same for the upcoming EPA tests as well given the PHEV option would run both off the pack for 80 + % of the test. 250 - 300 mpg rated if the EPA were to allow the PHEV for the entire test. Even without the PHEV, that 40 - 45% efficient extremely small diesel running HSD with a more serial like scheme would make mince meat of any test the US could throw at it. Maybe 75/75 even with A/C and hard accel’s would be my guess given the much more capable Li-Ion Toyota will more then likely be using.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

OOOOO o the Honda wheeled thingy made it here.

Take a look at future Prius' and Accords at car shows - someone at Prius Chat seemed to think they are looking more and more alike.

I've heard this diesel vs. hybrid controversey at times, and starting to think hybrids will bring the passernger diesel back to the US. Cleaner diesels coupled with hybrid propulsion just might meet the EPA requirements.

I'll bet that a diesel Prius could get 80 MPG with no problem. I'd guess that such a car would no longer be a PZEV-rated vehicle since diesel is smoggier than gasoline. I hope that Toyota finds a way to keep the price reasonable. I'd buy a diesel Prius if I could afford one in 2008 or 2009.

Hi AshenGrey:

___It would easily meet the evaporative emissions since diesel’s evaporative emissions are much much lower then that of gasoline. To meet the SULEV-II SMOG based emissions would take some doing however. Either way, with a really small displacement diesel, they would achieve the Insight beating highway numbers and with HSD-2, OMG!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Droooooool. I have started saving already. I skipped lunch today.

I hope they come in other colors than that bufugly green.

For months, I've been comtemplating posting a Popular Science article that goes into great detail about a 100mpg sedan can be built today....but it would probably cost $60,000. A 75mpg+ Prius III for about $30,000 in the near future looks pretty good. Using my recollection of the article, the few things they would have to mod on the Prius III to move closer to 100mpg would be a carbon-fiber body, replace most of the glass with plastics, make the tires more bicycle-like. Of course, that would really drive up the price.

Hi Chuck:

___I was over at PM just this morning linking another article for Rhwinger and ran across the 100 mpg sedan article. To bad they don’t know the Insight is already a 100 mpg capable vehicle ;) As long as temps are up and you drive in a fuel efficient manner … 150 + if you can take her to her limits :D

100 miles/gallon Available Now! (http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/3374271.html)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I highly recommend everybody read this article:

100 miles/gallon Available Now! (http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/3374271.html)

Devotees continue to modify their Insights; some owners claim well over 100 mpg.

I'd love to see a sedan like this out - imagine what kind of P&G fuel economy it would get! (somewhere over 200mpg)

This is interesting. I just was doing a Search on for Prius III and here I find this link to www.CleanMPG.com (http://www.CleanMPG.com).


The Search Engine was: http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/all_the_web_search_engine.gif



Very Interseting to see where www.CleanMPG.com (http://www.CleanMPG.com) shows up these days. :)


Terry (tiger)

I'm not an expert on this subject, but wouldn't the new low-sulfur diesel fuel help in this?

Corning, Inc. has that new "Diesel Plant" cranking out catalytic converters for diesels, and that might help in some way.

Harry

I don't want a 9 mile battery pack in my PHEV. I want a 90 or even 190 mile battery pack.

I don't want a 9 mile battery pack in my PHEV. I want a 90 or even 190 mile battery pack.

The markup for that extended range could be considerable.

The value of the hybrid "mixed-mode" may be underestimated. This is not an EV mode, but helping the ICE to the extent it is running at a steady rpm at cruising speed most of the time. This would maximize the FE and reduce the emission. This would be a good bridge from our current technology to the next generation of EVs.