xcel
12-18-2006, 11:33 PM
But still, no car company wants to miss the new trend, and they are investing heavily to keep up with Toyota. (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International__Business/EU_carmakers_join_the_hybrid_race/articleshow/711962.cms)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_TCH1.jpgIndia Times - Dec. 5, 2006
The 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid is just one of many hybrids the Europeans hope to eventually catch and even surpass.
WASHINGTON: Even those who strongly believe in advanced gas-electric hybrid vehicle technologies acknowledge they have a long way to go. But that has not stopped carmakers from promoting their own advances in the field - a sort of hype from the international automobile industry that reflects booming competition for consumers amid the limited hybrid technology now available.
At high-level auto gatherings in the US recently, it was clear major carmakers are heavily investing in new hybrid vehicle technologies - with the world’s leading manufacturer, General Motors, unveiling its plans to bring out three new models.
Toyota, the market leader, has already sold 4.35 million of the more-familiar hybrid cars in the US alone since 1999, including the Prius, which uses a gas-electric system that recharges the car’s battery while braking.
But now, European and American carmakers, which overslept the trend set by Toyota while pursuing ideas such as hydrogen fuel cells and more efficient diesels, are also betting on the next generation of hybrid cars: a plug-in hybrid vehicle that can recharge at night in the garage. But this new technology is still in its infancy, with only a handful of prototypes in the world. That does not mean there is a shortage of brainstorming.
“It’s a hype. One needs visionaries, but it comes to a time, you might want to hire engineers,” said Don Hillebrand, the Argonne National Laboratory’s director of transportation research at the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference.
Hillebrand, who once served as research manager for DaimlerChrysler and was a scientific advisor in the administration of former president Bill Clinton, worries about the “battery efficiency, the weight and especially the cost” of the plug-in hybrid models.
The plug-ins would have larger, more sophisticated batteries that could power a car for 30 to 45 km before switching to the combustion engine. The electricity would be cheaper than gas for that distance. While the distance seems small, advocates say that is about the distance most people drive on a typical day.
“You only have to get gas when you leave town,” said an ecological visionary. But while that may sound like a great benefit to the environment, the studies warn the production of the electricity itself - 50% of which is still driven by coal - could undermine those gains.
But still, no car company wants to miss the new trend, and they are investing heavily to keep up with Toyota.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_TCH1.jpgIndia Times - Dec. 5, 2006
The 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid is just one of many hybrids the Europeans hope to eventually catch and even surpass.
WASHINGTON: Even those who strongly believe in advanced gas-electric hybrid vehicle technologies acknowledge they have a long way to go. But that has not stopped carmakers from promoting their own advances in the field - a sort of hype from the international automobile industry that reflects booming competition for consumers amid the limited hybrid technology now available.
At high-level auto gatherings in the US recently, it was clear major carmakers are heavily investing in new hybrid vehicle technologies - with the world’s leading manufacturer, General Motors, unveiling its plans to bring out three new models.
Toyota, the market leader, has already sold 4.35 million of the more-familiar hybrid cars in the US alone since 1999, including the Prius, which uses a gas-electric system that recharges the car’s battery while braking.
But now, European and American carmakers, which overslept the trend set by Toyota while pursuing ideas such as hydrogen fuel cells and more efficient diesels, are also betting on the next generation of hybrid cars: a plug-in hybrid vehicle that can recharge at night in the garage. But this new technology is still in its infancy, with only a handful of prototypes in the world. That does not mean there is a shortage of brainstorming.
“It’s a hype. One needs visionaries, but it comes to a time, you might want to hire engineers,” said Don Hillebrand, the Argonne National Laboratory’s director of transportation research at the Electric Drive Transportation Association conference.
Hillebrand, who once served as research manager for DaimlerChrysler and was a scientific advisor in the administration of former president Bill Clinton, worries about the “battery efficiency, the weight and especially the cost” of the plug-in hybrid models.
The plug-ins would have larger, more sophisticated batteries that could power a car for 30 to 45 km before switching to the combustion engine. The electricity would be cheaper than gas for that distance. While the distance seems small, advocates say that is about the distance most people drive on a typical day.
“You only have to get gas when you leave town,” said an ecological visionary. But while that may sound like a great benefit to the environment, the studies warn the production of the electricity itself - 50% of which is still driven by coal - could undermine those gains.
But still, no car company wants to miss the new trend, and they are investing heavily to keep up with Toyota.