That’s right, the Japanese automaker is on a air freshening mission. In a bid to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases its vehicles pump into the atmosphere, the company is working on a plug-in hybrid car, and hopes to bring it to market by 2010.
Toyota announced its intentions today at a press conference touting its full slate of environmental initiatives. The company already has a line of hybrid cars that are powered by a combination of gasoline and electricity; they get better gas mileage than standard cars because the battery recharges through the vehicle’s motion.
The plug-in will take another step in efficiency. With a more smaller and more powerful lithium-ion battery, the engine could store more energy and go farther before requiring the gasoline-powered motor to kick in. The battery would be recharged by plugging the car into any standard power outlet.
While this announcement is getting rave reviews in both automotive and environmental circles, Toyota is already thinking about how they can improve on the cutting-edge technology it’s proposing. Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, also said in a statement it would establish a battery research department later this month to develop next-generation batteries that would outperform lithium-ion batteries [Reuters].
In May, the company announced that sales of its flagship hybrid, the Prius, topped the 1 million mark, and credited those 1 million cars with preventing 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide released by cars and trucks is a major source of global warming, the Prius has become a emblem of eco-responsibility. But the Prius was just the beginning of Toyota’s grand plans.
The average fuel efficiency of Toyota’s vehicles improved by an estimated 28 percent over the last decade since the company launched the Prius in 1997, thanks largely to the efficiency of hybrid vehicles, [Toyota President Katsuaki] Watanabe said. “We aim to popularize hybrid vehicles further by introducing hybrid versions on all models by 2020 to 2029.”
… “Our view is that oil production will peak in the near future. We need to develop power train (control systems) for alternative energy sources,” said Toyota Motor vice president Masatami Takimoto [Thomson Financial].
Image: flickr/jurvetson
July 1st, 2008 at 10:34 am
This might not be something to increase your mileage but it will certainly put some money back in your pocket if you have a business. IRS just increased the mileage deduction rate from 50.5 to 58.5 cents for every mile. There is an exciting business tool that captures your mileage automatically (hands free) and sends this information through wireless networks to http://www.MileageLogger.com . I think is a great tool to get your money back when is time to do your taxes.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
water powered cars
I like your post. Good stuff. Keep them coming :)
August 14th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Hyun
After reading this, I can see why people keep leaving comments. I hope this isn’t rejected, cause i would really like to read more. Can you post some more good literature?
September 29th, 2008 at 11:56 am
You don’t have to wait for Toyota to catch up to the latest technology. You can have a plug-in hybrid Prius today, but the conversion costs about $5000 to $6000 above the price of the Prius.
Toyota could have been doing this about 6 or 8 years ago. In fact, Chevy could have done it 6 or 8 years ago, instead of all the blah blah bah promises about how wonderful the Volt will be in the future.
Chevy and Ford are both claiming to build hybrids, but they are actually “pseudo-hybrids” that aren’t any better than any other gas-guzzling SUV.
February 24th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
If you are looking for something that can help you increase mileage on your “normal”/non-hybrid car (and track business mileage as well, by the way) you should check out http://www.carcheckup.com
Low cost, no monthly fees, and it can also help you know why that pesky check engine light is on!
The CarCheckup system helps you monitor your performance by recording speed, rpm, hard acceleration, hard breaking, and time at idle. Seeing all of this laid out in easy to use graphs really make your aware of any wasteful driving habits you have.
Other tips that you all probably know, but I’m going to mention any way just as a friendly reminder…
1. Avoid rapid, rapid acceleration and braking. They both wastes gas and can lower your gas mileage by 1/3 at highway speed.
2. Don’t speed. Every 5 mph above 60 mph costs you a minimum of 7%
3. Here’s a less obvious one…Remove excessive weight from your car. Every extra 100 lbs drop your MPG by 2%!
You can find additional tips for maximizing your MPG at http://www.carcheckup.com/blogs