The Tokyo Motor Show opens in a couple of days and the motoring press has lead articles and photos on all the goodies.
With Toyota and Honda doing all the innovation on the production side of hybrid cars, I thought I’d offer up a few notes on what they have planned.
Future Prius?
Toyota will slash the price and size of its hybrid system [drivetrain] by around half for the next-generation Prius model, and use a nickel-metal hydride battery instead of lithium-ion.
To give sales of future hybrid models a boost, Okamoto said Toyota would design all of its gasoline-electric cars in a way that would make them instantly recognizable as a hybrid — for example through a unique front grille.
Ten years since the launch of the Prius, Toyota has few rivals in the hybrid market, with most Europeans geared towards clean-diesel technology as an alternative to petrol engines for saving fuel and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Honda CRZ
A report from Britain’s What Car? magazine has stated that Honda will add a sports car and a compact, low cost family car to its range of electrically-assisted vehicles – the smaller hybrid being smaller than a Civic, but big enough to seat a family.
The sportier hybrid will take the shape of the CR-Z, currently on show at Tokyo, and quite possibly the next CR-X.
The new range of small hybrid vehicles that will slot in below the Civic is in line with the “Hondamentalist” belief that electrically-assisted powerplants are better suited to the hustle and bustle of city driving, while conventionally-fuelled engines are to be used on the open road, where more power is needed. The petrol engine will then act as a generator, recharging the battery pack that powers the electric motor.
This is in direct opposition to Toyota, who in turn, uses hybrid technology to lower the carbon dioxide emissions of larger and more powerful cars. Honda thinks that clean diesels are ideal for longer driving trips, being even more economical than hybrids at higher speed – and more importantly, more efficient.
Looks like those of us interested in fuel efficiency and affordable personal transportation will continue to have a growing number of choices.
My retro favorite: Volvo Duett
I’ll take one of those Volvo Duetts! (but I must insist on a diesel.)
Hybrids are for sissies, real men will spend even the food & medicine money for their children on gas guzzling SUVs because: a) The kids are already fat anyway and b) What won’t kill you will make you stronger.
What’s with the sloped windshields?!? Sure, it’s aerodynamic, but can you see out of it?
Anyways, I agree with #1.
You can see fine – if you wipe off the spray on the inside from the last can of beer you opened.
If either can get the price down below $20K, I think Americans would flock to these in droves, me included. The only thing keeping me from buying one now is price.
Are these gonna be “plug-in” hybrids? It’s the next step in their evolution.
plug-in hybrids are nonsensical. The electricity you use to charge those puppies produces more CO2 to be generated than gas. Doope…
Toyota realizes the fact that Priuses aren’t so much about saving fuel as vanity for rich people to show off how concerned they are about the environment. That’s why they need a unique look, while Hondas hybrids crash and burn.
#8, That’s exactly why I’ve tended to refer to them as a Toyota “Pius”. Even given that, I’d buy one if it weren’t for the price premium.
The combination of electric motor and continually variable transmission makes for smooth responsive driving.
#2 great irony *clap*
#7 silly uneducated reader, reusable & recyclable HV battery packs require less CO2 to make and rebuild than gas ever will.
You seem to forget that to make gas, HUGE amounts of CO2 are produced. Diesel is the greenest form of fuel for cars, because it is less refined, but requires more costly exhaust systems to scrub out CO & NOX.
So many people aren’t willing to pay a *premium* for a VW TDI Diesel w/SULEV, making it almost at par the price of a Prius.
In Europe SULEV is fast becoming by law required, and the price of the Prius is going DOWN not UP over the years.
Better LiOn batteries will actually double-to-tripple a Prius non-gas using range, thus upping the MPG.
#5 you’re not thinking properly. A Prius will last 10 years/150k miles before any serious repairs are required, for things like new shocks, brake disks/calipers, 2k$ for the OEM battery is today’s cost, will be cheaper in 10 years. No rust.
How much will gas be in 10 years??? In the previous 10, it doubled.
So if you plan a car for the long term, like at least 15 years in my case, compare that with most junk cars that still cost 12k$ and are worthless after 5 years and 80k miles.
(Repairs cost more than the car’s value)
#9 also, the price “premium”, just finance 6 years, for at car that will last you twice as long. I will be *smug* about my car when I’m still driving it in 15 years, with gas at 6$+ per gallon, and you will be into your second or third Trash Car.
(A Trash Car is when Mileage & Repairs exceeds resell value, usually 5 years for most GM/Ford/Chrysler cars at 20k per year mileage)
#10 I’ve actually outrun with my Prius a Civic w/manual transmission. Not in the first mile though. Since the Civic manual can go faster than the Prius 100 Mph limit, it would eventually catch up…. Maybe 30 minutes later?
At very high speeds, the Prius is at around 40Mpg, any other automatic transmission (3 speed w/overdrive) car would be at best 1/4 that. A manual transmission if 5th gear should be at about 30Mpg.
The Prius VTT is like a manual transmission with a SIXTH gear ratio.
Negatives about the Prius – from an owner :
– Small gas tank, meaning you have to fill up every 600-800 miles
– There’s no conventional transmission, so you’ll miss out on the fun of getting a new clutch, or burning out your automatic transmission at 60,001 miles
– Seats not as comfortable as compared to another car at the price
– Lots of plastic molding that will rattle on you
– Poor audio system despite having 7 speakers, had to get a subwoofer
– Like most hatchbacks, low rear window visibility
– No standard roof rack, had to get a user-mounted Thule system
– Purchase price if you’re stupidly thinking such a car is a repeat – 5 year buy again a new car.
– It will freak out your neighbors, they will say “What, you can’t afford a REAL car?”
– It’s smaller than a SUV or a minivan, so it only seats 5 adults
– It won’t rollover at low speeds in an accident like most SUVs
– There’s no 4-wheel AWD or off-road capability
– Takes away the drudgery of driving, because most drivers WANT to be angry when behind the wheel, they don’t want a fun experience.
– The Bloody Thing Still Uses Gas !!!
– Plug-In capability not yet available, and doing so before the end of warranty, well, voids the powertrain warranty, because you’ve messed with it.
I’d be more interested in this if they started rigging their standard models with a hybrid option at a reasonable price. My 03 Matrix gets 30 miles to the gallon already and only cost about 13k. And with the back seats folded down it hauls as much as any small SUV can. Plus, at least to me, it looks pretty cool. The Prius, not so much. And, I like the extra headroom and higher angle of the windshield. It almost has the feel of a minivan without the soccer mom feel and much greater maneuverability and engine scream.
None of which the Prius has.
#11 Silly uneducated responder…
I meant to produce the electricity…
if you plug a car to a wall and then drive it away, you are oblivious to the fact that that same electricity was generated somehow, usually thermoelectrically, by burning fuel, coal, or using radioactive material.
And also for it to reach your house, thanks to the inefficiency of power lines and hi to low voltage transformation, some 40% of it is lost in the process.
You generate more CO2 per mile using electricity than burning gas or diesel. At least for the time being.
#13 I take that back then JoaoPT, just know that huge amounts of electricity are required to convert OIL to Gasoline, and that most of the byproduct of conversion, Natural Gas, is BURNED rather than be harnessed.
Efficient: coal – to electricity – to car
Extremely inefficient are much more polluting :
coal – to electricity – to refinery – to oil – to gas – delivery of gas – pump – car
Funny how most people don’t give thought to how & where gasoline comes from.
#12 I too wished the Matrix, like the Prius, was hybrid, would have bought the Matrix over the Prius any day.