Toyota’s current green scheme
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We’re hurting every time we drive onto a gas station forecourt and it’s only going to hurt more in the near future (at least). So what is Toyota doing about it? The company has promised two new hybrid vehicles, a third-generation Prius and a good long look at batteries.
Prius the Third is due out next year and is rumored to be bigger and cleaner, with smarter packaging of its nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack and hybrid drivetrain. It should be faster too. A new 1.8-liter engine is expected to succeed the current 1.5-liter unit (that can only earn the compliment of workmanlike). Power would then jump from 75 horsepower to 100 hp. In tandem with a new-generation electric motor, the combined ‘muscle’ could rise from 110 hp to about 160. Hardly scary-fun, but that’s not the point.
More interesting, perhaps, will be the two totally new hybrids. One will be a Toyota and the other will wear the Lexus badge. The Toyota, due in 2010, will be bigger than the Prius and will run on lithium-ion batteries, making it the company’s first production plug-in hybrid -- the next ‘Holy Grail’ for eco-friendly mass-produced cars (the Chevrolet Volt will also be a plug-in hybrid). No doubt the Lexus will deploy similar technology, but in a more luxurious package.
Up to now, the supply of NiMH batteries has been a sticking point for Toyota, rendering it unable to produce all the hybrid vehicles the global market has been demanding. To that end, the company is setting up a battery research department with a view to looking past nickel, even beyond lithium, and into new possible chemistries. The next big buzz term could be metal-air batteries. Either way, higher battery production means more hybrids coming off the line.
Just to round things out a bit, Toyota also claims to have a new, highly efficient and compact six-speed manual transmission coming out this year. And two gasoline-powered engines -- a 1.3-liter and a 2.5-liter -- featuring stop-start technology are also due before 2008 comes to a close.