backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 75 comment(s) - last by patgill.. on Jun 6 at 9:40 PM

2007 Toyota Prius Touring Edition

Toyota Hybrid X Concept
LTC embraces lithium battery technology while Toyota may be backtracking a bit

Lithium Technology Corporation (LTC) has announced its new line of batteries to be used in all-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. LTC's battery packs are composed of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells.

"Batteries made of LTC's cells can provide 3000 charging cycles, which would be able to do 150,000 miles to 80% capacity for a 100 km or 60 mile all electric range plug in hybrid, which no other technology can claim," said Dr. Andrew Frank, Professor, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at the University of California, Davis.

To show the power of its new LiFePO4 cells, LTC rolled out a retrofitted Toyota Prius with plug-in capabilities. The 7 kWh battery is made up of 63 LTC LiFePO4 cells and boosts the Prius from 46MPG combined (city/highway) to 125MPG.

It is unclear whether LTC is citing the old 2007 EPA mileage estimates or the new 2008 EPA estimates which aren't very kind to hybrid-electric vehicles. If LTC is still citing 2007 EPA estimates, the retrofitted Prius would still likely achieve 100MPG+ when taking into account 2008 guidelines.

While the use of lithium-based batteries give hybrid vehicles more power and endurance to run longer on battery power, it appears that Toyota may actually be shying away from the technology for its next-generation Prius and other hybrid vehicles. Nikkan Koyogo, a Japanese newspaper, reports that Toyota may be postponing the use of lithium-ion batteries due to safety issues.

The company has seen a rise in vehicle recalls in recent months. And just recently, the company admitted that a manufacturing defect from its supplier has led to camshaft failures in its brand new 5.7 liter V8 engine.

A potential widespread recall due to the batteries used in its high-profile Prius could do some serious damage to the company's reputation, so Toyota is likely trying to play it safe.


Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
very promising
By hlper on 5/31/2007 11:07:07 AM , Rating: 2
I drive less than 5 thousand miles a year, and most of my trips are less than 40 miles. So, if this were made as a plug-in design I would rarely have to buy gas again (oh sweet, illusive freedom). Though I imagine it is good to run the combustion engine periodically to keep it in good working order.




RE: very promising
By lobadobadingdong on 5/31/2007 11:26:57 AM , Rating: 3
if you drive that little, why not use public transportation or rental cars occasionally?


RE: very promising
By Merry on 5/31/2007 11:46:59 AM , Rating: 3
if you drive that little, why not use public transportation or rental cars occasionally?

Because maybe the person in question likes having the freedom to go where he/she wants as and when they want without having to share a cramped bus with a number of people who you'd probably rather not share a bus with.

As good as public transport can be I dont think its ever really going to be a viable alternative for a lot of people, and thats just taking into account the UK. I presume it would be worse in the US due to the distances involved. I mean lets face it 40 miles is not an insignificant distance when you think about it. I certainly wouldnt want to go that far on a bus.

I'm not saying public transport is utterly crap (unless you live in the UK </joke>)i'm just getting sick of it being offered up as an alternative to driving. In most cases it isnt.

Oh and to address the last part of your statement, surely it would be a pain in the arse organising a rental car when you need to drive somewhere all the time?


RE: very promising
By hlper on 5/31/2007 1:03:54 PM , Rating: 2
I rather like the bus. In all honesty, I used to drive a lot more, and it is public transportation that has eliminated 75% or more of my driving. However, sometimes you need to go someplace in a hurry (e.g. oh my god I forgot to buy the beer), or you need to buy a bunch of stuff that you can't manage on a bus.


RE: very promising
By Merry on 5/31/2007 1:53:14 PM , Rating: 2
However, sometimes you need to go someplace in a hurry (e.g. oh my god I forgot to buy the beer), or you need to buy a bunch of stuff that you can't manage on a bus.

Exactly. This is my point. Most people would not simply sell their car and use solely public transport.

Personally I really dont like using it at all. I regularly travel from Cardiff to Manchester quite late at night and after doing that once on a train, i would rather not do it again. At one point, on another trip, i was almost faced with having to sleep in the train station in Birmingham. So i'm sure you can appreciate my attitude to the public transport system here in the UK!

Anyway, getting back to the subject. Whilst the gains in milage can only be a good thing in this 'new' Prius I cant help think that manufacturers are hopelessly over engineering cars, particularly with these hybrids. I for one wouldnt want to have to stump up the gargage bill for a Prius if it ever broke down. I also think that perhaps manufacturers should be looking a bit further to the future rather than focusing on what is to all intents and purposes a stop gap measure as a means of propulsion.


RE: very promising
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 7:15:14 PM , Rating: 2
Hybrids are an excellent transition technology to something else. It preserves and optimizes all we know about IC engines, utilizes existing energy distribution infrastructure and fuels, is readily achievable by all automakers, and is generally acceptable to consumers. Such a transition could take 10, 20, 30 years or more, depending on what follows to cause its eventual demise. I think the R&D is therefore worth it.

Thinking about alternatives, how long do you think it would take to transition the existing automotive fleet worldwide to hydrogen, for example? Answer: decades at best. (That, of course, assumes that hydrogen makes any sense, which it doesn't.)


RE: very promising
By thatguy39 on 5/31/2007 10:22:36 PM , Rating: 2
A part of that garage bill goes to just plain ripoffs... the auto companies need to lean on the government to crack down on garages, both large and small on bill you for stuff that isnt wrong. everytime i turn on the local news its "Guess what? The same garages we caught ripping you off last week, we caught ripping you off again... THIS week."


RE: very promising
By dude on 6/5/2007 12:24:59 AM , Rating: 2
"Honey, the contractions aren't all that bad. Besides, I'm sure someone will give up their seat if they see you in labor."


RE: very promising
By TomZ on 5/31/2007 2:53:59 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
if you drive that little, why not use public transportation or rental cars occasionally?

Public transport is not viable is most of the U.S. It is only useful downtown in major cities, and only reaches out of downtown in a few of the larger cities. The rest of the country is practically untouched by the type of public transportation that could take you to work or to do your shopping.

Rental cars? How do you get to the rental car place? The closest one to where I live is probably 20 miles. Totally impractical.


RE: very promising
By Rockjock51 on 5/31/2007 8:25:46 PM , Rating: 3
Pick Enterprise, we'll pick you up!


RE: very promising
By ADDAvenger on 5/31/2007 11:07:17 PM , Rating: 2
Motorcycles/scooters FTW!

It's not hard to find a nice bike that gets 50+ mpg for under $3K, and I'm not talking about a 50cc that does 35mph, I mean a 250cc that does 85 or so.


RE: very promising
By blaster5k on 5/31/2007 4:26:27 PM , Rating: 2
One of the things that people miss about public transportation (and something I didn't even realize until reading an issue of US News and World Report a couple weeks ago) is that is extremely expensive to operate even in densely populated areas. Every public transit system is heavily subsidized to keep the cost manageable. If the capacity were actually increased to a level where it could support everybody using it (as opposed to the paltry <5% of people who use it now), the cost would be completely impractical and I have feeling you might expend more energy trying to accommodate everyone's routes.

As much as I'd love to see public transit work (I use it quite a bit myself), it's really not a total solution right now even in the city. In the suburbs or rural areas, forget it.


RE: very promising
By BMFPitt on 5/31/2007 4:57:06 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
If the capacity were actually increased to a level where it could support everybody using it (as opposed to the paltry <5% of people who use it now), the cost would be completely impractical and I have feeling you might expend more energy trying to accommodate everyone's routes.
It's because of how few people utilize it that it's so heavily subsidized. It costs dramatically less per fare to operate a full bus than one with 4 passengers.


RE: very promising
By blaster5k on 5/31/2007 7:31:20 PM , Rating: 2
That's not entirely true. Buses are probably the cheapest form of public transit overall, but it's not quite so simple as getting more people to use it. It's never realistic that full ridership will be reached at all times on a bus. At certain points on a given trip, the number of passengers will be much higher than at other times (ie. during rush hour and near the end destinations). You can't discontinue service too much outside of rush hour or you'll leave people out to dry and they'll be forced to use cars, but it will be tough to get full buses and still run regularly enough to accommodate everyone. And as you expand routes to actually give everyone a chance to use public transit to reach their destinations, you will put resources into less popular routes that will never reach capacity.

I'm not wild about the buses around my area since they're slow as hell. The routes meander all over the place and contend with the same traffic as you would with a car -- plus the stops. My car's small and efficient, so I don't know how much I'd gain a lot of the time.

If taking a bus adds a bunch of miles to people's trips, I wonder at what point the bus is actually less efficient energy-wise than taking a separate vehicle on a more direct route.

I think the key problem in public transit is finding an efficient way to let everyone go from their point A to point B. There are so many combinations of A and B that it's a tough problem to solve.


RE: very promising
By jmunjr on 5/31/2007 5:25:07 PM , Rating: 1
The public transportation in my city has surveillance cameras. Sorry, I'll guzzle gas for eternity before I am subjected to that crap.


RE: very promising
By gradoman on 5/31/2007 5:38:10 PM , Rating: 2
That has to be the lamest excuse ever. What do you have to hide? Now, if you were in an accident wherein someone hit your car and took off your legs, you'd hope a witness, possibly a camera, caught the person's face and plate numbers wouldn't you? The camera in the bus isn't there to invade your privacy, but for the purpose of security.


RE: very promising
By jmunjr on 6/1/2007 2:37:44 AM , Rating: 2
That's the most typical and lamest response to privacy concerns. Not being under surveillance is worth my life. Go take a history lesson and then get back to us..


RE: very promising
By Lemonjellow on 6/1/2007 1:59:24 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not sure about this person, but I only drive 10 miles round trip to one of my jobs and about 12 miles round trip to my other job (7 days a week exempting major holidays like Xmas and National-Gorge-yourself-on-Turkey-Day, but I don't ride the bus because;

A. Buses don't run here at 3am...
B. I like driving fast when nobody is on the road really early...

and finally

C. The nearest bus stop is 6 miles away from my home directly in front of my workplace :- )

In retrospect I guess I could ride a bike, but then I'm lazy and riding a bike at 3am 6 miles to clock in and unload a dusty semi in 78F+ heat would suck, but I would be so in shape after a month that I could quit my job and be an underwear model... hmm... options...


RE: very promising
By ksherman on 5/31/2007 11:35:08 AM , Rating: 2
Just rev the engine once or twice a week :-). I too would need to buy gas far less often with a plug-in model.


RE: very promising
By Souka on 5/31/2007 12:01:00 PM , Rating: 2
There's a number of shops in Cali that will convert your Hybrid card to a Hybrid/EV model.... resulting in no need for gas if you drive less than 80mi/day or double that if you can plug in at work.

Problem is... u save $1000 year on gas, but spend $5-7000 on the upgrade that voids any warranty and you're "assuming" you will:

1. have the car in 5+ years
2. not get in a serious accident
3. not have a major breakdown as a result of the modification
4. you have $5k+ to spend NOW
5.