Big 3 Talk Fuel Cells, H While Toyota Plans For 1 Million Hybrids/Year

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON - Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. told Congress on Wednesday it could produce more than 1 million hybrids per year globally within the next decade as it looks to capitalize on energy and environmental concerns and the popularity of gas-electric vehicles.

The fastest growing automaker in the United States, which makes the top-selling Prius hybrid, relies on a different strategy than its US-based rivals to address calls in Washington to make vehicles more efficient and reduce energy dependence. Hybrids are a core technology for Toyota," William Reinert, Toyota's advanced technology manager, told the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

Detroit-based giants General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group also intend to produce more hybrids, but their plans for that technology, at least for now, are less ambitious than Toyota. Over the past week on Capitol Hill, executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler have pushed a vision supported by the White House that features alternative fuels, like ethanol blends and hydrogen fuel cells. Mass market availability of both is considered years, if not decades away.

But the Big Three also see alternative fuels as a potential long-term market option to help reverse sagging finances. The US-based companies have steadily lost market share to Toyota and other foreign rivals, which have prospered with smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36539/story.htm

[IronLionZion]

1. What the hell are you talking about big 3? Toyota is the big 1

They are the largest automobile company in the world by market capitalization. They are second only to GM in terms of sales volume, but they're set to overtake GM in the next year or so.

While GM, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler were investing in SUV's because of their high profit margins, Toyota was taking over the worldwide market with quality fuel efficient vehicles and promoting engineers to management positions.

GM is all about rebadging old stuff and pretending it's new. They just bring in Opel and Daewoo cars and call them the Malibu, Cobalt, Caliber, GTO, and Aveo. Toyota invests heavily in research and development, the result is affordable fuel efficient power.

The people running Toyota and Honda have engineering degrees. The folks running GM and Ford do not. Technology makes all the difference.

[skids]

2. Reading Tea Leaves -- Toyota's seeking prime movers...

A curious detail about some of the recent Thermophotovoltaics research at MIT -- it's financed by Toyota.

Such a light-based system would not replace the car's engine. Instead it would supply enough electricity to run subsystems, consuming far less fuel than is needed to keep a heavy, multi-cylinder engine running, even at low speed. Also, the TPV system would have no moving parts; no cams, no bearings, no spinning shafts, so no energy would be spent just to keep an engine turning over, even at idle.

The research is partly funded by Toyota, the same company that has experienced such strong success with its fuel-sipping hybrid electric Prius. New TPV systems might mesh nicely with hybrid automobile technology in which fuel is saved by shutting down the engine when the car is stopped, such as at traffic signals. In the future, conventional cars may operate the same way. Providing electricity and air conditioning with the engine off will be a necessity. However, according to MIT's press release on the research, Toyota has made no decision to develop this technology for automobiles.

http://renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=44985

...that the article claims it won't be used as a prime mover is conjecture on their part -- TPV shows potential to be more efficient than an internal combustion engine -- whether it will be more efficient than a fuel cell, well the researchers cap theoretical efficiciency at 50%, but it wouldn't be the first time such an estimate was an assumption based on a seemingly insurmountable technical obstacle that suddenly becomes surmountable. My guess -- Toyota's got a lot of these little research feelers out and may decide to cut PEM fuel cells and Hydrogen ICE technologies off at the knees if they can find something that works better.

Certainly and without a doubt, they are at the very least looking into heat recovery as an efficiency enhancer for hybrids, with more and more of the prime moving done on the electrical end.