electric-car / electric car

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Toyota Electric car in 2009
Inside the car, there is a button with the letters “EV” inside an outline of a car. If the driver pushes the button, the car reverts to electric vehicle mode, meaning the Prius is powered completely by its two batteries.

In electric mode, the Prius gets 99.9 miles a gallon, according to a gauge on a screen in the middle of the dashboard.

But it cannot go very far: the plug-in hybrid’s two batteries hold enough power for only seven miles, said Saúl Ibarra, a product specialist with Toyota who worked on developing the Prius.

By contrast, G.M. claims that the Volt will be able to hold a charge equal to 40 miles, after a six-hour charge.

Still, the electric mode of the Toyota plug-in is enough to start the car and run it until the engine reaches the point where it needs to tap the gasoline engine. The plug-in Prius can stay in electric mode until 62 miles per hour, versus around 30 miles per hour for the conventional Prius, Mr. Iba- rra said.

Despite its decision to step up its plug-in hybrid development, Toyota is not sure how much more consumers will want to pay for it, Mr. Lentz said. The Prius starts at $21,100. Some after-market companies are charging nearly that much to convert Prius models into plug-ins, he said.
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2009 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid Prototype: Tokyo Test Drive

TOKYO — Toyota may be the first to market with a plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) vehicle. Today, we were briefed on Toyota’s future hybrid and alternative fuel plans. And while there was no official announcement by Yoshitaka Asakura, Project General Manager of Toyota’s Hybrid Vehicle System Engineering Development Division, he mentioned that their plug-in development program was under way and that it may not wait for lithium-ion battery technology to mature.

"Toyota has the knowledge and experience with nickel metal hydride. And we have to use the battery we know best, in terms of overall performance," said Asakura.

Toyota is using their proven nickel-metal hydride (NiMh) battery packs in prototype Prius PHEV’s which we had an opportunity to drive at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Technical Center about 45 minutes (by train) outside Tokyo. The prototype PHEV’s use two current generation Prius battery packs sandwiched together with the charging system in-between. The packs are modified to deliver a greater ability to charge and discharge. This is, according to Asakura, so that they can get an accurate representation of how the more energy dense lithium ion pack will perform in production vehicles. In all likelihood, the first of those vehicles will be the next generation Prius. The prototype battery system weighs about 220 lbs. more than the current production Prius pack and intrudes into the trunk so that that’s there’s only room for about two medium size suitcases. A lithium ion pack would be much smaller and lighter—about the size of today’s production battery pack.

Asakura said the prototypes can operate on electric power for a range of about 7 miles and can re-charge in three to four hours using a 110-vlot outlet. Under the hood is the current Prius’s 1.5-liter inline four. The electric motor generates 50kW, which combined with the more powerful pack, allows the Prius prototype to reach 62 mph on electric-only power. Current cars can only hit about 25 mph before the gasoline engine cuts in.

Our drive in the prototype PHEV was brief, only four laps of a small course setup inside the test facility. But it was impressive. The hybrid system has an "EV" mode and a more conventional "hybrid" mode. In EV mode the vehicle can run on electric power longer and with a more aggressive throttle input than in the hybrid mode. With an eye on the energy flow meter (basically a reprogrammed and updated version of what’s in the Prius now) we were able to accelerate up to approximately 50 mph and keep the car in electric mode all the way around the track. Like many owners do in the current Prius, we found ourselves playing the efficiency game of trying to keep the car in electric mode as long as possible. After two back-to-back laps, the monitor said we still had around 6 kilometers of battery life remaining. The most impressive part of the system was that it can take 1/4 to 1/2 throttle without engaging the gasoline engine. And that means for short 3 to 4 mile commutes, one could conceivably get to work and return home solely on electric power. The hybrid mode works much like the current car, engaging the internal combustion engine much sooner. This mode, it is presumed will be most applicable to long trips, when charging the battery isn’t an option.

The next generation Prius, due around calendar year 2009, will almost certainly use a plug-in system. The car may launch as a normal hybrid and later, once the lithium ion battery technology is ready, switch to plug-in capability. Or, it may be a plug-in from the beginning using a large NiMh pack and switch to lithium ion later. We think the latter may be true because we’ve heard rumors that the vehicle architecture is being designed for both battery types.

Whichever route Toyota goes, it will need more hybrids on the road. They have publicly announced their goal is to sell 1-million hybrids each year beginning early next decade. And PHEV’s are sure to make up a healthy portion of those vehicles.

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Indian electric-car maker gears up for global market -- Web posted at: 8/17/2007 3:58:19

asr: Indian transport (car) gasoline problem is solved , when these all electric cars with 70 kmph speed with 80 km charge holding per day will be enough with avarage price of Rs. 200,000 ( 2 lakh ) by end of 2010 will solve the gasoline problem.
- if you see below $80 billion gasoline bill ( with $100 crude oil ), say 50% is used in cars 50% by trucks.
- assume 10% of cars are new cars , if you give 3% car with rebate by govt for electric the math is
$40 billion 3% of it => $120 million they can give rebate for gas savings so import bill will be reduced. Due to these rebates atleast $30 million will go in electric car industry new jobs
- giving rebate to people may attract political criticism , why govt gives rebate for rich people who can afford cars, the better route may be give incentives for electric car manufactures directly so they the final price is small to consumer

Bangalore • At first sight, it looks like a toy car that has grown big on steroids, but a closer look at the two-door hatchback reveals a cable connecting it to a power outlet in a Bangalore shopping mall car park.

Some 2,000 of these zero-polluting city commuters have been put on the roads in India and Europe, including 600 in London, in the six years since Reva Electric Car Co. turned commercial.

The test-marketing phase is now over and the Reva, as the electric car is known, is ready to leap into the mass market for environment-friendly vehicles, said Chetan Maini, deputy chairman and chief technical officer.

The Bangalore-based company hopes to sell 3,000 units this year and 30,000 next, said the 37-year-old mechanical engineer in an interview.”In the last five years, we innovated and improved and developed the core technologies,” said Maini, who studied in Michigan and Stanford universities.

“We got the partners and we got the funds.”

Everything has been coming together and we have reached an inflection point to take off,” said Maini, who developed the no-clutch, no-gears car as the head of a 75-member team of research engineers.

The company is counting on increasing environmental and energy concerns to power its growth at home and abroad, as soaring petrol prices and pollution worries prompt consumers in the cities to seek alternatives.

“People are now making choices based on such issues,” said Maini, who was project leader for the hybrid electric car at Stanford and a team leader of the Michigan solar car team that won the GM Sun Race.

“Oil is near $80 a barrel, may even touch 100, and inner-city pollution is a serious issue,” he added. “Energy security and environment are going to be the major issues facing every country in the coming years.”

The New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment says India needs to “reinvent the idea of mobility” as cities turn into smoke-encased enclaves because of “killer pollution” caused by vehicular emissions.

One often-quoted anecdote says even a non-smoker ends up inhaling the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes by breathing the air of India’s cities, where the number of cars sold is forecast by US consultancy Keystone to rise to 20 million by 2030 from one million in 2003.Energy-hungry India paid $57bn for oil imports in the year ended March, up more than 30 per cent from the previous year, as the cost of crude spiralled.
asr: for 3/2007 import price $57 bullion

“Electricity is the solution,” said Maini, whose company was formed in 1994 as a joint venture between the family-owned Maini Group and AEV of the United States to design, manufacture and sell environment-friendly vehicles.

“Technology is available now at a cost that makes sense,” said the second-generation entrepreneur, who has more than 14 years’ experience with electric vehicles. “A non-polluting electric car costs the equivalent of a small petrol car and the operating costs are much less.”

His company last month launched a new Reva model, which can seat two adults and two children, billed as the most advanced electric car in the global market.

It can reach a speed of 80 kilometres an hour, up on a previous best of 65 kph.It also covers 80 kilometres on a single charge of electricity that translates into a cost of one cent per kilometre, a tenth that of a petrol model.

The car has improved torque – up to 40 per cent more than the earlier model – for better hill climbing.

The Reva has better prospects of finding success abroad than in price-sensitive India, where manufacturers are planning to launch a slew of petrol models priced as low as $3,000, a third of the Reva’s price tag.

Already marketed in Britain, Spain, Norway, Italy, Malta, Sri Lanka, Cyprus and Greece, the car benefits from incentives offered to non-polluting vehicles by governments there.

In Britain and Norway, it sells as G-Wiz and is exempt from parking fees as well as congestion and road taxes. Japan gives a 2,600 dollar subsidy for electric-car users and France waives taxes on electricity used to charge the car.

India lacks the infrastructure for electric cars such as battery charging stations, and Reva may appeal only to the environmentally conscious who have small commutes and can afford it, said Greenpeace energy specialist Srinivas Krishnaswamy.

“There’s no doubt that it’s green and clean,” said Krishnaswamy. “Even the cost may be small for the greening of the environment.”
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