Toyota has taken the wraps off its plug-in Prius prototype and will be displaying it at the Frankfurt Auto Show. They have also disclosed a bit more engineering detail.
The car will go into limited test-fleet production in the first half of 2010. 500 units will be deployed globally, with 150 in Europe, 150 in the US, and 200 in Japan. If successful, Toyota could bring a production model to mass market in 2012.
The car is based on the third generation Prius except is has a larger high output rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. Toyota has not revealed the size of the pack but indicates the electric motor will be allowed to operate up to 62 mph, and under low-load situations the car can be driven purely electrically for up to 12.4 miles.
The gas engine can operate at any time loads are high and will come into play for long drives once the battery is depleted.
Toyota claims this PHEV will emit 60 grams CO2 per km. The battery can be recharged in 3 hours at 100V, and 1.5 hours at 200V.
Clearly Toyota’s advantage with this design is low cost, as the pack will likely have less then 4 kwh usable energy and be mated to matured third generation technology and design that already has undergone iterative cost reductions. Further cost advantage comes from the fact that Toyota is in a battery production partnership with Panasonic. Though pricing has not been announced, considering the base Prius is $22,000, getting this vehicle to market for under $30,000 before rebates seems possible.
BMW has released the details of its Vision concept car which will be unveiled in Frankfurt in September.
The car is a technological tour-de-force that borrows some of the Volt concept but expands it in new directions.
The car is a 2+2 seater sports car that has stunning performance, aerodynamics, design and fuel efficiency.
It is a plug-in hybrid vehicle not an extended range electric vehilce, but appears to share the best of both architectures.. It uses a 10.8 kwh lithium ion battery pack of which 8.6 kwh hours is usable. Instead of taking GMs approach of only using 50% of a 16 kwh pack, BMW is using 8.6 kwh (80%) of a 10.8 kwh pack, allowing the pack to be smaller and lighter, weighing in at only 187 pounds.
The powerplant is a 3 cylinder 1.5 liter turbo-diesel engine that is supplemented by 2 electric motors. BMW indicates the vehilce is capable of driving on electricity alone, the combustion engine alone or an infinite number of combinations of them. For brief bursts the cumulative output of all three powerplants can be as high as 356 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque.
The car can do 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph.
It gets 62.6 MPG in the European cycle when running only on the diesel engine but is capable of traveling 31 miles purely on electricity when the battery has been fully charged. This configuration will allow the vehilce very high MPG estimates when using the new PHEV measurements under developed.
Charging takes 2-1/2 hours at 240V, 16 amps. A 380 v 32 amp fast charging option is available allowing the car to be recharged in 44 minutes.
There is a 6.6 gallon fuel tank giving the car a 400 (diesel) + 31 (EV) total driving range of 431 miles.
The car also has an astounding coefficient of drag of .22 making it extremely aerodynamic.
It uses lightweight construction techniques and has a cur weight of 3056 pounds.
Styling is aggressive and stunning, there are overhead doors and 3 heads up driver displays.
I recently had the chance to be one of the few people outside of GM to get behind the wheel of a plugin 2 mode hybrid prototype at GM’s test grounds in Milford. I was accompanied by Larry Nitz, GM’s director of hybrid powertrain development.
Originally this vehilce was set to debut under the Saturn brand in 2010 but due to the brand’s sale, that was changed. It was then slated to appear as a Buick compact crossover, another plan that was recently shelved due to customer feedback. The car will still launch in late 2011, but the brand and design remain unknown.
The mule I drove remained in the original Saturn VUE skin (shown above). You can drive along with us in the video below.
It uses an 8 kwh LG lithium-ion pack pack, which is essentially half a Volt pack. The mule car was at this point highly refined, though only about 90% production intent. I was told the instrumental panel will be slightly changed from what was displayed in the mule.
The final car will have a silent start though the engine went on at start in the mule. It contained a 3.6 L DI 270 hp engine and two 55 kw electric motors, utilizing a power-split engineering architecture significantly enhanced by the large lithium-ion pack.
The car drove off very silently though a thrust of the accelerator brought on the roar of the gas engine. It was capable of 40 mph top electric speed but it was tough to get above 25 mph pure EV with acceleration. In theory, the car could go 10 miles as a pure EV under 35 mph.
Components were changed from the original 2-mode VUE, in particular the engine and inverter were changed and modifications to the transmission and electric motor were made all for the purpose of reducing cost and increasing efficiency. In fact the Volt’s inverter is used.
GM would not release a target price at this time.
I found the electric acceleration solid and quiet as GM had paid special attention to the noise and vibration of electric motor
Notable was the very smooth transition to engine on, and also well done was the fact that there was no shudder when the engine turns off.
This design and concept is significantly different that found in the Volt. The PHEV is not an EREV. Operation is almost always a mixture of gas engine and electric motors to allow generous power and maximum efficiency. Though like the Volt, GM wants to discharge the battery as much as possible on each trip. I was told the aim of the car is to try to discharge the battery in about 20 miles.
The car differs from traditional power split hybrids like the Prius. Here there’s a second mode of operation to gear down the traction motor for bigger vehicles. It uses a power split architecture and both electric motors are working almost all the time.
Also with two modes it is possible to both have an efficient electric drive and operate the engine efficiently.
In operation, the ICE follows the load and does not only run at certain RPMs and even though the car weighs in at 4500 pounds with its battery, it still has a lot of power.
In the end, the car clearly does what its supposed to do, and does it well. And for those needing the power and size of an SUV and desiring a plug and double the fuel economy of traditional SUVs, this car may be the answer. GM expects it to be the first commercially available plug-in hybrid SUV produced by a major automaker.
The complex saga of GM’s 2-mode plug-in SUV continues to take new turns.
The program was initially announced in 2006, six months before the Volt, and was supposed to beat it to market as a plug-in Saturn VUE. When Saturn was sold off to Penske, another host vehicle was needed.
GM then announced it would be reborn in the body of an upcoming unnamed compact Buick crossover and a teaser image was revealed to the public.
At the GM 230 event, members of the media and public, including myself were given a preview of full scale models of many of GM’s upcoming vehicles. Included among them was this Buick compact crossover.
I didn’t mind the look of it. It seemed a conservative if somewhat uninspired rebadging of the VUE with the addition of the classic Buick waterfall grille.
Apparently GM’s plan for the event was to take our actual feedback to make some decisions.
According to GM vice chairman Tom Stephens, “The Buick crossover we showed received consistent feedback from large parts of all the audiences that it didn’t fit the premium characteristics that customers have come to expect from Buick.”
As a result of this, he went on to write:
Last Friday, reaction to the Buick crossover was discussed at the meeting of our Executive Committee, the newly formed group that steers product decisions, and it was decided that if it didn’t belong, it didn’t belong. Buick crossover canceled. Fritz Henderson, Bob Lutz and I and the rest of the committee decided to take swift action to prevent a potential underperformer from reaching the marketplace. And we decided that the important plug-in hybrid technology would be applied to another vehicle, at no delay, that we’ll discuss in the very near future.
So there you have it, the plug-in Buick has died before it was born, and once again we are left wondering which SUV will get the plug.
The basic engineering architecture is a 3.6 L DI engine, two 55 KW electric motors, and an 8kwh lithium pack which orchestrated together via complex transmission and software controls should allow double the fuel economy of a standard gas version compact SUV.
The car is still slated for production in late 2011, regardless of its host.
We recently learned GM will be moving its 2-mode plug-in hybrid drivetrain into a yet-unseen, yet-unnamed Buick compact crossover.
It has been noted that though the standard version of this car will come with a DI 4 cylinder engine capable of more than 30 MPG highway, the plugin version will not.
It will have a direct injection 3.5 L, 6 cylinder engine.
This is the same as the non-plugin 2-mode VUE was to have, though the car was never released. It was engineered for performance, doing 0 to 60 in 7 seconds, developing 270 HP and capable of towing 3500 pounds. The configuration would have achieved about 28 MPG city| 31 MPG highway.
With the addition of the 8 kwh rechargeable lithium-ion pack, GM claims the plugin vehicle can travel up to 10 miles pure EV at “low speeds”, and will deliver double the average fuel economy on the standard EPA cycles. This could amount to about 60 MPG.
Of course, it is logical to think if GM used a more efficient 4 cylinder gas engine and lowered the performance specs, even greater fuel efficiency could be achieved. I asked GM spokesperson Brian Corbett why this was not considered.
Here is his response:
Our hybrid strategy has been pretty consistent over the last few years.
Our GM Hybrid system — the mild hybrid, belt-alternator starter technology — is our affordable hybrid technology paired with smaller displacement engines. Our 2-mode hybrid system is our more capable, premium hybrid technology. It’s goal is to provide significantly higher fuel economy while maintaining the capability of the non-hybrid vehicle’s cargo carrying, towing, etc.
That strategy applies to the plug-in as well; maintaining the capability of a 5-passenger crossover while providing significant improvements in fuel economy. It provides E85 capability, which means it likely will be the first flex-fuel hybrid.
I responded to Brian that I thought anyone looking for plug-in would be looking for fuel economy, that they would like the crossover style but wouldn’t care as much about a powerful motor. I suspected that those individuals would rather get 20% more fuel efficiency in exchange for 20% less acceleration and power.
He replied:
That is probably true for plug-in “enthusiasts” or “early adopters.” But I think the feeling is we’ve got try and get the mainstream public interested in plug-in technology in order to make a meaningful different when it comes to reducing emissions and diversifying from petroleum.
So it seems whether or not most people interested in significantly improving their fuel economy are willing downsize to a 4-cylinder is debatable, especially when it comes to though who desire a crossover.
What started as a concept and dream 2 and 1/2 years ago when the Volt was first unveiled has now evolved into an all out race to build the winning mass production electric car. At this point there are three major players in the field and a lot of smaller ones. GM, Nissan, and Ford are each betting heavily that people will mass adopt electric cars. Yet all three automakers are approaching it differently.
GM
We here are quite familiar with the extended-range electric car design that the Volt employs. GM is using its negative experience with the EV-1 and the notable range-anxiety customers experienced to improve on the electric car. By adding a gasoline generator and an electric range that will satisfy 78% of the population’s daily driving needs, GM believes it can offer consumers the best of both worlds. The Volt will allow for the pure electric driving experience and gas-free driving while at the same time eliminating range anxiety and the potential for limitless driving.
The company has been working hard to perfect the car’s engineering and for the most part has been doing it all transparently, magnified I hope by this site.
Nissan
The Japanese company is the recipient of $1.6 billion in federal loans for the purpose of retooling a plant for EVs and building battery assembly facility in the US. They will be globally launching a mass production electric car at the end of 2010 around the same time the Volt arrives. The car will be a 5 seat four door compact pure electric sedan with 100 miles of driving range.
“We’re going to the end of the spectrum, believing that is the way to go,” said Eric Noziere, Nissan North America’s vice-president for product planning.
Nissan doesn’t think range anxiety will be an issue.
Ford
Ford, also a recipient of DOE retooling loans ($5.9 B), as well plans to mass produce a pure electric C-class car with a 100 mile electric range in 2011. They are sharing the risk with partner Magna International. Ford is also currently producing a strong hybrid Ford Fusion, and will bring out a plug-in hybrid Escape for the mass market in 2012. The company appears to be diversifying its electrification solutions in case one category doesn’t take off. Their plan it seems is to let the people decide. The company has specifically criticized shortcomings of the EREV design and has no intentions of making one.
So who will be the winner here, and is there room for them all?
