Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
With the FIA having put the World Endurance Championship live TV coverage behind a pay-wall for 2014, we are indeed fortunate that enthusiastic Youtubers are willing to upload the entire 6 hours for those of us who prefer free TV.
The number of electrically powered automobiles worldwide climbed to just over 400,000 in early 2014. This figure, which only counts battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars, was determined in an analysis conducted by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW).
The vehicle count doubled over the twelve months of last year, increasing by an impressive 200,000 units. The Ulm-based researchers found that demand is greatest in the USA, Japan and China, which are currently the globally leading markets. Germany is just seventh in the ranking, trailing France, the Netherlands and Norway. The most telling statistic is that countries with incentive programs have taken the lead in electric mobility, a market with a bright future. The top-selling cars are made by Japanese and American automotive companies; batteries are sourced mainly from Asia.
Incentive programs have sparked a run on electric cars in the lead markets. This benefits especially the pioneering companies Nissan, General Motors and Toyota. "Efforts in Germany are also quite impressive,"says Prof. Werner Tillmetz, a member of ZSW's board of directors at Ulm. Research into batteries has been stepped up significantly and automobile manufacturers are fast-tracking the development of advanced electric drives. "However, it will take far more effort to establish a lead market in this country with an end-to-end value chain that includes the key component, the battery. Otherwise we will be left behind by the global competition."
According to ZSW's study, the number of registered electric vehicles increased at an annual growth rate of over 100 percent in the last three years. Nearly 100,000 electric cars were on the road worldwide in early 2012. A year later the vehicle count came to 200,000, and already reached 405,000 early this year. If the past three years' growth rates are sustained, then more than one million electric vehicles will be out and about worldwide as early as the beginning of 2016. The researchers tallied the global registration numbers for cars with battery powered electric drives, range extenders and plug-in hybrids. They did not count motorcycles, trucks, buses or full hybrid vehicles, of which there are now more than six million.
The United States are well ahead with 174,000 electric cars, followed by Japan (68,000) and China (45,000). Close to 30,000 electric vehicles are registered in the Netherlands, compared to just 17,500 in Germany. A similar picture emerges in the automotive company rankings. Nissan is in the lead, having sold more than 90,000 of its Leaf models, followed by General Motors with combined sales of its Ampera and Volt models topping the 60,000 mark. Toyota, which has moved over 40,000 Prius Plug-Ins, is in third place
BMW's newly minted alliance with Toyota will result in a hybrid all-wheel-drive Z4 / Supra replacement, complete with supercapacitor technology for increased performance, Autocar reports.
The car will have a front-engined direct-injection four cylinder turbo and electric motors driving all four wheels. The supercapacitor system will be derived from technology first seen in Toyota's Hybrid Supra HV-R in 2007 when it won the Tokachi 24 hour race and more recenly Toyota's Le Mans LMP1 race cars.
BMW will supply the 2.0 liter turbocharged engine combined with electric motors produced by BMW at its engine plant in Munich while a Toyota-developed electronics system is expected to provide torque-vectoring capability.
With the car expected to have a front mounted engine and sequential manual gearbox in a conventional longitudinal powertrain layout it will be interesting to see what type of electric motors BMW deploy to drive the front wheels, perhaps in-wheel motors?
There's no more popular saying in the world of motorsport than "racing improves the breed". Although in most cases, most racing series require strict rules on technology to keep races competitive and costs down, that's rarely the case.
The one place where automakers still push the limits of technology? The 24 Hours of Le Mans, which this year will feature three machines from Toyota, Audi and Porsche that offer radically different paths to cars of the future — hybrid, all-wheel-drive ones at that.
The favorite comes from Audi; they've won 12 times at Le Mans since 2000, and in one of the two races it didn't win the Audi machinery still won under the Bentley brand. The R18 e-tron quattro the company drove through the streets of western France earlier this week features the latest changes to the winning strategy, with a 4-liter, turbocharged V-6 diesel engine paired with a flywheel hybrid system for maximum fuel efficiency. That flywheel powers the front wheels, and a second system recaptures energy from the heat of the exhaust.
Toyota has been attempting to challenge Audi in endurance racing for a few years, making some progress and winning a couple of races, but never breaking through the German automaker's dominace. For this year's TS040 model, Toyota revised its entire system, adding a front-wheel-drive to the 3.7-liter V-8 supercapacitor powered hybrid from last year. In total, Toyota says the setup can generate nearly 1,000 hp, while using 25 percent less fuel than last year's vehicles as required by Le Mans rules for 2014.
The most interesting new model comes from Porsche, which hasn't raced in the top class at Le Mans for 16 years. The 919 Hybrid combines a battery pack and Formula 1-style hybrid energy system similar to what Porsche uses in the 918 supercar with a turbocharged V-4 engine — a configuration chosen to save weight and space. Porsche executives call the 919 the most complicated machine the company has ever built, and despite living under the same Volkswagen corporate roof as Audi, there's no apparent sharing between teams or slack in competition.
Toyota are testing their Yaris WRC car this week. The Toyota Yaris WRC prototype, powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine (as dictated by world rallying’s rules), built at Toyota Motorsport in Cologne, Germany will begin testing in Tuscany.
It is thought that the test car is based on a Yaris chassis but the final WRC car will be based around a new model which has yet to be launched.
Toyota wants to use hybrid technology in the World Rally Championship if it returns to the series and although the Japanese car giant has expressed an interest in returning to the WRC – in which it won four drivers’ titles and three constructors’ crowns with the Celica GT-Four and the Corolla WRC during the 1990s – it has so far stopped short of committing to a competitive return.
Residents of Toyota City, Japan, might be wondering what they just saw on the street. If it had three wheels and was leaning around a corner, it was the "i-Road", Toyota's ultra-compact all-electric, all-fun concept.
On Sunday, the i-Road, which weighs a mere 300 kg and is less than 90 cm wide, was let loose on public roads at an event to mark its introduction into "Ha:mo", Toyota's optimized urban transport system. Soon, even more i-Roads will be zooming around Toyota city when they are made available to residents at vehicle-sharing stations. And later this year the lucky residents of Grenoble, France, will also be able to have some three-wheeled fun, thanks to a vehicle-sharing project that will last until 2017.
Besides being an absolute blast to drive, how could the i-Road actually help you out? Well, picture the following:
You just got off work. You get a phone call. You need to get across town, pronto, because your wife just went into labor. But your car is in the shop, there's no time to call a taxi, and your co-workers with cars are stuck doing overtime. Oh, and it's raining.
What do you do?
In comes the i-Road to save the day. Luckily, there's a Toyota EV-sharing station by your office. Cool as a cucumber, you use your smartphone to plan your route: i-Road to the station 5 km away, and train straight to the hospital. You book the i-Road, and within a couple minutes you're weaving smoothly through the rush-hour gridlock. You get to the train station right on time, and, since the i-Road has a closed canopy, you didn't even wet your carefully groomed hair. Day saved, all thanks to the i-Road.
In 2013 Toyota Motor Europe sales reached 847,540 vehicles, an increase of 9,569 units from 2012, equalling a 0.2 percentage point share gain to 4.7%. This progress is mainly due to the excellent sales performance of hybrid models.
European Toyota and Lexus sales of hybrid vehicles reached an all-time high in 2013 totalling 156,863 units, up 43% year-on-year. Hybrid models now make up close to a fifth of total TME sales including several countries out of EU. In Western Europe, 28% of all Toyota and Lexus sold are hybrid models.
But today, Toyota is not only by far the clear leader for hybrid sales in Europe, it is also the first European hybrid manufacturer. Hybrid vehicle production for Toyota in Europe has doubled to reach a record 116,383 units produced at the company’s manufacturing facilities in France (Yaris Hybrid) and in the United Kingdom (Auris Hybrid and Auris Hybrid Touring Sports).
In 2013, the Yaris Hybrid ended the year with sales more than doubling year-on-year reaching 49,774 units, an increase of 25,041 units from 2012. But also the Auris Hybrid registered a record year: the Hatchback saw its hybrid sales increase by 66% to 39,438 units, while the newly launched Auris Hybrid Touring Sports achieved a 60% hybrid mix, equalling 15,175 units.
The success of Hybrid is driven by its excellent cost-of-ownership, thanks to lower fuel-bills and better CO2 ratings. But there is more than that: an increasing number of drivers is discovering the comfort and serenity that a petrol-hybrid powertrain delivers, allowing them to escape the stress of today’s traffic. That is why Toyota is firmly committed to continue its development of its hybrid offer, with 15 new products to be launched globally between the beginning of 2014 and the end of 2015.
Toyota announced this week that it will start operating a third production shift at its European Yaris factory from June 2014 in order to meet high demand for its two products, the Toyota Yaris and the Toyota Yaris Hybrid.
The Yaris is unique among small cars in having the option of proven Toyota hybrid technology, bringing the easy driving, fuel efficient hybrid drive to a wider audience than ever before.
The three-shift operation will require an increase in manpower by 500 production employees, which will bring total employment at Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF) in Valenciennes to more than 4,000.
Until the third shift is in place, some Saturday production is planned to meet the demand.
“Sales forecasts have led us to increase production plans by around 15 per cent for 2014, for a total annual production volume of around 220,000 units,” confirmed Koreatsu Aoki, President of TMMF.
Recharging a Toyota plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicle could in future be as simple as parking the car. Toyota has announced verification testing is to begin later this month of a new wireless battery charging system it has developed for vehicles that use an electric powertrain.
The new technology allows a vehicle to be charged simply by parking it in alignment with a coil set into the surface of the ground. This makes the process simpler and easier, dispensing with cables and connectors.
The Toyota charging system transmits electricity using magnetic resonance created by changes in magnetic field intensity between a transmitting coil in the ground and a receiving coil in the car. It is designed so that it can reduce any loss in power transmission efficiency caused by misalignment or height differences between the coils.
The system is being developed with a future market launch in mind. Measures have been taken to minimise any electromagnetic interference with nearby equipment, and the transmitting coil in the ground has been madde robust enough to withstand vehicles driving over it.
To help the driver align the car correctly, Toyota has developed a function for its Intelligent Parking Assist system that shows the position of the transmitting coil in a parking space.
The test programme involves three plug-in hybrid used by homes in Aichi prefecture in Japan. It will assess user satisfaction, the system’s ease of use, misalignment rates and charging behaviour, such as how often charging takes place and timer-based charging it used.
Toyota will use the test results to develop the technology further, with the ultimate aim of bringing the system to market. Toyota believes its commercialisation will help promote the use of electrified vehicles and mobility options that are smarter, easier to use and kinder to the environment.
| Charging method | Magnetic resonance |
| Frequency | 85kHz |
| Input voltage | AC 200V |
| Charging power | 2kW |
| Charging time | Approx. 90 minutes |
A Prius hybrid powertrain into a Toyota MR2 chassis sounds like a no-brainer.
This is the TE-S800, and it represents what one Toyota engineer imagines an MR2 successor could be. It weighs approx 1,000 kg and with the 1.5 liter Otto-cycle 1NZ-FE engine outputting more than 115 hp at 6400 rpm plus the plug-in Prius’ 102 hp electric motor coupled to a Toyota E-CVT transmission, the TE-800 does 0-100 km/h in just 5.8 seconds.
The MR2 plug-in hybrid was one of several cars unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon by the Toyota Engineering Society which is a volunteer collective that mostly comprises Toyota engineers.
TOYOTA Racing can reveal the first details of its participation in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), in which it will push the limits of hybrid powertrain technology in motorsport.
TOYOTA Racing entered two cars for the WEC season, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is scheduled to confirm the full grid on 13 February.
For the third consecutive year, Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Stéphane Sarrazin will drive for TOYOTA Racing. They are joined by test and reserve driver Mike Conway.
The TS040 HYBRID prototype has been designed according to new regulations intended to keep the WEC and Le Mans at the forefront of road-relevant technology development.
Its first public appearance will come at the WEC official test session on 28-29 March when it will take to the track alongside prototypes from Audi and Porsche for the first time.
After the TS030 HYBRID established TOYOTA Racing as a pioneer in the field of hybrid powertrains for motorsport, its successor, the TS040 HYBRID, takes the technology to the next level.
The addition of an Aisin AW motor/generator on the front axle, in combination with the DENSO unit at the rear, means the TOYOTA HYBRID System – Racing now provides power to all four wheels.
Under deceleration, the motor/generators apply braking force in combination with traditional mechanical brakes to generate energy, which is transferred via a DENSO inverter to the Nisshinbo super-capacitor. During acceleration, the motor/generator reverses its function, acting as a motor to deliver a significant power boost.
That four-wheel-drive hybrid power is allied to a petrol-powered V8 engine, both having been developed by Motor Sports Unit Development Division at the Higashifuji technical centre, where next generation TOYOTA road car technology is also under development.
Such a link between motorsport technology and future road cars is fundamental to TOYOTA Racing, with the TS040 HYBRID, like its predecessor, acting as a real-life test bench for TOYOTA’s latest hybrid concepts. TOYOTA has already sold 6million hybrid road cars since the launch of the Prius in 1997.
The TS040 HYBRID chassis is designed, developed, manufactured, built and operated by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne. It represents a major evolution on the TS030 HYBRID thanks to advanced aerodynamics and lightweight design.
New regulations with revised dimensions have made the 2014-generation LMP1 cars narrower by 10cm while measures such as wheel tethers and a rear crash box have further increased safety.
Intensive simulation and calculation work at TMG has refined the TS040 HYBRID, utilising hardware-in-the-loop technology to test individual components based on real track data and powerful calculation computers to optimise designs.
Such cutting-edge techniques are significantly more efficient than track testing, allowing TMG engineers to continue optimising all aspects of the TS040 HYBRID chassis and lay-out for longer than rivals relying on traditional methods.
Development of the TS040 HYBRID has been completed alongside a range of external motorsport and automotive projects running concurrently at TMG, for third-party clients and Toyota Motor Corporation.
The car completed a successful roll-out at Paul Ricard earlier this month (21-23 January), with Alex Wurz and Anthony Davidson driving. Further testing is planned prior to the season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone (20 April).
More details about the TS040 HYBRID, including technical specifications, will be released immediately prior to the 28-29 official WEC test.
TOYOTA Racing can reveal the first details of its participation in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), in which it will push the limits of hybrid powertrain technology in motorsport.
TOYOTA Racing entered two cars for the WEC season, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is scheduled to confirm the full grid on 13 February.
For the third consecutive year, Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Stéphane Sarrazin will drive for TOYOTA Racing. They are joined by test and reserve driver Mike Conway.
The TS040 HYBRID prototype has been designed according to new regulations intended to keep the WEC and Le Mans at the forefront of road-relevant technology development.
Its first public appearance will come at the WEC official test session on 28-29 March when it will take to the track alongside prototypes from Audi and Porsche for the first time.
After the TS030 HYBRID established TOYOTA Racing as a pioneer in the field of hybrid powertrains for motorsport, its successor, the TS040 HYBRID, takes the technology to the next level.
The addition of an Aisin AW motor/generator on the front axle, in combination with the DENSO unit at the rear, means the TOYOTA HYBRID System – Racing now provides power to all four wheels.
Under deceleration, the motor/generators apply braking force in combination with traditional mechanical brakes to generate energy, which is transferred via a DENSO inverter to the Nisshinbo super-capacitor. During acceleration, the motor/generator reverses its function, acting as a motor to deliver a significant power boost.
That four-wheel-drive hybrid power is allied to a petrol-powered V8 engine, both having been developed by Motor Sports Unit Development Division at the Higashifuji technical centre, where next generation TOYOTA road car technology is also under development.
Such a link between motorsport technology and future road cars is fundamental to TOYOTA Racing, with the TS040 HYBRID, like its predecessor, acting as a real-life test bench for TOYOTA’s latest hybrid concepts. TOYOTA has already sold 6million hybrid road cars since the launch of the Prius in 1997.
The TS040 HYBRID chassis is designed, developed, manufactured, built and operated by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne. It represents a major evolution on the TS030 HYBRID thanks to advanced aerodynamics and lightweight design.
New regulations with revised dimensions have made the 2014-generation LMP1 cars narrower by 10cm while measures such as wheel tethers and a rear crash box have further increased safety.
Intensive simulation and calculation work at TMG has refined the TS040 HYBRID, utilising hardware-in-the-loop technology to test individual components based on real track data and powerful calculation computers to optimise designs.
Such cutting-edge techniques are significantly more efficient than track testing, allowing TMG engineers to continue optimising all aspects of the TS040 HYBRID chassis and lay-out for longer than rivals relying on traditional methods.
Development of the TS040 HYBRID has been completed alongside a range of external motorsport and automotive projects running concurrently at TMG, for third-party clients and Toyota Motor Corporation.
The car completed a successful roll-out at Paul Ricard earlier this month (21-23 January), with Alex Wurz and Anthony Davidson driving. Further testing is planned prior to the season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone (20 April).
More details about the TS040 HYBRID, including technical specifications, will be released immediately prior to the 28-29 official WEC test.
Toyota today announces that cumulative global sales of its hybrid vehicles topped the 6 million unit mark as of December 31, 2013, reaching 6.072 million units. The latest million-unit milestone was achieved in the fastest time yet for Toyota, taking just nine months.
Helping mitigate the environmental effects of vehicles is a priority at Toyota. Based on its belief that environment-friendly vehicles can only truly have a positive impact if they are widely used, Toyota has endeavored to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles.
As of this month, Toyota sells 24 hybrid passenger car models and one plug-in hybrid model in approximately 80 countries and regions around the world. Furthermore, within the next two years, Toyota will launch a total of 15 new hybrid vehicles worldwide, including the new "Harrier Hybrid" in Japan on January 15 and the new "Highlander Hybrid" in the United States in the near future. Toyota will continue augmenting its product lineup even further and increasing the number of countries and regions where it sells hybrid vehicles.
Toyota calculates that as of December 31, 2013, Toyota hybrid vehicles have resulted in approximately 41 million fewer tons of CO2 emissions—believed to be a cause of global warming—than would have been emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance. Toyota also estimates that its hybrid vehicles have saved approximately 15 million kilolitres of gasoline compared to the amount used by gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size.
In August 1997 in Japan, Toyota launched the "Coaster Hybrid EV" and launched the "Prius"—the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle—in December. Since then, Toyota hybrid vehicles have received tremendous support from consumers around the world.
Toyota has positioned hybrid technologies that enable the use of different fuel combinations, including the component technologies necessary for development of various environment-friendly cars, as core environmental technologies for the twenty-first century. Toyota therefore plans to continue working to raise performance, reduce costs, and expand its product lineup—including that of non-hybrid environment-friendly vehicles—to create vehicles that are popular with consumers.
The Toyota Prius isn’t just the best-selling hybrid in the US, it is the best-selling car in California according to the California New Car Dealers Association for the second year running.
YTD November 2013, the state received 54,063 new Toyota Prius registrations, not including fleet sales, commercial customers, the government and rental car companies. The Prius edged out the Honda Civic, which reported 50,580 new car registrations up to Q3 last year.
Toyota vehicles actually secured three of the top 5 spots in 2013:
The EV SIM-86e, a Toyota 86 developed by SIM-DRIVE, was exhibited at the Odaiba Motor Fes. The car is an 86 based EV, with all 4 wheels powered by independent motors.
Technical specifications haven't been released (in English at least) but we can make some educated guesses. The AWD EVs developed by SIM-Drive to date, SIM-Lei, SIM-Wil & SIM-Cel have all used direct drive in-wheel motors. We can see from the picture below, the standard friction brakes are visible in the wheels so the SIM-86e must be running in-board motors.
In developing the SIM-86e, Tajima Motor Corporation used E-RUNNER technology, which the company has been developing for racing vehicles to participate in the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. TMC Chairman of the Board and SIM-Drive President and Director Nobuhiro Tajima explained:
“Since our development of a 4WD automobile with a twin engine, we have been playing with such car-control technology as multiple power sources and 4 independent motors. In the SIM-86e we have thoroughly employed the control know-how cultivated through developments to E-RUNNER technology.”
While the Pikes Peak winning E-RUNNER was all-wheel-drive, it used only two motors driving the wheels through a differential on each axle. The motors were supplied by GKN and belived to be 2x AFM-240 Axial Flux motors, each capable of 335 kw (455 hp) and 1200 Nm Peak. As the GKN Evo motors are not suitable for in-wheel mounting we might speculate that the SIM-86e may be running 4x in-board AFM-140 Axial Flux motors driving the wheels via standard half-shafts, with or without gear reduction.
“This year there were some wet roads, and for that reason our times didn't improve. However, with next year’s dry conditions, I think it may be possible to achieve a new course record. Also, our efforts for next year’s car are making it compatible with a fast charger, meaning we will get technological feed back for product version EVs as well. Both for practical reasons and in times of crises, EV’s clearly need to have the ability to charge quickly. I’m confident that fast charging technology for harsh motor sports conditions will be useful for developing the product versions to come.”
WiTricity, an industry pioneer in resonant wireless power transfer over distance, today announced an intellectual property license agreement with the world’s top-selling carmaker, Toyota Motor Corporation.
Having made an equity investment in WiTricity in 2011 to accelerate the development of automotive wireless charging systems and acceptance by carmakers, Toyota has cooperated technically with the company for the past several years. Under this intellectual property license agreement, Toyota will offer wireless charging power capture devices on their future rechargeable hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles. Compatible wireless charging sources will be manufactured by third party charging system suppliers, under license from WiTricity.
WiTricity’s technology delivers electric power safely over distance and eliminates the need for the charging cable that is required for EVs and PHVs that are currently on the market. Toyota has identified this technology as a key differentiator in the marketplace because of its seamless operation and the convenience factor it offers the vehicle owners.
“WiTricity’s mission is to make wireless charging available as widely as possible, and this announcement is a significant step toward accomplishing that mission,” said WiTricity CEO Eric Giler. “We envision a world in which wireless charging accelerates the adoption of clean, green electrified vehicles. To have Toyota, the world’s leading carmaker, licensing our intellectual property, underscores the importance of the technology.”
BMW’s head of marketing, Ian Robertson, has said the partnership between BMW and Toyota has already heralded “big steps” in battery technology,
“We’ve been genuinely impressed by the speed and quality of the learnings,” said Robertson. “The teams are working very well together. We are making some big steps, especially in battery performance and efficiency. We are now looking at how we can use the learnings together, because there’s no question they will make electric cars far more attractive.”
The two firms announced they would jointly research a lithium-air battery back in January. A lithium-air battery has its anode filled with lithium, and cathode with air. Theoretically, the battery can store more than 5,000 watt-hours per kilogram. (A123 M1 cells are around 120 wh/kg).
Ian Robertson was quoted as saying during the launch of the BMW i3 he expect the i3 to be powered by a 320 km (200 mile) range Lithium-Air Battery by 2017.
Source: Autocar
It's been nearly two years since Toyota and BMW announced an agreement to work together to develop sports cars using state-of-the-art hybrid technologies, and now a source close to the two companies says the pair has decided on its first joint-venture.
Motoring.com.au recently spotted a BMW i8 at Toyota’s proving ground near Mt. Fuji, reportedly undergoing emissions and durability testing. It claims this is a prelude to a joint supercar development program.
Such a program would give Toyota – the carmaker that popularized hybrids in the first place – a hybrid successor to the Lexus LFA. Toyota wouldn’t just have a new halo model, it would have one with hybrid technology that could be more easily connected to its mainstream models. The marketing department will be happy, at least.
BMW could potentially leverage the platform to build a car that slots above the i8 in its lineup, offering true supercar performance. While the i8 was designed to balance performance and economy, BMW has toyed with the idea of building a more performance-oriented car.
Supercar makers are more conscious of CO2 emissions than ever before while at the same time delivering more power and performance. Powertrain electrification is the key to meeting these goals in the same vehicle.
Take, for example, the electrically assisted Ferrari La Ferrari and McLaren P1, or the purely battery-powered Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive – the most powerful AMG ever made.
Porsche has its Panamera plug-in hybrid too, as well as the million-dollar 918 Spyder super-hybrid that recently set a new production-car lap record of 6:57 at the Nurburgring.
Source: Motoring.com.au
Toyota is cutting the price of its Prius plug-in hybrid electric vehicle by more than $2,000, making it the latest automaker to cut prices of electric vehicles.
Toyota reduced the price on the 2014 Prius Plug-in hybrid by $2,010 to $29,990, a 6 percent price cut.
The automaker is also cutting the price on its 2014 Prius Plug-in Advanced model by $4,620 to $34,905, an 11 percent price reduction. That model has more features including navigation and infotainment, heated front seats and a heads-up display.
Moe Durand, a Toyota spokesman, said the new pricing was a reflection of its competitors’ moves.
“It’s dictated by market conditions. When somebody starts that trend of allowing a little softer prices, market demand can determine price,” Durand said.
Toyota has sold 8,000 plug-ins in the first nine months, behind its target of 12,000 for the year. Durand said the automaker has been offering some “considerable” incentives on the 2013 model to help boost sales, but acknowledged it was behind were it had hoped to be at this point. Incentives vary by region.
Toyota’s price cuts come nearly two months after General Motors Co. said in August it was cutting the price of its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt by $5,000. The Detroit-based automaker cut the base price 12.5 percent, from $39,995 to $34,995. The price cut came shortly after the automaker announced a $5,000 incentive on the 2012 Volt and $4,000 on the 2013 model.
The first Volt, a 2010 model, cost $41,000. Sales jumped in August to their highest level ever to 3,351 vehicles.
In July, Ford Motor Co. said it would reduce the price of its low-selling Focus EV by $4,000 for the 2014 model year to $35,200.
Ford also offered lease discounts of more than $10,000 and $2,000 off the base price for cash purchases.
Sales of Nissan’s all-electric Leaf have jumped since the Japanese automaker dropped the base price by 18 percent, to $28,800 for the 2013 model year. Nissan also added extra cargo room, and for higher-end trims, an on-board charger that reduces electric charging times by half.
Honda Motor Co. said in May it was cutting the monthly lease price of its Fit EV from $389 to $259 a month, and reducing by $130 a month the cost of existing Fit EV leases. The revised lease has unlimited mileage.
Most of the vehicles are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Prius with a smaller battery pack is eligible for a $2,500 federal tax credit.
TOYOTA Racing fought a race-long battle for victory in the Six Hours of the Circuit of the Americas before taking second place in the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
After six hours of intense racing in hot temperatures, the #8 crossed the finishing line just 23.617 seconds behind the race winner.
The TS030 HYBRID was able to get strong performance from the same set of tyres over two stints. This, combined with quick pit stops, reduced the amount of time the #8 needed to spend in the pits.
The next round is TOYOTA Racing's home race, the Six Hours of Fuji on 20 October where the team will have two cars competing as the #7 of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima returns to action.
