[gonin02]

Toyota showed off this concept car a few years back...In a nutshell, its a diesel hybrid that puts the prius to shame. Although not in production , I think many of the ideas will be implemented in future vehicles.. which is really the point of concept cars, isin't it ?



"The ES3 has a 1.4 litre turbocharged diesel engine and CVT (continuously variable transmission). The engine cuts out when the car stops, automatically and instantly restarting when you touch the accelerator to move off again. Energy that would be lost from braking is used to charge the car’s battery, and the body panels are made from biodegradable plastics. You will see more of these things in future Toyotas.

In developing the ES3, all aspects of recycling were taken into full consideration with special emphasis being placed on the development of materials that are compatible with a variety of recycling methods. As a new type of material, Toyota developed a biodegradable plastic made from starch extracted from sweet potatoes and other plants. This plastic was combined with natural fibers for use in the ES3's pillar garnish and other interior parts. In addition to recylability, the ES3 is free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Also, the reduction of the amount of lead used in light bulbs, paint and other items significantly decreases the overall volume of lead used in the ES3."

http://www.therant.info/archives/000060.html
http://129.33.47.206/about/environment/ ... y/es3.html

[pip]

What kind of wear is caused to the engines of these hybrids with all the starting and stopping? Isn't like 90% of engine wear caused during startup?

[Concerned]

We have 1.3 billion Chinese, 1.2 billion Indian, 700 million Africans and hundreds of millions of other consumers coming on line. Review the thread on Jevons paradox.

We are going to need every piece of technology like this to meet future transportation demand.

Where are the advances in trucking and other transportation?

[frankthetank]

You can keep that Toyota... I'll take this...
http://www.seriouswheels.com/top-vw-1-liter-car.htm



Fuel consumption is a mere 0.99 litre per 100 kilometres. With a 6.5-litre tank, this gives a range of some 650 kilometres without refuelling

[trespam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pip', 'W')hat kind of wear is caused to the engines of these hybrids with all the starting and stopping? Isn't like 90% of engine wear caused during startup?

[gonin02]

that VW car is cool indeed, and I hope someday to try it, but read the rant guys site...he says

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hen low and behold, along comes Toyota with their new ES3diesel-electric hybrid car, which at 104 mpg gets very close to what I had predicted a diesel-electric hybrid should be able to achieve. Furthermore, it does so using today's commercial quality materials and technology, not some prohibitively expensive space-age materials such as with VW's $1 million prototype tandem 2-seat "1 Liter" concept car,(the "sausage"), which gets 265 mpg. So Toyota could put its new ES3hybrid diesel-electric car into production tomorrow morning if it really wanted to do so and could make a great commercial success of it. But as Toyota told me themselves, they have no interest in doing so.

[lowem]

Nice-looking car, but it probably wouldn't have sold in the kind of volumes needed to be profitable, unfortunately. Not until oil reaches $70-$80 - then perhaps we'll look at cars becoming smaller again.

Nowadays the cars and engines both have been getting larger and larger. What happened to the Mini Cooper? It needs a !#!@ diet. Not my father's Mini, that's for sure.

Even "smaller" cars like the Honda City, Jazz, or equivalent? Those weigh like 1100 kg or something like that, which is pretty close to my bigger-by-one-class but older Civic. What are they packing into cars nowadays, a heck of a lot more metal?

And don't get me started on the "continentals", the BMW's and Volvo's of the world (1.4, 1.5 tons). The SUV's, as we all know, are multi-ton jokes.

And then there's this new, "Ford-inspired" Mazda 3 which tips the scales at over 1200 kg.

All kinds of technology can help, including (Honda's) dual spark plugs, cylinder cutoff, 12-valve mode, and (Toyota/Honda) hybrid systems, bla bla.

But I've learnt since, that technology can't alter the laws of physics. If your car is that heavy, it will need that much more energy to accelerate it, and keep it moving.

I'll bet that, in light of increasing oil prices, the auto-makers will be churning out lighter (if not smaller as well) vehicles soon.

A 1.5L-2.0L family sedan, able to seat 5 comfortably, weighing in at 1000 kg or so. That'll be a start - this will require lopping off 100-200 kg.

Sorry to be rambling about weights and all, I've been visiting vehicle showrooms and it's one of the important specifications I look at. Which makes me an oddball. Everybody else seems to be counting cupholders and making "ooh-aah" comments about the "interior".

Of course, one other thing I look at is 0-100 km/h timing. Anything over 10.5 seconds, I go "sigh". Sorry, couldn't resist. Longtime habit. Yes, I know. 98 tons per gallon and all that.

[frankthetank]

I agree about the weight. My first car was a 1985 Honda Prelude. It weight in under 2000pounds. Cars need to lose weight fast, and the best way to do it is to make them smaller. If gas does hit $5-10/gallon, I would think Scooters and Mopeds will become popular.

[bentstrider]

Don't forget Kawasaki Ninjas.
I hear those things already get 60-70 mpg as it stands.
And all those guys in their Harley gangs will be the envy of the SUV bratpacks.
Not only do these cruisers get good gas mileage, they are the best, "bad-ass" toys to own after oil itself hits those enormous prices.

[gg3]

Re. that VW prototype, I've seen it calculated as getting 312 miles/gallon. And even if it costs like hell to build "just one," has anyone figured the cost when they go into mass production?

Imaging driving across the USA on ten or eleven gallons. Hot damn!

Has anyone asked Toyota exactly why they aren't interested in producing their 100-mpg car? What's their rationale?

And let's not forget the VW Lupo: Four seater, 100 mpg on diesel, clean, highly popular in Europe since it was originally introduced a few years ago, but unobtainable in the USA.

I wonder what would happen if: start a nationwide organization of people who pledge to buy the first 100-mpg vehicle available in the US. Each would save up $5,000 for a downpayment, and be required to show evidence of that savings account in order to join. Then you wait until you have e.g. 10,000 or 100,000 people signed up, each with the money to make the downpayment.

What you have there would be a demonstrated clear early market for these vehicles, plus the competition factor of "whichever car maker gets there first." If VW wants to import Lupos, or Audi wants to import their version, or Toyota wants to build these new ones, etc., whoever gets there first gets an instant sale of 10,000 or 100,000 cars or however-many. While that sales level may seem small compared to what auto makers usually expect to sell in a year, it would certainly be enough to get these cars on the road and thereby get "word of mouth" (the most cost-effective advertising there is) circulating about them. Thereby leading to more demand.

If I heard there were Lupos coming into the US, I'd camp out at the VW dealership overnight to be the first in line to buy one.

[gonin02]

sadly, I think we have to have a crisis before any real changes appear in North America... Can anyone who lived in the 70's relate? Toyota and Honda did not start shipping out their econo cars until the energy crisis was underway, correct?

[hmbjeff]

I have heard that many cars like the Lupo are not imported because they don't meet specific US government requirements for crashworthiness. I don't know the specifics, however.

This may be something that we in the peak oil community could work on--getting some kind of exemptions in these regulations for high-mileage cars.

It is an issue that crosses ideological lines--green eco types and free market republicans might both agree.

Eco-car
I also have been thinking about how valuable it would be long-term to design and mass-produce a standard "eco-car" platform. This is based on a concept I read in the book Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach years ago.

This would be a small, simple, cheap to build, reasonably-efficient, not very fast vehicle that would be designed for flexibility of layout (bolt on a sedan body, a van body or a truck body, or whatever on the same basic chassis). Since it would be standardized, it would be easy to maintain local skills and parts to repair it. Give it a small diesel engine and it could easily run on either petrol or biofuels.

Companies and individuals would create add-ons and options for it. Give it an optional 4 wheel drive, low gear ratio rear-end and a power pickup and it could serve for many farm and construction tasks (pull a trailer, temporarily power a portable sawmill, a grain mill, a water pump or a generator through its power pickup!). It could be the standard "portable engine" to do a wide variety of things we now purchase specialized engines for (this is a bit like the way people use those 4 wheel ATV vehicles today--I have seen catalogs with hundreds of add-ons designed to work with them).

It would be sort of like what the VW bug almost was--ubiquitous, easy to repair, easy to adapt to different purposes, and just enough power to make it work (40-50 HP?). It could be the workhorse vehicle of the post peak age!

[DriveElectric]

It's official. I am now the happy owner of a 2005 Toyota Prius and I got 55 mpg for my first day of driving.

This is just about the coolest car I have ever owned. It is like playing a video game. It has so many cool graphs and charts on the display to track your fuel consumption.

It becomes a game trying to get the battery to move the car as much as possible and avoid the gas engine being on. Even when moving at 40+ mph it is possible to sort of coast with the battery providing much of the momentum and the gas just flickering on occassionally to handle small inclines. During acceleration from a stoplight, I can get it up to 17 mph before the gas engine engages.

I got a bare bones model with a minimum of options. Only a two week wait because I did not care about the color. There was an estimated 3 month wait if you want a specific color.

[gnm]

Just don't turn on the A/C or heater - then your mileage will crump...

-G

[DriveElectric]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gnm', 'J')ust don't turn on the A/C or heater - then your mileage will crump...

-G

[aahala]

I'm sure glad the Prius has a monitor you can watch. It might replace
the cell phone as the chief alternative of paying attention to driving.

[johnmarkos]

Cool. Now you should get in touch with these folks.

Then, when you have those solar panels installed on your roof, you're ready to go!

Just remember, even a hybrid car is a virus.

[Devil]

Lucky bugger: I can't get a hybrid here.

[PhilBiker]

Congratulations!

Did you consider the Echo? 42mpg on the highway and gasoline only. Much more efficient from a holistic standpoint (so much less embedded energy in the manufacture).

Plus one of the most high tech sophisticated valvetrains in the auto industry.

I envy Echo owners - if they had a 4 door wagon I would probably own one.

[JoeW]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PhilBiker', '
')I envy Echo owners - if they had a 4 door wagon I would probably own one.