LexFather

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...130381/1/.html

OKYO : Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor will provide hybrid-vehicle technology to Subaru-brand carmaker Fuji Heavy Industries, helping it exploit the key North American market, a report said.

Toyota plans to supply its hybrid power system to Fuji Heavy, which will use it to make hybrids a mainline product in the North American market, which accounts for 35 percent of its group sales, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.


Fuji Heavy on its part is considering supplying Toyota technology with lithium-ion batteries it has developed with electronics maker NEC for use in hybrid vehicles, the economic daily said without citing sources.

Working-level talks on the technical cooperation have already been taking place, with Toyota president Cho Fujio and his Fuji Heavy counterpart Kyoji Takenaka set to enter negotiation soon, it said.

No immediate comment on the report was available from Toyota.

Hybrids run on either its gasoline engine or on its electric motor depending on driving conditions, making them much more economical and environmentally-friendly than conventional gasoline engines.

Toyota has pioneered the use of green technologies with its Prius, the world's first mass-produced hybrid car.

US auto giant General Motors, the top shareholder in Fuji Heavy with a 20 percent stake, has formed a partnership with German-US DaimlerChrysler to jointly develop hybrid vehicle technology.

But the Nihon Keizai said that the alliance was likely to focus on technology for use in large vehicles rather than vehicles with engine displacements of around three liters, Fuji Heavy's strength.

SecPole14

LMFAO...Toyota officially rules the world.

GFerg

LOL...Wow. And who said that Hybrids are just a passing fad??

SecPole14

So Toyota is going to pimp Nissan, Ford, Porsche, and Subaru...Am I leaving any out? Can you imagine the money this is going to bring in?!

jracerlmn

this is good, i like it when companies share technology...

just like how mercedes shares traction control, ABS, and other safety patents with other companies to create a world of safer cars.

talgrl626

T.L.W. now are you gonna jump on toyota's stock

mmarshall

Using the definition of a hybrid as parallel systems where the car that will run on EITHER the gas or electric motor independently, yes, you are correct....the Prius was the first mass-produced true hybrid vehicle in the American market. However, the Honda Insight, a 2-seater smaller than the Prius and with a series-system gas-electric powertrain, actually beat the Prius to the American market by about 6-8 months. ( I was fortunate enough to be one of the first test-drivers in the general, non-auto-media public to try out the Insight when it first reached East Coast dealerships here ). The Insight and the larger Civic Hybrid, with what Honda calls the IMA ( Integrated Motor Assist ) can operate on electric power but only as an assist to the gasoline engine....not independent of it. The gas engine only shuts off at a full stop (when warm).
However, with either the Toyota or the Hondas, of course, the gasoline engine HAS to run enough to keep the oil and coolant warm, combustion temperatures up, emissions down, (they go up as engine temperature drops), and the electric motor's battery pack charged up.

You bring up an interesting (and debatable) topic about the Prius being the world's first mass-produced hybrid. As I stated, it was the first TRUE ( parallel ) hybrid HERE in the U.S., but both Toyota and Honda had gas-electric cars for sale in Japan before they did here. Hard to tell which was actually first........and whether a series-system will also qualify as a parallel-system does in the sense that you are using it.

talgrl626

does IMA mean that the gas mileage is poorer than prius since it's only motor "assistant?"

mmarshall

Depends. The Insight generally gets better mileage than either the first or second-generation Pruis due to its extremely light weight, very low-rolling-resistance tires, very small gas and engine motors (a small electric motor takes little battery power, thus little gas power to keep them charged), and efficient aerodynamics.The somewhat larger Civic Hybrid is slightly less efficient than the new Prius due to its somewhat older hybrid technology and less advanced computers.
An interesting quirk of ALL hybrids, both series and parallel-type, is that the EPA city mileage is higher than highway. This is contrary to almost every other type of vehicle and occurs because in both types of hybrids the gasoline engine runs less in the city, with its start-and-stop cycles, than it does on the open road....even considering the fact that in the city the gas engine is running up and down through separate transmission gears or a Continuously Variable Transmission where on the highway the engine is usually in top gear.

SecPole14

The Prius was sold in Japan well before it came to the US, and before the Iack-of-Insight too. The Prius was indeed the first mass-produced hybrid in the world.

SecPole14

Generally speaking, yes. Toyota's Synergy Drive system is much more advanced than Honda's IMA.

mmarshall

The Honda Insight is still the highest-mileage gas-electric vehicle sold in the U.S, but of course acheives this by extremely light weight, small components, and low payload.
I would agree with you that the 2nd-generation Prius has more advanced engineering.