Toyota to Sell Ethanol Cars in U.S. by 2008
04-19-06, 07:39 PM
#17
Lexus Champion
Originally Posted by 4TehNguyen
alternative fuels are still more expensive to produce than gasoline, however if gas prices go up, some of these alternatives will become more viable
04-20-06, 02:28 AM
#19
Originally Posted by spwolf
biodiesel has the same problem in the sense that it is a lot more expensive to make tha oil. Biodiesel was all the rage in Europe 5-6 years ago, now you dont hear that much about it. EU is still pushing it, but nowhere as much.
That is why I said the government needs to subsidise it and offer much better tax breaks to those companies than they currently do if at all. Same like the oil companies. If these alternative fuel companies were offered the same subsidies and tax breaks as the oil companies the cost of production would not be a concern and the cost of the product would be lower as it is with gas in our country. Can you imagine what the price of gas would really be of the tax breaks and subsidies were taken away from the oil companies? If we in the US thought it is high now, it would be higher than what it is in Europe or at least equal.
04-20-06, 09:49 AM
#21
Lexus Champion
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: ca
Posts: 1,979
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
we have a guy here at work that makes his own Biodisel for his Dodge RAM. He has the garage kit, all you have to do is add lye (sp?) and then filter it. He fills up his truck right in his garage. He is so protective about his waste sources, he won't give them up, its funny. He saves tons of money.
He also said not only is it next to nothing to fill his truck, he actually feels MORE power using bio disel.
He also said not only is it next to nothing to fill his truck, he actually feels MORE power using bio disel.
04-20-06, 02:44 PM
#22
The Green Grundel
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: MN
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Biodesil is %1,000 smarter then E85 and can be made by the same people who make E85. The problem is since the gas companies would make ZERO money its simply not allowed to happen.
10-11-06, 09:53 AM
#23
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Toyota branches out into ethanol
By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: October 10, 2006, 4:00 AM PT
Forward in EMAIL Format for PRINT ZDNet Tags:
TOYOTA CITY, Japan--Hybrid cars aren't the only fuel-efficient concept to have grabbed Toyota's interest.
The Japanese company, now the second-biggest automaker in the world, will come out with a car in Brazil in Spring 2007 that can run on 100 percent ethanol, as well as on a blend of gas and ethanol, Yusei Higaki, a project manager in the global external affairs division, told CNET News.com during a tour of the company's facilities here.
The pricing and the name of the car have not been revealed yet, he added. Brazil is a natural spot to launch the car. Brazilians produce ethanol there from sugar cane, and a number of gas stations sell it.
Toyota has also kicked off trials with gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel cars in Europe. In GTL, natural gas is converted to a relatively clean form of fuel for diesel cars. The process is similar to the one for converting coal to diesel fuel, but cars running on GTL emit far fewer particulates. Humans, in fact, can drink GTL fuel: You might get sick, but you won't die, one Shell executive said last year. GTL is expensive, but could become popular in megacities where the air pollution from diesel has become a major health hazard.
Toyota is riding a crest of popularity these days. It saw car shipments increase by 25 percent in the U.S. in September, at a time when other major manufacturers--from both the U.S. and Japan--reported declines. Analysts believe that the company will overtake GM in the next few years to become the world's largest carmaker, although it could face problems with quality and customer satisfaction, like Dell, as it grows.
Toyota now has 43 percent of car sales in Japan--excluding the mini-car market--and 16.5 percent of U.S. sales. It will also provide the technology and components for auto competitor Nissan's first hybrids, coming in the 2007 model lineup. (Related story: Inside Toyota's hybrid factory.)
A huge part of the success can be attributed to the Prius, which runs on a combination of electric and gasoline power. Worldwide sales jumped from 28,083 in 2002 to 43,162 in 2003, and hit 175,157 last year. Toyota's goal is to reach 1 million in annual hybrid sales in the first few years of the next decade. From 1997 through July 2006, it shipped 552,657 Priuses--which accounts for 76.7 percent of the 720,516 hybrids shipped by all manufacturers.
Toyota's energy efforts can be broken down into four areas: alternative liquid fuel cars running things like ethanol; clean diesel cars, which include diesel hybrids; hybrids; and electric cars.
The concepts can and do overlap. A GTL car, for instance, is both a clean diesel car and an alternative fuel car, and it could ultimately be reworked to incorporate hybrid technology. Toyota has produced a diesel hybrid truck for Japan that qualifies as both a hybrid and a clean diesel.
Another crossover is the plug-in hybrid. These cars, which can get 100 miles per gallon, are similar to regular hybrids. The difference is that in plug-ins, the electrical engines do more work and the gas engine does less work. On the freeway, the gas motor on plug-ins drives the car, so the benefits mostly come in city driving.
Right now, major manufacturers don't make these plug-ins cars because of the cost of the battery and the lengthy charge times. Battery and auto manufacturers, however, are trying to change that with improved nickel and lithium batteries.
"We are seriously studying the plug-in, especially for short distance drivers," Higaki said. "It doesn't work for long distance drivers."
Toyota has its eye on another type of electric car, too: the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. At its technology showcase here, the company displayed the Fine-X, a hydrogen prototype car that tops out at 200 kilometers per hour (about 125 mph). Researchers at the University of California at Davis have also built a hydrogen car out of a Toyota SUV.
It will be a while before hydrogen cars hit the market. For one thing, the filling stations need to be built, Higaki said.
"The first issue is infrastructure. We can't change from the manufacturing side," he said. "The second issue is cost."
And in the very experimental area, Toyota is tinkering with robots and personal transporters. The I-Unit, a four-wheeled vehicle displayed at the technology center, can go 50 kilometers per hour.
Published on ZDNet News: October 10, 2006, 4:00 AM PT
Forward in EMAIL Format for PRINT ZDNet Tags:
TOYOTA CITY, Japan--Hybrid cars aren't the only fuel-efficient concept to have grabbed Toyota's interest.
The Japanese company, now the second-biggest automaker in the world, will come out with a car in Brazil in Spring 2007 that can run on 100 percent ethanol, as well as on a blend of gas and ethanol, Yusei Higaki, a project manager in the global external affairs division, told CNET News.com during a tour of the company's facilities here.
The pricing and the name of the car have not been revealed yet, he added. Brazil is a natural spot to launch the car. Brazilians produce ethanol there from sugar cane, and a number of gas stations sell it.
Toyota has also kicked off trials with gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel cars in Europe. In GTL, natural gas is converted to a relatively clean form of fuel for diesel cars. The process is similar to the one for converting coal to diesel fuel, but cars running on GTL emit far fewer particulates. Humans, in fact, can drink GTL fuel: You might get sick, but you won't die, one Shell executive said last year. GTL is expensive, but could become popular in megacities where the air pollution from diesel has become a major health hazard.
Toyota is riding a crest of popularity these days. It saw car shipments increase by 25 percent in the U.S. in September, at a time when other major manufacturers--from both the U.S. and Japan--reported declines. Analysts believe that the company will overtake GM in the next few years to become the world's largest carmaker, although it could face problems with quality and customer satisfaction, like Dell, as it grows.
Toyota now has 43 percent of car sales in Japan--excluding the mini-car market--and 16.5 percent of U.S. sales. It will also provide the technology and components for auto competitor Nissan's first hybrids, coming in the 2007 model lineup. (Related story: Inside Toyota's hybrid factory.)
A huge part of the success can be attributed to the Prius, which runs on a combination of electric and gasoline power. Worldwide sales jumped from 28,083 in 2002 to 43,162 in 2003, and hit 175,157 last year. Toyota's goal is to reach 1 million in annual hybrid sales in the first few years of the next decade. From 1997 through July 2006, it shipped 552,657 Priuses--which accounts for 76.7 percent of the 720,516 hybrids shipped by all manufacturers.
Toyota's energy efforts can be broken down into four areas: alternative liquid fuel cars running things like ethanol; clean diesel cars, which include diesel hybrids; hybrids; and electric cars.
The concepts can and do overlap. A GTL car, for instance, is both a clean diesel car and an alternative fuel car, and it could ultimately be reworked to incorporate hybrid technology. Toyota has produced a diesel hybrid truck for Japan that qualifies as both a hybrid and a clean diesel.
Another crossover is the plug-in hybrid. These cars, which can get 100 miles per gallon, are similar to regular hybrids. The difference is that in plug-ins, the electrical engines do more work and the gas engine does less work. On the freeway, the gas motor on plug-ins drives the car, so the benefits mostly come in city driving.
Right now, major manufacturers don't make these plug-ins cars because of the cost of the battery and the lengthy charge times. Battery and auto manufacturers, however, are trying to change that with improved nickel and lithium batteries.
"We are seriously studying the plug-in, especially for short distance drivers," Higaki said. "It doesn't work for long distance drivers."
Toyota has its eye on another type of electric car, too: the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. At its technology showcase here, the company displayed the Fine-X, a hydrogen prototype car that tops out at 200 kilometers per hour (about 125 mph). Researchers at the University of California at Davis have also built a hydrogen car out of a Toyota SUV.
It will be a while before hydrogen cars hit the market. For one thing, the filling stations need to be built, Higaki said.
"The first issue is infrastructure. We can't change from the manufacturing side," he said. "The second issue is cost."
And in the very experimental area, Toyota is tinkering with robots and personal transporters. The I-Unit, a four-wheeled vehicle displayed at the technology center, can go 50 kilometers per hour.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Gojirra99
Car Chat
14
12-30-07 01:46 PM