Increases in efficiency are welcome no matter where they come from but I hope someday soon, all car companies realize that power has to come from the electric drivetrain while extreme efficiency must come from the internal combustion engine. How much longer do we have to wait for a 1.0L turbo charged directly injected ATKINSON engine? At least Lexus built the GS450h which has a similar drivetrain as the one I mentioned above except there is no turbo and it uses a big V6. Perhaps Lexus should buy the technology from Teslamotors for that powerful electric drivetrain for the rear wheels and then use a 1.0L turbo charged directly injected ATKINSON engine coupled to both a CVT for the front wheels and an electric generator to recharge the batteries.

Freddy,

The Atkinson cycle isn't supercharged. Doing so would negate a good part of its efficiency advantage. Here's a quick explanation: the Atkinson cycle works because it behaves like a smaller capacity engine on the intake stroke and a larger capacity engine on the expansion stroke. This means that it can extract a little more energy out of expansion.
Turbocharging does almost the opposite (makes an engine behave as if it had a higher capacity on the intake stroke).
You can look-up "Miller Cycle" if you want to know more. There's a reason why almost no one has used this cycle in automotive engines, and those that did used it for power rather than economy. However, it can have efficiency advantages in industrial engines that mostly run at constant revs.

Bernard,

You are correct about the Atkinson/Miller cycle (for example the GE Jenbacher gas engine which uses Miller cycle cam timing achieves 48.7 % efficiency).
However, you might consider that a range extender like the Chevy Volt or even the new Honda Accord PHEV (which uses the ICE only in high gear, since it has no transmission) would operate the ICE at or near the optimum similar to an industrial engine.

Many near future PHEVs will use much smaller, lighter ICE range extender, 1.0L and even as small as 660 cc could become common.

Using much smaller, lighter ICE will allow the use of larger battery packs without increasing total weight.

With more battery capacity (60+ miles or 100 Km) future PHEVs ICEs will be very seldom used. An ultra light, ultra compact rotary engine could do the job?

Bernard, do you understand that the i3, w/genset, can travel, if needed, as long as one puts gas in the tank?

My point is that electric motor power can be cheaper than large machined gas engines - rather less the 5-8 speed transmissions.

The genset, only needed 20% of the time, can be small, simple, cheap, and constant speed - with battery buffering eliminating transmission expense and 90% of moving parts maintenance and expense.

Bernard, "I'm not sure where people get the idea that "moving parts maintenance" is expensive." [wear and tear] can be answered by,
".. oil, filter and plugs," plus you haven't mentioned a full tune-up, transmission fluid change(s)/overhauls/adjustments, piston ring job, pollution check fail, O2 sensor(s), crankcase vent, etc, etc.

EVERY TIME a ICE auto dealer can get a car in the shop, there's over $100/hour labor, parts, fluids, and "something we better fix or lose the warranty."

Anyway, soon ICE emissions won't meet pollution limits - at any price.

My 2006 ICE car has over a dozen inspect or replace engine related items/fluids every 3k to 15k miles during a 100k mile warranty, which the dealer determines does/doesn't meet warranty.

There's also gas prices that can and have doubled in just weeks - often for any storm, refining, OPEC, supply, demand, holiday, unknown, etc, etc reason.

When EV motors/batteries/gensets are made in the millions vs present thousands unit scale, their prices will be a faction of today's costs - just as electricity is a fraction of gasoline prices.

Then there

sd, if a truck is needed, fine, but the empty suburban pickups everywhere waste gas and increase gas prices.

In 8 years, only a engine light(bad O2 sensor) has interrupted my travel. But that doesn't mean I like battling dealer 'better fix - warranty says..' >$100 hour repairs/'inspections'.

My prior GM could only be warrantied for 36,000 miles.

Plenty of people/businesses have electric motors that have not been "on the rack" or "back to the dealer" for many, many DECADES.