article thumbnail

Software Upgrade to Prius PHEV NiMH Conversion Kit Enables All-Electric Driving At Up to 70mph

Green Car Congress

kWh NiMH plug-in hybrid (PHEV) conversion kit that enables all-electric mode driving at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (until the battery pack is depleted) in a converted Prius. What we’re essentially offering is all-electric performance for about 25 miles at highway speeds. Kim Adelman, PICC founder and president. —Kim

NiMH 207
article thumbnail

CMU study explores optimizing PHEV design and allocation to minimize life cycle cost, petroleum consumption, and GHG emissions

Green Car Congress

Jeremy Michalek and colleagues found that while a fleet with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) with universal high electric range (i.e., gal gasoline, $0.11/kW gal, electricity prices below $0.16/kW gal gasoline, $0.11/kW gal, electricity prices below $0.16/kW —Shiau et al.

PHEV 186
article thumbnail

Mixed Outlook for Mainstream Consumer Adoption of PHEVs

Green Car Congress

Bubble chart of plausible mainstream PHEV buyers’ battery requirements (light and dark gray circles) and experts’s requirements overlaid on a Ragone plot of NiMH and Li-ion batteries. All-electric driving may not be a bad idea for consumers, Kurani noted, it is just one that they don’t yet value or understand.

PHEV 150
article thumbnail

Toyota introducing new powertrain units based on TNGA; transmissions, engine, hybrid system, 4WD

Green Car Congress

liter hybrid system; and new 4WD systems—one for gasoline-engined cars, one for hybrids—based on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA). liter Direct-injection, Inline 4-cylinder Gasoline Engine. liter gasoline vehicle and hybrid vehicle engines achieve world-leading thermal efficiencies of 40% and 41% respectively.

Toyota 264
article thumbnail

ORNL, UT Austin team proposes optimization framework for hybrids; balancing fuel consumption, motor efficiency, battery capacity and life

Green Car Congress

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Texas at Austin have developed an optimization framework for hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs and PHEVs) including fuel consumption, motor efficiency, and battery capacity and lifetime. Click to enlarge. Shaltout, Andreas A.

Austin 199
article thumbnail

The 80-20 Rule

Plug In Partners

O ften when I talk about Plug-Ins , I say that PHEV's are a perfect embodiment of the 80-20 rule. But in the case of the PHEV , the logic goes something like this: Roughly 80% of our daily trips are under 35 miles. Take care of that 20% with a small, efficient gasoline engine that runs at its optimum speed. 2) The U.S.

EPRI 100
article thumbnail

Near-Term Prospects for Automotive Li-ion Batteries: 21% of Hybrid and EV Market by 2011

Green Car Congress

Dividing that forecast in to application segments—micro-, mild-, full-, and plug-in hybrids; mini-electric (e.g., the Prius) will represent the top Li-ion business opportunity from a dollar value perspective, followed by moderate hybrids and light electric vehicles (bikes and scooters), particularly in Asia.

Li-ion 150