.gif)
.gif)
Industry News
October 31, 2007
Honda & Toyota Express Doubts Regarding GM’s Plug-In Hybrid Campaign
Exclusive
Recent announcements from leading Japanese automakers are attempting to downplay the aggressive R&D and marketing plans of General Motors regarding its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. GM claims that the Volt, which is targeted to be ready for market by 2010, will be able to run for relatively long stretches (up to 40 miles) in electric-only mode, thus requiring less reliance on the gasoline engine for everyday driving.
Takeo Fukui, CEO of Honda Motor Co., recently told reporters that his company would not be pursuing the plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle market, stating that there were not enough environmental benefits to make the added costs of plug-in hybrid technology worthwhile for manufacturers. He stressed that Honda could easily also develop a plug-in hybrid by 2010, but stated that the company would rather develop a low-cost, safer, high-performance lithium-ion battery technology for implementation in electric vehicles.
Honda also announced that it expects its "non-plug-in" hybrids to account for 10% of its global car sales by 2010. The company hopes that the largest portion of an expected surge in hybrid sales will come from a new, but still unnamed, five-seat hybrid that is due to be released in 2009. Honda currently sells fewer than 100,000 hybrids a year, with the Civic hybrid claiming the majority of these sales. Due to lagging sales, Honda discontinued its Insight hybrid in 2006, which was released in 1999, two years after the release by Toyota of the Prius.
Toyota Motor Corp. also expressed skepticism regarding the GM plug-in hybrid plan. Among the concerns given by company executives were: the lingering unanswered questions regarding the safety (related to overheating) of lithium-ion batteries; the practical feasibility of the concept of a car that can run on battery power for up to 40 miles (according to Toyota, a battery that powerful would take up the entire area of a vehicle’s trunk); and doubts that consumers want to have to plug-in their cars every night to re-charge them.
Toyota is investigating different possibilities for the development of hybrid technology, including the possible use of batteries to power a vehicle for short bursts, alternating with power supplied from the gasoline-fueled engine. The company thinks that it is more realistic to expect plug-in hybrids to run in electric-only mode for between 10 and 20 miles, rather than the GM 40-mile target.
Opinion: Unraveling the Ultra-Low Power Design Issues
Share this story
Send via E-mail
Post to Twitter
On the Web:
White Papers
March 11, 2013
Power Modules for Charger Applications
Sponsored by Vincotech
February 27, 2013
The Adaptive Cell Converter Topology Enables Constant Efficiency Over Universal Input AC Line in Front-End, High-Density Power Factor Correction Applications
Sponsored by Vicor Corp.
February 27, 2013
From 48 V direct to Intel VR12.0: Saving "Big Data" $500,000 per datacenter, per year
Sponsored by Vicor Corp.
More White Papers
- Altera Acquires Enpirion for $140 Million, Forms Power Business Unit
- SiC Modules, IGBTs and Super-Junction MOSFETs Introduced on Day One of PCIM
- PowerbyProxi Joins Wireless Power Consortium
- Ericsson Saves Board Space with Surface-Mount Digital Bus Converter
- SiC and GaN Again a Major Focus at PCIM Europe
- Vincotech and Infineon Introduce New Packaging Options at PCIM Europe
- Bosch Claims First Sub-$450 240V EV Charging Station
- DOE Selects Consortium to Develop Next-Generation Batteries for Automobiles
- Gate Drive Optocouplers for High-Speed SiC FETs Deliver up to 2.5A
- Dana Receives Grant from NRCan to Improve Thermal Management for EV Battery Packs
- Power-One Gets $1 Billion – ABB Gets Inverters
- Renesas Adds IGBT Drivers with Micro-Isolator for Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Inverters
- Bosch Claims First Sub-$450 240V EV Charging Station
- Alpha and Omega Delivers "Lowest" On-Resistance in a DFN5x6 with 150V Power MOSFET
- Microchip Expands 8-bit PIC Microcontroller Family with Intelligent Analog Integration
- 500W Full-Brick DC-DC Converter Optimized for Fuel Cell Applications
- Factory to Produce Lithium-Ion Battery Materials Enabling 10-Year Life and 60,000 Cycles
- Europeans Establish Dueling Projects to Advance Power Electronics Technologies
- 1-Watt DC-DC Achieves 88% Efficiency and has MSL 1 Moisture-Sensitivity Rating
- Alpha and Omega Expands Family of EZBuck Regulators Featuring Constant On-Time Control
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: Fujitsu Components America
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: CUI Incorporated
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: EMerge Alliance
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: Anderson Power Products
- Green Building Power Forum 2009: Independence Station
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Coilcraft
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Champs Technologies
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: EXAR Corporation
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: PMBus
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Power Plaza
Design Features
October 22, 2012
Energy Efficiency with Class D Amplifier Modules
Class-D switching amplifiers are helping audio designers create personal multimedia devices and home audio/visual systems that demonstrate how compact and stylish equipment can also deliver high sound quality and high audio output power. The key to this breakthrough, providing freedom from the large and bulky boxes housing traditional audio products, lies in the class-D amplifier’s high energy efficiency, which is typically around 90%. This allows designers to reduce or eliminate heatsinks as well as using smaller-sized PCBs and smaller components such as transformers, connectors and power supplies.
Design Features
October 8, 2012
The Role of Hall Effect Sensors in Power Distribution Infrastructure
Power distribution units (PDUs) form an essential part of modern computing and data communications hardware. They provide multiple outputs for transferring electrical power with maximum efficiency, controlling the power capacity and safeguarding against the possible causes of supply interruption. With an ever increasing need from tech savvy consumers for higher data throughput and greater quantities of data storage capacity, as well as tough international legislation now governing CO&sub2; emissions, the demands being placed on these units are proving challenging for engineering teams to satisfy.
Product Focus
August 13, 2012
The Year in AC-DC Power Supply Technology
The past year witnessed significant new product releases, technological developments, and industry news related to the field of AC-DC Power Supply technology.