toyotas plans

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/vision/message/conference/080611.html

Hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Toyota’s goal is to have hybrid models for all its vehicle series by 2020. Achieving that will require ongoing reduction in the size and weight of the component technology, Takimoto said.

With its most recent electric motor (in the LS600h), Toyota is delivering output density of 3x that of the current generation Prius. Likewise, the inverter output density ratio has also increased 3x from the current Prius generation.

Toyota is also increasing the output density of its NiMH battery packs. Although Toyota has Li-ion work under development, NiMH will remain a major chemistry for its hybrids, Takimoto said. Toyota plans differentiated usage of NiMH and Li-ion, with the lithium-ion packs heading initially to plug-in hybrid vehicles and to small, short-distance electric vehicles. Future, larger EVs will be based on a next-generation battery chemistry.

The plug-in hybrid, Takimoto said, “is the most realistic option for utilizing electricity [as an alternative fuel] at the present time.”

He re-affirmed that Toyota will introduce a Li-ion-based plug-in by 2010 geared toward. Toyota, which is also researching photovoltaic power generation and biofuels, suggests that supplying PV electricity to a biofuel plug-in is a means of completely eliminating CO2 emissions.