Seventh Addition to Toyota/Lex Hybrid Family

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Jonny Z
Looks like a Corolla with the Camry Hybrid drive train, no?


Sorta. But appearances can be deceiving. The 'rolla's wheelbase is three inches shorter than that of the Prius or this new Lexus (102.4 for the current Corolla and 106.3 for the Prius and HS).

As I've been pointing out for some time now, the Prius, and now, the HS, are larger cars than they appear to be.

 

[BrianWC]

No shame in comparing it to the Corolla, though. The new Corolla looks barely smaller than the Camry from many angles. How Toyota can get so much FE out of the Corolla amazes me. Plus, a friend of mine regularly gets 39 mpg per tank out of his.

Back to the Lexus....

 

[robbobster]

Atkinson-cycle engines make less peak power than Otto-cycle engines of comparable size, but are more fuel-efficient.

That's why Atkinson-cycle automotive engines often used forced-induction in the past. Pairing it with a hybrid electric drivetrain seems like another good solution. Ford and GM also use Atkinson engines hybrids.

 

[Shannow]

My 40th Birthday, my parents bought me dinner somewhere flash, and bought "limo" transport to and from.

Limo was the lexus 4wd Suv looking thing.

Talking to the driver, he loved it for its standing start performance.

The thing got off the line like a scalded cat...hugely impressive.

But a large part of that "get you off the line" performance was saved from previous braking experiences.

IMO, and as an engineer, that makes the hybrid concept worthwile, why pi$$ fuel up the wall with a BBC, when you can get that sort of off the line performance using regenerated energy ?

Yep the hybrid performance gets you quickly up to the speed limit...it's not long distance towing...most don't need it.

 

[eljefino]

Not a fan of that computer mouse looking thing in the middle console. Outside looks nice, I guess i like angular conservative headlights and grilles.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: robbobster
Atkinson-cycle engines make less peak power than Otto-cycle engines of comparable size, but are more fuel-efficient.

That's why Atkinson-cycle automotive engines often used forced-induction in the past. Pairing it with a hybrid electric drivetrain seems like another good solution. Ford and GM also use Atkinson engines hybrids.


Yep, Atkinson-cycle engines and electric motor-generators in a blended hybrid are a marriage made in Heaven. It's a "best of both" and "have cake -- eat too" thing.

For those who aren't up on it, the Toyota designs use the variable valve timing feature to implement Atkinson-cycle operation. Boiled to it's bare essentials, when the the engine goes into A-C operation, the intake valve closes very, very late. In fact, it stays open, depending upon circumstances, for up to almost one-half of what would be the compression stroke, regurgitating the last 1/2 to 1/3 of what was drawn into the cylinder on the intake stroke, back into the intake runner. Of course, this is coordinated, and so, the injector shuts off early, so it's not pushing much gas back into the runner.

The net effect is that the power stroke can be nearly twice as long as the intake-compression strokes, effectively extracting proportionally more power from less fuel. Of course, the implications for peak power are obvious, but that's not what these cars are trying to do anyway.