Jetta hybrid . . . who died

Single motor between the engine and the trans like a lot of the German hybrids. Not sure it's going to rock the PriusChat crowd.

 

It makes me wonder how much Toyota patents are in the way of other car makers building a hybrid that's no just comparable in MPG but actually better?

Imagine how much innovation would happen if legislation was passed that not only limited Toyota's patent rights, but also required all automobile transmissions to have electric motors powered by HV battery's by 2020?

 

Yeah, whose your daddy now?

Given the same curb weight and aerodynamic characteristics,
hybrids save so much more fuel coasting when the engine is
turned off and recapture so much energy from regen braking that its
really tough for any diesel based vehicle to compete - no matter how
efficient the diesel engine is. To compete with a gas Atkinson hybrid
a diesel would need to turn its engine off from time to time and
glide on using momentum, recapture its excess mechanical
energy (like in a flywheel ) when it has to stop, and be able
to reuse that excess mechanical energy later on-demand
...which would make it a diesel hybrid.

The only way to make a purely gas or diesel vehicle more FE
without hybrid tech is to make the vehicle much lighter,
reduce the aerodynamic drag, and use a much smaller FE
efficient engine (e.g. motor scooter engine) -like the X-prize
Edison2 VLC -- but that kind of vehicle isn't going
to be marketable in the USA until gasoline/diesel is
costing $20 per gallon. And yes it is possible to make such a
vehicle safe enough in the USA (to keep the auto insurance
companies from going bust) BUT the passenger compartment
need to be made of a carbon fiber shell or cage - to prevent
the driver and passengers from getting crushed on impact.
However, the cost of retooling the auto industry from steel
to carbon fiber shells/chassis/cages would be tremendous
and I don't think any car manufacturer is looking forward to
this since - carbon fiber isn't as malleable wrt to design shapes
as steel.

 

Problem with Jetta Hybrid is that it is not efficient... German Autobild tested it against Prius few months ago and consumption was around 30% worse in real life, plus it wasnt as refined... so they said nobody should get it over Prius or other versions of Jetta.

 

they probably rely on suppliers to get the technology, so quite possibly they could make quantum leaps sooner than 4-5 years as they look to work with all other european manufacturers. Question is if they will, who knows yet, they are just starting.

Not just Toyota, but Ford and Honda are quantum leap ahead of Europeans when it comes to hybrids.

 

If the 7-speed DSG works anything like the 6-speed DSG that was in my Jetta TDI, you couldn't give me the Jetta Hybrid.

 

Also, what about maintenance and reliability of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission?
Will the Jetta Hybrid measure up to Prius' reliability after 200,000 miles? taxi miles?

 

It doesn't appear to have hampered Ford from producing a very similar hybrid, though I'll acknowledge there are differences. Even so, there is nothing standing in the way of other car makers from making something either different or better -- or both.

The objective of patent protection is the advancement of innovation by giving protection to those who develop innovative new products. The only "crime" is when those patents are purchased and used only to block others from competing. It doesn't happen too often, as it would be costly to do this. Also, the patents do not last forever, and there often is something better being developed even as patent-protected products are being introduced.

If you were able to convince Congress to pass such a law, you would see a huge drop in R&D spending with a corresponding loss in technological innovation and advancement. Who knows? Toyota would then become the GM/Chrysler of the 70s/80s.

 

I don't think there's any of the 7 speed DSGs here yet, but I can tell you the 6 speed's fairly expensive to maintain. At a discount, the fluid change kit is $140 and it's every 40,000 miles. I've done the changes on these things and even with the special tools, it's a royal PITA. The Prius trans is a dream to change the fluid on.

 

Had the leaders of Japan kept close to home and not attempted to take over disputed islands from a neighboring nation Toyota really would have become bigger than GM/Chrysler... But this recent nightmare of real estate claims by Japan guarantees that China, the biggest source of auto buyers in the world are no longer doing business with Japanese manufacturers.

The impact of these current events that most people in the west don't even know about... It may very well shift the entire balance of auto manufacturing power for decades to come. Expect Hyundai to thrive in much the same way as Toyota thrived back in '07.

 

Toyota is a lot bigger than Chrysler or Ford and still will probably be bigger than GM this year. Their sales impact from Chinese issues is limited.

As to the islands, you do need to read about the subject. There was never a Chinese foot on those islands and it has been under control of Japan for last 100+ years.

 

Given the quote below, it is entirely in keeping with the governing document of our country to make that 'crime' into an actual crime. In fact, it seems to me that the government doesn't actually have the ability to have it NOT be a crime. That is, Congress does NOT have the power to secure for inventors exclusive rights to their inventions, if doing so does NOT promote the progress of science.

 

There are criminal sanctions available for patent infringement, but pocketing a patent is not an infringment on another's intellectual property rights, so it isn't a crime, per se.

It may be possible to establish a pattern and a group effort to deny access to patented property, thus opening up the realm of RICO-type enforcement, but criminal penalties are reserved for infringement of another's protected rights. I believe Japan has more criminal sanctions related to intellectual property violations, and some people in the White House have called for increased authority for criminal sanctions, but the law as it stands doesn't provide what you are seeking. The pocketed patent is valid only for a certain amount of time and won't be renewed.

I don't recall the specifics, but I thought I'd heard of some of this shenanigans going on with battery technology over the past few years.

 

It did not stop either Ford nor Nissan, both of which have used technology Toyota developed first in the transmission of their hybrids. (Ford states that it came up with the same design, only to find Toyota was already there, Nissan just took a license and used the Toyota design) In neither case do you get any feeling Toyota did not freely license the technology when approached.

The two-mode is designed for a much bigger vehicle

 

I'm saying this without going back to review the case, but it is my recollection the licensing agreement with Ford was not an act "freely" done by Toyota. Ford and Toyota were involved in some protracted litigation over the issue of patent infringement, and the settlement was for the companies to issue each other mutual licenses for certain of the patented technologies.

 

This diesel hybrid gets 45 mpg
A hybrid gets 45+ mpg

Remind me again what the advantage of the diesel is to fuel economy ?

 

That is not the way this Ford spokesman recalls the licensing deal:
Is Ford Innovative? Part Two. - BusinessWeek

Nor does this Mazda Document hint Toyota is being obstructionist
http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2010/201003/100329b.pdf

 

First of all, it is a spokesman. Second, it is an old article simply quoting what Ford offered. Third, it is an old article.

Toyota spent more than six years in litigation with Prof. Severinsky who received patents in the early 1990s for a powerplant for a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. The settlement of that lawsuit required Toyota to pay him on the order of $25 per hybrid vehicle sold, plus payment of all sorts of older, unpaid obligations. The settlement also provided for nice-nice language on both sides, including a statement that Severinsky and his former company (Paice, I think) would acknowledge Toyota developed its hybrid technology completely independent of Severinsky's patents.

Sounds very much like Ford's statements.

(By the way, Ford also was involved in litigation with Severinsky and settled in a similar fashion.)