How is Toyota going to Top Themselves for Gen V?

i'm thinking gen 5 may be a whole new tech.

 

More light-weighting with the carbon fiber etc. where possible with cost.

Possibly, like the solar Prime, adding ways to passively charge up the HV batt so you get 10+% of your miles with no gaso and no grid elec. I would like to see say a 2-3 kWhr batt that could be charged wirelessly in your garage or other wireless location. I'd be willing to accept a slow charge up rate especially if I thought slow could be cheaper implementation. My idea give us a wireless charger the car owner can buy a solar panel to plug into the charger for off-grid charging.

 

we need to think outside the box.

 

How is Toyota going to Top Themselves for Gen V?
I'm just going to say it.....

"Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang" trim designation.

 

The usual light weighting... maybe use more carbon fiber body parts along with downsized lighter powerful batteries, more efficient engine, smaller electric motors, brakes, etc.

But that will no longer be enough.

So I'm hoping they are finally forced to do severe changes like radically futuristic aerodynamic shape, use more efficient narrow wheels a la BMW i3, use lightweight chairs, use camera side mirrors, etc.

Just dreaming lol

 

@inferno should the V's in your first paragraph be IV's?

 

1000 psi tyrs.

 

Mirai. Seems that hybrids aren't really part of the long term plan.Toyota has made it clear that hydrogen fuel cells are the way it wants to go, so I would expect increased focus on that direction as opposed to technology that will eventually go away.

 

Hydrogen... the car will be made out of solid hydrogen. It's the lightest element so rolling resistance will be much lower than other materials. Oh... wait... they have to invent how to make solid, room temp, hydrogen first... scratch that idea.

 

Perhaps a mid-cycle refresh, release to North America every Prius option they have already engineered and are selling in Japan.

Bob Wilson

 

Solar technology - not totally, but as part of the equation?

I read a few years ago about flexible panels which "could" become structural panels, though I think they were talking about home roof panelling. Solar has improved in efficiency by 6% (or 10% or 12½% in some reports) in the last few years and cost has come down to just a fraction of the cost. There was also a Solar "panel" paint somewhere in the works.

Just possible.

I suspect that with the amount of research into batteries globally, that smaller, lighter weight, increased capacity batteries will be the most significant improvement. It's not just car companies pushing the envelope, but tech, smartphone, industrial applications etc.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. No really, I only understood just a few of the things you wrote. Solar panel roof sounds good.

 

Let the customer (aka., market) decide?

Bob Wilson

 

There will be some minor improvements in many areas (such as areodynamics, engine efficiency, etc.), but the the two big areas will be weight reduction and improved battery technology/energy harvesting.
Alternative power sources (such as hydrogen and WiFi charging) are interesting, but it is going to be a longggg time until there is sufficient infrastructure in place to make it a viable alternative.

 

Maybe diverge the Eco model further to become a smaller 2 door model in the direction of the original Honda insight and let it carry the burden of 10% improvement from henceforth.

 

An area where there is still a lot of potential for improvement is the aerodynamics. For example, this ecomodder got his Civic down to an estimated 0.17 coefficient of drag: Aerocivic - Honda Civic modifications for maximum gas mileage - aerocivic.com That means at any given speed, his car has about 30% less air resistance than the latest Prius, and he built the mods by hand! Using factory parts and a proper lab to test the aerodynamics in, even lower numbers should be possible. The gen 4 drivetrain in a car with that Cd is looking at 20%+ improvement in mpg on the highway. I would love to see a super aerodynamic version of the Prius with a full boat tail. Perhaps call it the Prius Aero?

Also improvements in the hybrid system to further isolate the most efficient engine states can be done. It's well known in the 2nd gen Prius that the engine is optimized for most hp output per amount of fuel used in the 1400-2200rpm range. If the electric motors and battery have enough charge, they can compensate for high and low power outputs requested from the user from the gas pedal and the engine can run just in the most efficient range for the majority of use. This is largely how hybrids are more efficient than normal cars the first place.