Featured Toyota Announces New Powertrain Units Based on TNGA

I was told by off road instructor that RAV4 electric rear drive is more or less useless when it comes to true off-roading, on a steep incline, when only rear wheel have good grip, they just won't move. It may be that the starting torque is to low, but i doubt 1.3x will make a big difference.

 

My interest is to see the one-way, flywheel clutch. That has really made the Prime a nice car because it allows MG1 and MG2 to work as a single unit at low speeds. It would be great if Toyota has adopted a minimum launch to 60 mph (96 kph) of 8 seconds.

Bob Wilson

 

Yeah, no word about any new PHEV model is worrying. A dedicated European manufactured Auris PHEV with €4,500 government grant in my country would be a steal.

 

Sigh, a 2 liter engine would have done wonders for the perception of the Prius v.

it does not say the Hybrid specific engine has Direct Injection, if it did that would greatly reduce the fluid in the intake manifold.

 

Any confirmation on dual (port+direct) injection on this 2.0?
1.8 4Gen Prius powertrain is TNGA and is PFI-only.

 

In an Atkinson cycle engine, as much as 30% of the fuel/air is pumped back out into the intake manifold.
If it was a true DI engine, that would just be air, as the fuel is added near top dead center.

 

My personal interest is in how well it handles loose sand.

 

Massive improvement in nominal output power out of an Atkinson engine! 6000rpm also unusual....
A smaller 1.8 displacement version would produce about 95Kw, 30% more than the current 71Kw 2ZR-FXE !

 

I am sure it could haul a lot of loose sand but it could be messy.

 

I read reviews and tests, which makes the system current system really bad compared to other awd systems in snow, mud, handling, etc. The concept though is a good one, implantation is poor. Toyota talks about dynamic torque vectoring in the non-hybrid system between right and left, in the new hybrid system there should be more effective ability to switch front to back.

The rear mg currently is 50 kw, 103 lb-ft of torque, but the important torque number is torque to the wheels which can be increased simply by changing the gear ratio. One problem with the current toyota system is it only works at low speed because of the way it is configured. Still 30% more torque to the rear wheels with better electronics and software can make a big difference. We will have to wait and see how it plays out.

The battery seems undersized for the application. The 1.9 kwh nimh in the highlander claims 45 kw. This battery shrinks to 1.4 kwh which could put out 33 KW which may be good enough until you realize it won't be able to do that for long - 61 seconds will use its full 40% state of charge. If the front wheels slip too much the engine cuts off or at least power to the front wheels. This may be good enough at very low speeds but not to help a slip on snow or mud going faster. It probably needs a more powerful lithium battery to be effective at higher speeds. Still it checks a box, and may help those moving slow. It certainly looks better in the toyota video versus the current system.

My guess is you kill off 1.8, but perhaps make a 1.6 L system. The di system should make the 2.0L more efficient than the current 1.8 at both low and high power levels, and you need to shrink it more or add cylinder deactivation to want to increase low power efficiency more. Toyota was a little behind on engine technology before, but with the PI-DI 3.5L, 2.5L, and now 2.0L they look to be ahead of everybody else in these efficient engines. The higher efficiency should reduce the use of the battery which may make it last longer and push hybrid efficiency higher.

 

Will it flow if the front tires lose traction? Anecdotal evidence says it doesn't do this in the current rav4. Review of the highlander hybrid talks about torque steer which leads me to think that there is not enough shift to the rear motor. It would be interesting to know how much power can flow, and what situations it shifts.