Featured Gen 6 Prius engine will be a “game changer,” achieve a 53% thermal efficiency

What a leap in efficiency and power!

 

That's a big jump.

Now put it in the Corolla hatchback, we'll trade in a nice Prius c on one. Heck, we'll even give you 5-6 years to get there. Deal?

EDIT: adding:

Second photo shows a turbo engine with an impressively short exhaust header. 3rd photo shows an engine without a turbo in the yellow Prius.

But there's a large space behind the head where that turbo from the 2nd picture could go, and a significant heat shield on the front of the firewall.

And it's smaller than the current powerplant? I'd guess they're going to introduce these engines before the 6th generation body.

 

While higher efficiency gas engine is always welcome, the Prius and some other Toyota's current hybrid engines are already super efficient. For someone like me who drives only ~5k miles/year on the gas engine (and drive ~7k miles on EV), 54mpg to 75mpg improvement will save only ~26 gallons of gas annually...

Yeah, if I have to replace my car at some point during Gen 6 production, I will definitely consider it. But I can cut down 26 gallons gas equivalent CO2 emissions by other ways much economically I would think.

 

Oh absolutely. Even if you drove above average utilization, you wouldn't buy into something like this for the additional savings. It'd just be a nice updated baseline, assuming they can keep the window sticker where it is now.

 

Big IF... I would hope they can keep the cost down. But I highly doubt it.

 

They just pulled it off with the new gen Camry. Here's hoping.

 

What was improved on the new gen Camry? Gen5 Prius Prime is no longer a bargain priced for decreased mpg in exchange for the better looks. Many models are getting deleted features to stay at the base price. It's getting harder and harder to find a bargain in a new car market.

 

Efficiency is always good. EV cross country is mixed.

I drove 1,180 mi for ~$9/100 miles. Given $3..00/gal seen occasionally, that would be 3 gal/100 miles or 33 MPG. But most of my EV miles are around town for $2.50/100 miles or ~120 MPG.

On the way home,I'll try to improve my efficiency by letting Full Self Driving handle all of the speeds and routes. I was a little heavy on the speeds head to Port Isabel.

Bob Wilson

 

Was just thinking, we bought our PHEV because it was cheaper to drive on electric, with gas currently at $3.19 a gallon this type engine starts to flip that economic dynamic in the other direction.

With our country committed to certain policies that are going to cause the price of electricity to skyrocket - these types of engines have the potential to be game changers for the economics of personal transportation cost and the associated decisions and choices for the least expensive options.

 

While that can certainly be true for many part of the US where the electricity rate is relatively "cheap". I have lived in New England where the average electricity rate is >2x of the US average for most part of my driving years. I never saved any money by driving EV on our PHEVs. But I will continue to plug in and use 100% regenerative energy for most of our personal transportation. If Toyota put this new engine in the plug-in with 100mils of EV range, then I will replace our current PHEV in a heartbeat.

 

wooooo ... 53%

That means less filthy pollution and less carcinogenic toxic fuel used. Pretty impressive.
Then - comparing to electric motor efficiency of 85% - 95% ...
no comparison

.

 

All fine until it got to “ lower roof.”

 

What is the source for the 53% figure, the paywalled Automotive News article? The only 53% thermally efficiency engine the water fowl is finding is a new Chinese diesel. If true, it is a huge jump; almost a quarter improvement over their latest gasoline engines. Is the figure for gasoline, hydrogen, or another fuel?

This is one of the engines Toyota is developing for hybrids. Cost savings from the engine are going to go to the motors and batteries, as the system will be using those more for torque. I'd expect more series hybrid operation; the highway gains may not be as great.

Maybe even series only. What's in the box on the back end?

A generator perhaps.

The goal of making the engine smaller is for aerodynamics. Frontal area is a big part of that. It also helps packaging for PHEVs. Get it small enough, and you won't need to make big changes to a BEV platform to add a range extender.

 

If numbers like that excite you, consider energy density. If you have a hypothetical EV with a 300kWh battery, and that battery (if removed from the car) weighs under 75lbs takes up under 40 liters of volume?

That would be quite an accomplishment in terms of EV battery performance, right?

Well congratulations. That kind of raw energy density would put you on par with a $19k Toyota Yaris.

 

Lots of factors to consider if deciding between a 50% efficient ICE vs 90% EV. Safety - for instance. Hypothetical 45mph head on collision between Yaris equipped with ICE up front - versus weight of 300kWh skateboard EV & large crumple Zone up front due to Motors being smaller.
Decisions decisions.

 

If Safety gets you excited the Yaris has a 5 Star Safety Rating

Official Toyota Yaris 2020 safety rating (euroncap.com)

 

That turbo version seems to have a belt driven water pump, doesn't look like an alternator? Picture #2

 

the people in the picture must be under 5' tall, or have very short torso's

 

Renewable energy can lower the cost of electricity.
Other factors can raise it, even to the point of overwhelming the cost savings of renewables.

I’ll be paying $0.015/kWh for the next 23-28 years. I’ll stick with the more efficient, cleaner, convenient, better driving less expensive to maintain EVs.