Thursday, June 19, 2008

Hybrid Prius, Hydrogen powered car and the new after market kit from A123 Systems

It looks like the auto arena has become a major battle ground of two BIG “H;” Honda’s Hydrogen vs. Toyota’s Hybrid. Who do you think deserve most lime light? If you ask me then my answer will be, I do not know.

By this time, I think all the readers who are reading/not reading this blog, know about the 2009 Honda FCX Clarity, the hydrogen fuel-cell car.

Toyota’s hybrid caught the attention of media after the price of oil started to rise and American people for the first time got the hit of high oil prices. Now, it takes very small time for the Toyota Prius to hit the show room and getting sold. Dealers all over the USA are just observing their Toyota Prius waiting list getting longer day by day. Last month, Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO:7203)) declared that by the end of April it sold about 1,028,000 Prius cars. Now, they have set a target of selling one million vehicles per year after 2010.

Toyota also declared two new hybrid models that will be powered by lithium-ion battery. Masatami Takimoto, Head of R&D, Toyota Motor Corporation, said that one of the new vehicles is going to be a new design and it would be larger than Prius and released under the Lexus Brand in 2010. The other car, a production of version of Toyota’s “iQ microcar”, is a 10 feet long small city car for four passengers.

Battery technology company, A123Systems, has begun selling its new aftermarket kit which can convert the Toyota Prius hybrid into a Plug-in hybrid and increase fuel-efficiency to more than 100 miles per gallon. The kit’s retail cost is under $10,000 and includes installation at select dealerships.

Related article:

Sustainable Business

Reuters

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