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New Speed Record For Hybrid Cars
prostoalex writes "According to CarPages, Toyota Prius set a new world record for hybrid vehicles. It 'set the mark at 130.794 mph on the three-mile short course using a standard Hybrid Synergy Drive power-train - a mixture of 1.5 litre petrol engine and an electric motor.'"
actually, it's the only hybrid ever entered. In fact, they had to convince the people to open a new category in order to allow the vehicle, because it has more than one 'engine'. IIRC, it may also have been because the other 'engine' (elec. motor) doesn't 'use conventional fuel'.
The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me
This car was not exactly "standard", as the summary claims.
"An engineering group from Toyota Motorsport in the USA prepared the car by changing the gear ratios (4.32:1 to 3.2:1) and increasing the inverter voltage from 500 to 550 volts. A transmission cooling system was added to decrease the temperature of the inverter and electric motor to maximise efficiency. Ambient temperature on the salt flats was nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit with nearly 100 degrees humidity. Ice was added between runs to keep the system cool.
The interior of the car was stripped to save weight, a roll cage added for safety and the whole car lowered by five inches to improve the aerodynamics for this highly specialised record attempt. Even the 26 in front and 25 in rear tyres were made especially by Goodyear."
With that in mind, hybrids have a long way to go.
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What, did it go off a cliff?
Unknown host pong.
Where hybrid and pure electric cars really need to improve is the all important ability to get up to speed quickly and smoothly, and it doesn't appear that this car really addressed this critical issue.
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Thank you.
The fantastic acceleration that in line wheel electric drive can potentialy deliver would make for some very exciting racing.
Let's face it, cool car ideas come from people who love cars the way most /.ers love processor overclocking, water-cooling, and case mods. Convincing a wider audience that tweaking a hybrid will make it jump up and dance is never a bad idea.
Of course, as a side note, the industry's approach to hybrid autos is flat out wrong. Railroad trains are very efficient, well-proven hybrid designs: their diesel engines are always running at the most efficient level, and their momentum is provided entirely by electric motors. Tres spiffy.
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
The car at the starting point, gas engine reved up and getting louder, charging up the electric system...
A slight yellow glow enveloping the car...
Rocks and dirt flying up in a whirlwind around it...
Driver screaming SUPER HYBRID SPEED WAVE!!! and darting off in a cloud of dust...
Um... this car was Japanese right?
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Actually, that myth will likely be futher crushed with the release of a retrofittable hybrid electric vehicle kit, such as the one being developed by Ecolectric Technology (www.ecolectrictechnology.com). Then, you can take any vehicle, retrofit it to be hybrid electric, race it, and claim a new world record. The inherent increase in low-end torque (and thus acceleration) will probably make it as desirable a modification as turbochargers or superchargers on any performance vehicle.
A hybrid McLaren might be pretty nice if you as me...
You seem to be forgetting a very basic marketting effect: look at rally racing cars in europe these days: most cars entered are mom-and-pop 4-door sedans, or bargain basement 2-door econoboxes that are strategically souped up and modified for racing by the manufacturers themselves (if not simply a racing chassis with a fake body of the model in question).
That way, mom and pop's teenage son fresh out of getting the driver's license, and young adults, associate the shite econobox with the powerful race cars they see on TV and they buy it.
So guess what? hybrid manufacturers are doing the same. The least thing they want is for their vehicles to be associated with being a mature person's choice for economy and savings. So they race hybrids, even if it makes no sense, to make them sexy to young male drivers. Plain and simple.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
130.794 mph should be more than enough for everybody.
(ooops....did I say that?)
The truth about Led Zep should never be told on
No, but a steam powered vehicle did hit 127.66 mph in 1906.
Besides, Model-T's weren't speed machines, they were consumer machines that opened up the market to sectors who had never before been able to afford a car. A model-T modified for racing could reach 100 mph
I don't read AC A human right
It's either a typo , actually referring to 100% humdity (crikey!) or they mean the wet bulb temperature was nearly 100 degrees.
For those who say "WTF is wet bulb temp?" it goes like this:
You have two thermometers.
One has (typically) a sock/tube of cloth over it's sensing bulb that has the bottom of the tube in a bit of water, so that it's wet. It's the "wet bulb"
You also have a dry bulb. (i.e. a normal thermometer hanging out in the air)
Now, at 100% humidity, the wet bulb will be at the same temperature as the dry bulb, as the water on the wet bulb does not evaporate (as the air is already saturated). As the humidity decreases towards zero percent, the wet bulb will have a progressively lower temperature compared to the dry bulb, due to the cooling effect of the evaporating water. Look the two (wet and dry) temperatures up in a handy chart that someone has already calculated, and ta-da! Humidity in percent.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
If you still think diesels stink, think again. In my country, even BMW sales are over 80% diesel.
A nice example of modern Diesel engineering is the VW Phaeton V10 Tdi. It has 313 HP and, while officially electronically limited to 250 kph (155 mph), was tested at over 290 kph (180 mph) when it was released one year ago. It does 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) in 6.9 seconds (not too shabby for a 3 metric ton car). And yet, it still gets 27.7 mpg.
To put it in a nutshell, I don't quite get what this hybrid frenzy is about. Soot emissions used to be a problem, but the latest cars get a soot filter that tackles it. On the other hand, batteries are an additional weight, and once at the end of their lives, are an environmental nightmare.
Or could it be all about oil companies being too lazy to invest into cleaner gas-oil (like they sell in Europe)?
If you're an American looking for a new car, I strongly suggest you gave the few imported diesel VWs, Audis or Mercedeses a try before you go the gasoline route.
My Insight can go 115 mph. And this is stock without being stripped, having a roll cage, or any other modifications.
It has a 995 cc 3 cylinder gas engine putting out about 63 hp. In series it has a 13 hp electric engine. Because the 2 engines have different hp/rpm curves, it puts out 68 hp. But it only weighs 1850 pounds.
The car goes 0-60 in 10.5 seconds, has really good handling, and drives kind of like a go kart. The only real bad thing is there isn't much sound insulation, so there is a fair amount of road noise.
But even going 90 mph, it can still click off about 50 mpg. At 45 mph, you can get it into 'lean burn' mode and get a bit over 100 mpg.
It's a really good commuter car, has a lifetime mileage of 56 mpg (would be a lot higher if I drove a bit more conservatively and didn't live in a hilly area).
Also, there are some electric cars that go 0-60 in 3.6 seconds IIRC.