Feb 9, 2009 18:49Yoshirou Tsuruhara, Nikkei Automotive TechnologyHonda Motor Co Ltd released the Insight hybrid, one of this year's most anticipated new vehicles. Its entry level model is priced at ¥1,890,000 (approx US$20,700) and is ¥440,000 cheaper than the cheapest model of the current-generation Toyota Prius (¥2,331,000) (See related article).
"Considering Toyota's system, I believe they cannot sell Prius at ¥2 million or lower," a Honda staffer said at the presentation of the Insight.
Honda adopted a simple hybrid system composed of one driving motor and a small-capacity secondary battery. In contrast, Toyota's hybrid system is equipped with an independent driving motor and a generator, and the capacity of its battery is more than twice that of Honda's battery. Though Toyota has been working on cost reduction of its hybrid system too, there is a reason why it cannot cut the costs as much as Honda.
Honda achieved a 40% cost reduction by further downsizing the already small battery and motor mounted in the Civic Hybrid, according to the company. However, the fuel economy of the Insight is 30km/L under the 10·15 test mode, which is almost equal to the 31km/L of the Civic Hybrid. So, Honda reduced the cost of its hybrid system by making most of the simplicity of the system while compromising on the fuel economy to some extent.
Meanwhile, the new Prius, which is expected to be released by Toyota in May 2009, features a good highway-driving economy, which was not achieved by previous models.
The existing Prius has a fuel economy of 48MPG (20.4km/L) in the city mode of the US, which is 20% higher than 40MPG (17.0km/L) of the Civic hybrid. However, in the highway mode, the fuel economy of the Prius drops to 45MPG (19.1km/L), while that of the Civic hybrid increases to 45MPG.
The Prius has an advantage in city driving where the vehicle can be driven more efficiently by the motor than by the engine, while it has a disadvantage in highway driving where the engine is mainly used, because the Prius is loaded with heavy motor and battery.
In order to address this disadvantage, the new Prius will be mounted with a 1.8L engine (the engine capacity of the existing Prius is 1.5L). The main purpose of this change is not the enhancement of the output but the reduction of friction loss, which is achieved by generating the same amount of output with a lower revolution speed.
The highway-mode fuel economy of the new Prius has not been disclosed yet, but the fuel economy in the city/highway mixed mode has been improved by about 10% to 50MPG (21.3km/L) from 46MPG (19.6km/L) of the existing model.
However, the new Prius is expected to be more expensive than the current model, reflecting the improvements made to enhance the performance. So, it is likely that the price disparity between the Prius and the Insight will be even larger.
Honda made an effort for cost reduction by capitalizing on its strengths without being overly obsessed with fuel economy, while Toyota focused on its disadvantages and enhanced highway driving fuel economy. It seems that the time has come for hybrid vehicles to highlight their individuality.
Yoshirou Tsuruhara, Nikkei Automotive Technology
Source;
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090209/165360/?ST=english_PRINT
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