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Hybrid Vehicles Lexus RX 400h Lexus RX 400h
2334 messages, Last post on Oct 11, 2009 at 10:42 AM
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The lease on my wife's 2005 RX400H expires in late April of 2008. I have heard some rumblings that the next generation battery (lithium ion) will be introduced for the the 2009 RX in the fall of 2008. Has anyone else heard anything about this? If that is the case, we can extend the lease for several months and get the brand new 2009 RX400H which I suppose will have superb gas mileage along with all the other goodies.
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Replying to: cyclone4 (May 25, 2007 9:32 am) Unless Toyota comes up with an emtirely new, more efficient method, in which case a higher capacity battery might be required. My guess would be that the greatest advantage of an LI battery would be in weight reduction.
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Replying to: wwest (May 25, 2007 1:36 pm) Everything I have seen/read about the LI, suggests that it will revolutionize the hybrid vehicles. I remember an article a few months ago quoting a very high ranking executive with Toyota confidently speaking about the next generation of hybrid batteries and how they will be much smaller, more powerful, and greatly increase fuel efficiency.
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Replying to: cyclone4 (May 25, 2007 7:48 pm) There is an old joke about stock brokers that seemingly applies here... "If his mouth was moving then he was lying." (Apologies to Jim Marolich.) Unless more ways, methods, are found to recover energy that would otherwise be lost, what purpose would a higher capacity battery serve(***)? In point of fact the effort seems to be in reverse at the moment. While it is undoubtedly most appropreate to use, primarily, the front tires' higher traction coefficient for regenerative braking, that brings up questions of overall safety. Ford was recently granted a US patent that directly addresses the potential safety issues that arise from regenerative braking on FWD or front torque biased AWD vehicles. The Ford hybrid patent implementation requires monitoring the OAT sensor and significantly reducing the level of regenerative braking to be used if the OAT is near or below freezing. The second aspect of the patent calls for immediate disabling of the regenerative braking capability the INSTANT ABS activates during actual brake application. Obviously the industry is becoming concerned, FINALLY, about the potential wintertime use hazards of FWD and front torque biased AWD vehicles. Personally I would be for adding a "clutch" function to all of the current crop of hybrids now in the market place. Almost all of these, maybe ALL, use regenerative braking to SIMULATE engine compression braking. Wouldn't the best FE be attained if I, as the driver, could decide whether coasting or regenerative braking would be the more effective mode? When I let up on the Prius' gas pedal, currently, it goes immediately into regenerative braking mode. There are quite clearly times, via the advantage granted by human visual resources, that I KNOW simply coasting would be more advantagous. My lawn tractor has one pedal for both declutching the engine and braking. The first bit of travel declutches the engine and thereafter the brakes are increasingly applied. Or in the case of hybrid vehicles why not give me the option of "arming", enabling, regenerative braking via a light touch of the brake pedal. Simply lifting the gas pedal would put me in "coasting" mode and if I wanted to slow down via simulated engine braking just a light touch of the brake pedal would be required. *** And by-the-by you may want to take note of the current "crop" of Toyota hybrid vehicles. With the exception of the Prius and Camry Toyota seems to be heading toward satisfying the rich boy-racer segment of the buying public via use of hybrid capability for SUPER-CHARGING. If your desire is to own a 600HP LEXUS LS then you will not be unduly concerned that most of the energy being put into that high capacity, efficient, and lightweight LI battery comes directly from MG2, itself directly driven by the ICE. But then yes, all-in-all, when compared to a 600HP regular gasoline engined car and the LS hybrid I have no doubt that the hybrid will come out on top insofar as FE is concerned. And what about that? What would be the public, stegma, feeling, attached/surrounding a 600HP Lexus LS with purely gasoline power? Are Toyota/Lexus executives pulling a "fast" one. But is that truly where the general public wishes the hybrid market to be...??
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Replying to: wwest (May 26, 2007 4:57 am) While it is true that Toyota has strived for more power rather than fuel efficiency with the luxury sector hybrids to this point, common sense would dictate that in the future, fuel efficiency will become more of a priority as well. Otherwise, you may as well kiss the hybrids "good-bye". There comes a point when there is a complete overkill with power/performance. The public will demand better fuel efficiency. I believe that we can have both good fuel efficiency and good power in the luxury field. And BTW, I do not believe that the high ranking Toyota executive was lying. I would expect that an American executive would lie before a Japanese executive would.
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Replying to: cyclone4 (May 26, 2007 12:49 pm) A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. So an older battery will not last as long as a new battery due solely to its age, unlike other batteries. This drawback is not widely publicized.[6] At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit, will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. However, a battery stored inside a poorly ventilated laptop may be subject to a prolonged exposure to much higher temperatures than 25 °C, which will significantly shorten its life. The capacity loss begins from the time the battery was manufactured, and occurs even when the battery is unused. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 °C(32 °F), 20% at 25 °C(77 °F), and 35% at 40 °C(104 °F) Lithium-ion batteries can easily rupture, ignite, or explode when exposed to high temperatures,[12]. They should not be stored in a car during hot weather. Short-circuiting a Li-ion battery can cause it to ignite or explode. Never open a Li-ion battery's casing. Li-ion batteries contain safety devices that protect the cells inside from abuse. If damaged, these can also cause the battery to ignite or explode. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery#Disadvantages
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Replying to: gagrice (May 26, 2007 3:53 pm) Now let's fill it ONLY with "free", otherwise lost, energy recovered via regenerative braking... Can anyone think of another readily available energy source that would result in the new Prius attaining more than the current 42MPH city. |
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Replying to: cyclone4 (May 25, 2007 9:32 am) You are referring to a 5000 lb vehicle, right? With a V6 engine, correct? A Luxury model? That combination is not going to get "superb" gas mileage, except in comparison to a V8 SUV. The only way to get significantly better MPG is to use a smaller engine, which will result in less performance. I don't think Lexus will go for this concept. Better batteries and larger electric motors will benefit MPG, but not to the extent that it would benefit a smaller, lighter vehicle.
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Replying to: stevedebi (May 30, 2007 11:29 am)
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Replying to: cyclone4 (May 30, 2007 7:20 pm) A bigger fuel tank does no good unless you can find gas for $1.00/gallon.
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