Beat EV record on Nurburgring

As if being the world’s greenest brand weren’t enough, Toyota is now pushing the zero-emissions envelope even further, trying to best the current EV lap record at Germany’s 12.9-mile Nürburgring race course.

The 100 percent electric vehicle expected to break the record was built by Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), a German-based division of Toyota that has been involved in rally and Formula 1 racing over the years. The two-seater’s high-performance powertrain employs two electric motors, generating as much as 280kW of power.

TMG is hopeful that its EV, with a maximum speed of 162 miles per hour and weighing in at 2,138 lbs., will break the lap record for an electric vehicle. The current record stands at 9 minutes 1.338 seconds, set earlier this year by the Peugeot EX1. The race is set for August 29.

“We are extremely confident we can break the record by some distance, which is an indication of how EV performance is continuously improving,” Rob Leupen, TMG’s Director of Business Operations, said in a statement.

To the prospective EV consumer, tales of EVs’ increased racing performance may not mean much. But TMG said it plans to begin selling its electric powertrain commercially by next year. So with what could be the next generation of EV motors on display, for EV enthusiasts of all stripes, next Monday’s race may be one to watch.

Microsoft allies Ford and Toyota to collaborate on technology standards

A new partnership announced between Ford and Toyota this morning is attracting lots of attention, primarily focused on the companies’ plans to collaborate on a new hybrid-electric system for light trucks and SUVs. But also notable is the news that they plan to “collaborate on development of next-generation standards for in-car telematics and Internet-based services.”

That’s a reference to the information, communication and entertainment services that are becoming common in new cars — better known as infotainment systems.

Both companies are partners of Microsoft. The Redmond company provides the underlying technology for Ford’s Sync system and announced plans in April to collaborate with Toyota on new technology for its cars, based on Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud computing platform.

In their news release, Ford and Toyota say they will “collaborate on standards and technologies needed to enable a safer, more secure and more convenient in-car experience for next-generation telematics systems.” They note that the collaboration “relates only to standards and technologies, and each company will continue to separately develop their own in-vehicle products and features.”

Still, the effort to develop common standards could be a boost to Microsoft, possibly making it easier to translate some of the fundamental work it’s doing on its automotive platform to the projects it’s pursuing with both companies.

Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan Cars to Provide Home Back-Up Power

Still reeling from the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, Japan has not only been forced to deal with energy shortages, the island nation has been forced to rethink the security and capacity of its electric grid, as well as the policies necessary to make any substantive changes in it. But boosting capacity from any energy source takes time, no matter how urgently it is needed. One untapped distributed energy source that could provide up to two days of electricity for the average Japanese household and that requires relatively little investment is just sitting in 10,000 driveways and garages across Japan.
More than 6,000 Nissan LEAF electric vehicles and more than 4,000 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs have been sold in Japan and the batteries in these electric cars could be used to provide back-up power for households - as long as that electricity is converted from the direct current (DC) used in the car battery to alternating current (AC) used in households.
While Nissan said last week it hopes to have a commercial version of the LEAF-to-Home system ready for sale in Japan next year, the Mitsubishi system was unveiled earlier this summer. But the problem up until this week, at least, was that a Nissan would not be able to hook up to a Mitsubishi system and vice versa. But this past weekend, Mitsubishi and Nissan announced a plan to address that problem and standardize such a device, The Daily Yomiuri reports.
According to Nissan officials, the LEAFs 24 kilowatt hour (kwh) battery can store enough juice to power the average Japanese household for two days.
Nissan said that home power systems for LEAF owners in other countries including the U.S. are also possible, but the timeline is longer. And because the average home uses substantially more electricity in the U.S. than in Japan, the back-up power provided would not last as long. At least not with the current generation of vehicle batteries.
Toyota, which has been a little late to the EV game as the company focused on developing its hybrid vehicle line, has announced a different kind of solution, making available AC outlets for the 2012 Prius Hybrid. The big difference between the hybrid home power model offered by Toyota and the EV home power model offered by Mitsubishi and Nissan, however, is that the Toyota hybrids can continue to provide electricity as long as there is gas in the tank, essentially turning the vehicle into a generator.