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Ex-Toyota Bill Reinert still in favor of hybrids, against EVs

Former Toyota executive Bill Reinert is so unsold on electric vehicles as a viable advanced-powertrain option for future transportation that he has praised – gasp – Ford, for its downsized internal combustion engines. Reinert was a key player in developing Toyota's original Prius hybrid and, in an interview published in Yale University's Environment 360 blog, said a hybrid that gets 60 miles per gallon is superior to an electric vehicle. "And that is why you will be seeing more fuel cells in the future." – Bill Reinert Reinert went on to praise the advances that automakers have made in improving fuel economy of fossil fuel vehicles, specifically namechecking Ford and its three-cylinder Ecoboost engine. He also has good things to say about both hydrogen fuel-cell electric technology as well as natural gas vehicles, but admits that limited fueling infrastructure will keep those types of vehicles in the margins for the near future. He also says that hydrogen vehicles aren't that great yet but that, "When most [manufacturers] investigate the two technologies [H2 and EVs], they see that FVCs offer more room for performance improvement and cost reduction potential. And that is why you will be seeing more fuel cells in the future." As far as pure electric, Reinert says lithium-ion batteries have "tremendous shortcomings" and talks about battery degradation, substandard performance in hot weather and, of course, limited single-charge driving range. He also says that people need to factor in the environmental impact of producing electricity for the grid to fully gauge how environmentally beneficial EVs can be. We'd like to take him and Tesla Motors Chief Elon Musk to what we think would be a spirited lunch. You can read the whole interview with Reinert here.

New version of Toyota FT-1 Concept gets racy for Gran Turismo 6

Gran Turismo 6 has been the preferred marketing springboard for quite a few brands and concept cars since its debut last winter. Specifically the GT Vision concept idea - allowing manufacturers a built-in place to offer up new, original, drivable content - has enticed the likes of Mercedes, Nissan, Volkswagen, Toyota and more to dream big on the digital stage before pulling the sheets back on real concept cars.
In fact, Toyota teamed its live reveal of the FT-1 Concept at the Detroit Auto Show with an in-game launch of the car, just this past January. Looking for a second bite at the GT6 apple, Toyota has just released a teaser video for a new, FT-1 Vision GT version of the same concept.
The company isn't giving us much to go on save for the 30-second video, saying only that the concept was penned by Toyota's Calty Design Research team in California, and that it will "soon be available for download." By the looks of it, the new FT-1 seems to be more of a racecar than the original, without obvious changes to the basic form. No word on whether or not there's a physical concept car in the offing at a yet-to-be-named auto show. Stay tuned.

Toyota, Mazda form electric car technology venture

TOKYO — Toyota has established a new venture to develop electric vehicle technology with partner Mazda, seeking to catch up with rivals in an increasingly frenetic race to produce more battery-powered cars. Policymakers in key markets like China are pushing a shift to electric cars over the next two to three decades, while relatively new rival Tesla is gaining momentum and diesel cars are going through the fallout of the Volkswagen diesel scandal, pressuring traditional automakers to crank up plans for fully electric vehicles (EVs). At the same time, declining battery costs are enabling more power to be packed into cars, making an electric car future easier to imagine. Toyota said in a statement the new company will develop technology for a range of electric cars, including mini vehicles, passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks. Toyota will take a 90 percent stake in the joint venture, called EV Common Architecture Spirit Co Ltd, while Mazda and Denso Corp, Toyota's biggest supplier, will each take 5 percent. The plans build on a partnership announced in August when Japan's biggest automaker agreed to take a 5 percent stake in Mazda and two said they would jointly develop affordable electric vehicle technologies. Although Toyota is providing most of the financial firepower and existing EV know-how, Mazda's engineers have gained the admiration of the industry with breakthrough technologies such as its compression ignition engine announced last month. Shares in Mazda surged to end the day 3 percent higher, while those in Denso rose 1.8 percent. Toyota shares were flat. Both automakers are somewhat behind rivals, with neither having a fully electric passenger car on the market yet. After years of focusing on bringing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to the market, Toyota last year set up a division to develop electric cars which is led by President Akio Toyoda, and said it plans to introduce EVs in China in the coming years. Toyota has also announced it will bring a game-changing solid-state EV battery to market by 2022. That division would continue as a separate entity from the new joint venture, a Toyota spokeswoman said, while adding that the two teams would co-operate on technology development. Mazda has an R&D budget a fraction of Toyota's, which has made it difficult to develop electric cars on its own. Even so, it has said it plans to launch EVs in 2020.