Prius vs. American Technology in the Last 10 Years

Would have buggered the phone for sure!

 

Hi Texas911,

Yes, you are so right. There was an article in a Auto Industry trade magazine that detailed the work of TRW engineers, in patenting the first Power-Sharing-Device / Torquer motor / Speeder motor transmissions in the late 60's and early 70's.

While the Ford and Toyota transmissions are not exactly the same, they are this same type of transmission. The initial conceptual breakthrough was indeed American Technology.

The battery type used in the Prius was invented by the Ovshinski's, at their firm in Livonia, M - Ovonics. American Technology again.

Of course, we all know the American contribution to Computer technology. And the US NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) did a program called ADVSIOR, that was used by Toyota engineers to do the system level design of the Prius drive train. This was part of the Clinton/Gore Partnership for a Next Generation Vehicle program - American Technology again.

I would not use the term "merely" in describing the work to make a practical car. This tends to be a British sourced cultural predjudice that Engineering is not much more than black-smithing (being from the lower-classes). Which in the modern world, probably even the 19 th century, is a grossly unfair slight against engineers.

 

I do not know....

Maybe I'm looking at this in an overly simplistic manner.
Demand for greener vehicles is going to manifest itself for one of two reasons:
1. Gas price
2. Government intervention.

If there were a huge, unsatisfied demand for greener vehicles from 'we the people', then Priuses would be sold out and there would be a waiting list.
You want to see CAFE numbers double in a year? Put a $5 a gallon tax on gas.
I do not know if I'd try it now. There are a bunch of used-to-be Congress Critters standing in unemployment lines over the last thing that was done "for the good of the people, no matter what those poor dumb SOB's think that they really want."
Yes...the auto makers have sniveling lobbyists throwing barrels of money into the offices of legislators to try and keep things as they are (environmentalists have them too---they just don't have as much money to throw), but the fact is most people actually like powerful, fun-to-drive gas guzzlers---or, as I have discovered recently, people are afraid of driving smaller, lighter, vehicles for safety reasons---and yes. I'm aware of the crash test ratings of Priuses.
I don't agree with the bigger is better thing...mostly, and I've become something of a Prius fan.

Gas prices will probably win out, even when the government runs out of money to throw at people to 'go green.' Most people are deeply concerned with being more green. Money is green---at least here. I do not know what color the Yuan is.

 

I think the Prius is a marvel of technology and I mean it. Talking to the car is neat but not impressive, this kind of tech has been around for years and probably not in most cars because nobody cares.

Toyota has created a car they can make money on selling it at $22k and its fuel economy is absolutely revolutionary. The tiniest, weakest econobox cannot match its highway numbers and when you look at city they are leagues behind.

Backup cameras don't impress me. We've had small video cameras for decades. And self-parking is ridiculous (and I know Toyotas have that, too).

 

Didn't mean to discount the massive engineering effort, I respect engineers, my father is one and I went to architecture school.