Toyota-Hybrid Tech.-New 2008 Land Cruiser

[Gilead]

Thought I might share this information with everyone. A new topic is always good to see/have. Last night Toyota invited it's wholesale customer's to a dinner and a lecture on Hybrid vehicles. The presenter was the head hybrid engine technology expert here in the states...he had a German name.(???) My rentention of information was limited, so I will not go into any detail as to what was covered...that facts and numbers stuff. But, the big picture was really interesting.
-Toyota in 1998 made it's decision to build a Hybrid vehicle....why...
-Toyota developed it's Hybrid Prius for the California market....not because of fuel economy, but because of emmissions laws...period.( there are dates and levels I could try to quote, but will leave that up to those that really know(remember...)
-Older Prius' before 2003 are refered to (by those in the know...Toyota Techs) as Dinosaur's. This due to a BIG voltage change that took place in 2004....201 volts to 500 volts
-All Orange colored cables are NOT to be touched with anything other than Lineman's Rubber Glove's...PERIOD! This he stressed for 10 minutes.
-NEVER Push or Pull a Hybrid....NEVER.
-Remove the ECU when you start to do any "work" to the Hybrid....ECU are very expensive..the new Highlander has something like 23 ECU's in it...which one do you remove?
-The new 2008 Highlander produces something stupid like 700 volts and 200 amps of current....it is insane...almost a small power plany in itself.
-The new Prius is an amazingly complex vehicle...it has a thermos of water that stays at 120 degress for 3 days...this to help with cold starts and emission levels in the head...keeping these levels down upon the first start of the day....amongst many other complicated ECU's that does "stuff" with electricity that would make Tesla himself envious!!
-Toyota is experimenting with new Lithium batteris in Japan....10 vehicles driving around with these batteries for testing.....these batteries make a great deal of heat.
-Sony makes ALL Toyota's batteries....the old kind(?) and the new kind(Lithium)
-The new Highlander as a Zero emission button that allows the Highlanders to move/cruise on just the battery...this is called the Toll Buster in England...WHY?...beacuse any vehicle that passed through a toll with Zero emissions does not have to pay that Toll....so many owners push the button to have the Highlander go through the Toll on battery power...No Toll ( Those on Beacon Hill would NEVER stand for this...
- It is Toyota's goal to offer EVERY vehicle in a Gas or Hybrid Model....with the exception of the new Land Cruiser....within a year or so.
-The up coming Toyota Truck line will have 3 phase electrical output and will have the ability to run compressors (220) and welders(220) and more...I found this amazing....he mentioned other crazy big numbers and items the truck will run in the future...more over F Series....
-They did have a new 2008 re-designed 100 Series there...it has just arrived that afternoon. Nice...I think. Some of the body lines where hard to get used to(I stood next to it for most of the night trying to see the finer details....yeah I have a problem...

Lots of information here. I list it to inform and raise questions. Toyota in an innovative company as we ALLl know. This lecturer said that Toyota likes to wait for others to put forth their product in the market place....then take that product and improve upon it...making it better. This has ALWAYS been the Japanese way...culture.

Lots of great information was presented...way too much for me to assimilate. I think the main point to get across to everyone was the SAFTEY message. Don't touch those Orange Wire's without Lineman's Glove's....PERIOD.....

Tedd
TLCA# 1272

 

[rapovt]

Thanks for the info Ted. I had heard that the electrical portion of the hybrid makes huge volts and amps. I wonder what happens when these hybrids are 5-6 years old and they start breaking, are they a throw away? It sometimes pisses me off when I am following one on our Vermont hilly roads, 14 mph at the top of a hill. When you pass em you see a couple of 75 year olds doing a "fuel economy run"

 

[Gilead]

Yeah. We are on the verge of the 1st Gen. Prius' being considered "old." Better yet as I sat there and thought about the safety aspects for those responding to an accident and touching the car. Yeah, there are issues for when you/we work on the Hybrids, but imagine trying to "work" on a car to get someone out who is injured and the safety issues encountered. Wow. It might be like rescuing those trapped on a nuclear sub....dangerous....

 

[82cruiser]

Thanks for the info.

Other than looking like a bloated RAV4...I love it. You'd think Toyota would try to differentiate the LC with some unique and interesting styling, but I suppose the mass market rules. Yuk.

http://www.toyota.com/landcruiser/

Here's the cool stuff:
- 381 hp / 401 lb
- Kinetic suspension, Crawl control, and best of all...an OFF button.

 

[Cruiser_Nerd]

Better yet as I sat there and thought about the safety aspects for those responding to an accident and touching the car. Yeah, there are issues for when you/we work on the Hybrids, but imagine trying to "work" on a car to get someone out who is injured and the safety issues encountered. Wow. It might be like rescuing those trapped on a nuclear sub....dangerous....

It had never occurred to me until talking about possible new cars with guys who happened to be first responders................Apparently there is an emergency way to deenergize "most" of the car, but each manufacturer is different. Anyhow, at this point, yes, it slows down critical response time.

Just saying, if you're considering one, check into it.

 

[Gilead]

The NEW 100 Series is armed with the "new" Smart Key. It is a Fob(or Phob or how ever you spell it... So, put the fob in your pocket and get into the Cruiser...then touch the On/Off Button and up she starts. A Toyota that is armed with a Smart Key now will have a small black circle or "rounded edge square" on the handle that opens every door...look for them on new Toyota's. Yeah, BMW has had this technology for a few years...say on the new 7 Series. Randy, I agree, the body styling is difficult to stomach. Way too mainstream. Very common, no more angles....no like there were many angles in the 1st Gen. 100, but at least it had some. So here we go again....the new kid on the block 100....no one likes it.....that old 100 was "so good".... How quick we are to forget and forgive. I remember when the 60 Series was the black sheep of the family. ....
Tedd

 

[Cattledog]

Interesting read. It doesn't surprise me that emissions are at the heart of the hybrid movement not milage. What I really want is a diesel turbine electric motor concept. Also surprised to hear that you should never push or pull a hybrid. How are you to tow it?

What really bites to me is the the fact that the hybrid's have 23+ seperate ecu's. This seem very counter to Toyota's original engineering ideas. In other word's economy of design. I just don't see that engineering concept in the newer toyotas. Thank goodness that there are plenty of Internal combustion landcruisers left.

 

[Cattledog]

The NEW 100 Series is armed with the "new" Smart Key. It is a Fob(or Phob or how ever you spell it... So, put the fob in your pocket and get into the Cruiser...then touch the On/Off Button and up she starts. A Toyota that is armed with a Smart Key now will have a small black circle or "rounded edge square" on the handle that opens every door...look for them on new Toyota's. Yeah, BMW has had this technology for a few years...say on the new 7 Series. Randy, I agree, the body styling is difficult to stomach. Way too mainstream. Very common, no more angles....no like there were many angles in the 1st Gen. 100, but at least it had some. So here we go again....the new kid on the block 100....no one likes it.....that old 100 was "so good".... How quick we are to forget and forgive. I remember when the 60 Series was the black sheep of the family. ....
Tedd

MB has this too. A funny story, I was looking to buy a house about 3 years ago. The agent was unable to enter her MB due to a dead battery in the fob. She had the benz unlocked by onstar using her cell phone. But, because the battery in the fob was dead even onstar was unable to start the car. Seemed just plain stupid that a new $70K car could be left dead from a $2 battery. I offered her a ride home in my 95 corolla wagon, pointed out that my car started with the key every time.

 

[peepers]

here we go...

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

MB has this too. A funny story, I was looking to buy a house about 3 years ago. The agent was unable to enter her MB due to a dead battery in the fob. She had the benz unlocked by onstar using her cell phone. But, because the battery in the fob was dead even onstar was unable to start the car. Seemed just plain stupid that a new $70K car could be left dead from a $2 battery. I offered her a ride home in my 95 corolla wagon, pointed out that my car started with the key every time.

My Infiniti FX has this too. It also has a hidden key that slides out of the fob in the even that the battery dies.

 

[KLF]

Lexus has had the "keyless" ignition for many years. My mom's new ES has it, very cool. The fallback in the Lexus is that if the battery dies in the fob, you just hold it really close to the Start button, it somehow has the ability to "reach out" and read the code so the car can fire up.

I'm cautiously optimistic about how Toyota deploys their hybrid technology to their SUV fleet. I can't get past the dweeb appearance and dreadful ride of the Prius, I doubt I'd ever own one. I did take a quick drive in a Hybrid Highlander (a "Hy-Hi") a few months ago, it has more promise, but it was out of my price range.

Last weekend I attended an invitation-only Lexus event down at the old South Weymouth Naval Air Base, they had a bunch of their cars available to drive (but unfortunately no new LX570). My favorite by far was the hybrid LS600h, but at $120K I don't think I'll be bringing one of those home. It was really cool how you hit the "On" button, and all the gauges come to life, but the engine stays off. As soon as you touch the gas pedal, the engine automatically silently starts (you have to watch the tach to know it's running, it's soo darned quiet). Nail the gas, and that car will go, and go fast. Jab the brakes, and you can actually feel the regenerative braking charging the batteries. I also drove a hybrid version of the GS sports sedan, and an RX. Lexus makes you feel less imposed upon by the whole hybrid thing, it's honestly easier to ignore, which is fine with me.

Then for fun I took out an SC430. Still a girly car to me, but dayum that car can haul ass.

 

[LandCruisers4Life]

I guess snorkels and deep water crossings are over with this hybrid crap

 

[Sporin]

It had never occurred to me until talking about possible new cars with guys who happened to be first responders................Apparently there is an emergency way to deenergize "most" of the car, but each manufacturer is different. Anyhow, at this point, yes, it slows down critical response time.

Just saying, if you're considering one, check into it.

My buddy is a fireman/EMT in Raleigh and he said they all dread Hybrid crashes, so many electrical variables to consider, not to mention the potentially caustic batteries themselves.