Word: hybridization
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...hybrid market has taken off with about half a million units in global sales in 2008; cars made by Toyota and Honda accounted for 90% of those sales. For Japanese consumers who want to buy a hybrid this year, there's a waiting list. Toyota launched its new Prius in May, on the heels of Honda's launch of the Insight, a cheaper subcompact hybrid. In Japan, the Prius grabbed the top spot for new car sales (nearly 11,000) last month followed by the Insight in third, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association...
...Japan's top automakers, Toyota and Honda, battle it out for supremacy in the hybrid car market, Japan's smaller car companies are taking a different eco-car road. Mitsubishi Motors on June 5 presented its zero-emissions i-MiEV - Japan's first fully electric vehicle (EV) for the global market. Production of the egg-shaped vehicle, which has a range of 99 miles (160 km) on a single charge, kicked off this week; fleet sales will start in Japan next month and the car is expected to reach U.S. buyers by the end of next year. Tooting...
...with consumers worldwide. But they are still a gamble. Although technological advances continue to reduce the cost and recharging time of lithium-ion batteries while increasing range, electric vehicles are expensive - the i-MiEV costs $47,500 - and the market will take years to reach the level of hybrid sales. "For five to 10 years, EVs will be for city commuters, used in a limited area, while the hybrid is a pure alternative to the conventional vehicle," says Tatsuo Yoshida, senior analyst at UBS Securities Japan. "There needs to be a breakthrough to the battery technology so that...
...Japanese national and local governments are doing their part to help consumers to overcome their fears, from helping to develop infrastructure to offering cash incentives to Japanese who want to purchase hybrid or fully electric vehicles. Incentives will reduce the cost of the i-MiEV by 30% to $33,100. That should help Mitsubishi meet its production targets of 2,000 i-MiEVs in the next 12 months, 6,000 in the second year of production and 15,000 the following year. Mitsubishi says it can turn a profit on electric cars when it reaches an annual production volume...
...through greater use of power-saving components, longevity is continuing to increase. The Asus Eee PC Seashell and MSI's U115 Hybrid netbooks both offer up to 11 hours of battery life. Chipmaker NVIDIA showcased netbooks powered by its Tegra processor that are capable of 10 hours of 1080p video playback on a single charge. Pallenberg says the new platform is promising, "It will change the world of mobile computing because people want more performance without more power consumption." Tegra devices are expected to appear this year for around...