Hybrids Tech

With multiple mentions at this week’s Democratic presidential convention, public awareness of plug-in hybrid vehicles can only continue to grow. So Toyota’s announcement that it will speed up a previously announced program to offer limited numbers of Prius hybrids that can use grid electricity to recharge a larger battery pack is significant.

Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters in Tokyo yesterday that fleet tests of an experimental Prius, modified to be rechargeable, will be moved up to late next year from 2010. According to a Toyota spokesman in the States, the cars will go first to “non-consumer fleets” like electric utilities—a traditional test bed for experimental electric vehicles.

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Just like its biggest competitor, the Honda Fit, this is the second year for the Toyota Yaris to be sold in the U.S. Introduced in Europe in 1999, it finally appeared on American soil for the same reason so many other fuel-sipping subcompacts did: The rising cost at the gas pumps. The Yaris entered the Toyota line-up in March of 2006 as a replacement for the insipid Echo.

Offered as both a liftback model and a sedan, the Yaris is generally considered the leader of the subcompact triumvirate, which includes the Honda Fit and the Nissan Versa. The Yaris has an immediate advantage over » Read more after the jump →

Here is a compilation of the more popular hybrid cars available in the market. A who’s who in hybrids, listed here are some of the key features of the notable ones when it comes to hybrid technology.

Toyota is recognized by many to be leading the innovations and setting the trends for hybrid technology in automobiles. So let us take a look first at Toyota hybrid cars.
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Though not hailed as a supercar and not as exotically priced as a Lamborghini or Maserati, the Toyota FT-HS concept, if it ever hits the showroom floors, will be offered in the mid $30,000s. This combination

of eco and emotion combines a 292hp DOHC 3.5-liter V6 (based on the Lexus GS 450h) with a 650V electric motor to deliver a total of over 400 hp.

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