Hasta La Gadget!

We talked a couple times now about the strange little Toyota i-Road electric vehicle. The car was first seen at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month. It’s rather like a cross between a motorcycle and a very small electric vehicle. There was some indication that Toyota was aiming the vehicle at drivers wanting to split lanes in traffic as motorcyclists often do.

I think the vehicle may be a bit wide for that. One thing that we hadn’t previously seen is a CGI video that Toyota offered up showing the strange little electric vehicle in action. If you missed our previous coverage, the i-Road has enough room for two occupants who sit tandem style like riders on a motorcycle inside of an enclosed cockpit.

The electric vehicle uses what Toyota calls “Active Lean” technology that leans into a turn sort of like a motorcycle would do. The vehicle has rear wheel steering and a nearly silent electric powertrain. Toyota says that the little vehicle is good to drive for up to 50 km on a three-hour charge.

Toyota has always been upfront with the fact that this is a concept vehicle. However, Toyota said it would be putting compact personal mobility vehicles based on the i-Road to work as part of an experimental project designed to evaluate market response. Toyota plans to start the project at the end of 2014 in Grenoble, France. The project will last for three years.

[via Toyota]

Toyota i-Road electric vehicle turns up on video is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

Now that green design is entering the mainstream, we’re beginning to see the design community tackle larger, more ambitious projects using eco-friendly techniques. Case in point: This week, San Francisco transformed the Bay Bridge into the world’s largest light sculpture by outfitting it with 25,000 LED lights. Because the lights are so energy-efficient, it will cost just $15 per night to run the installation. In Hamburg, workers are putting the finishing touches on the world’s first algae-powered building, which is set to open this month at the International Building Exhibition. A company in Tokyo recently demonstrated a new skyscraper deconstruction technique that harvests energy from the demolition process and salvages almost every piece of the building for reuse. And in Copenhagen, work has begun on a combined ski resort and waste-to-energy plant, which will convert the city’s trash into energy that powers the resort.

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Automakers love to trot out urban-only EV cars, if sometimes only in their dreams, but there’s invariably gotchas: think disproportionately large turning circles and a lack of basic protection from the elements. Toyota’s new i-Road concept may not be destined for production, but it at least pays more than lip service to real life. The two-seat, three-wheel prototype turns with a motorcycle-style lean, cutting its turn radius to a very city-friendly 9.8 feet. It also has a fully sealed cabin, which allows for such radical features as heating and speakers. We don’t see many Model S owners having second thoughts when the i-Road runs out of energy in just 31 miles, but that’s not the point. It’s more of an alternative to bikes, compact EVs and scooters that doesn’t demand frequent fuel pump visits… or a good raincoat.

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Via: Car

Source: Toyota (translated)

Toyota has whipped the wraps off of its FT-Open concept, a compact cabrio set to make its official debut in Geneva next week, and testing the waters for a potential topless GT86. The concept uses a soft-top, rather than the more fashionable folding metal roof, meaning it can keep its 2+2 layout, while the GT86′s two-liter, four cylinder “boxer” engine pushes out power through either a 6-speed manual or what Toyota claims is the world’s fastest paddle-shift auto, spitting through gears in 2/10ths of a second.

The production coupé’s MacPherson strut front and double wishbone rear suspension has also been carried over, along with a 13.1:1 power steering ratio for more rapid turns. At roughly 200bhp, the FT-One isn’t the most powerful drop-top we’ve seen, but Toyota argues that the car as a whole is more lively than rivals, with the compact engine low-slung to help keep the center of gravity down, closer to the road.

That’s not to say the FT-One is a finished product. Toyota says it’s using the concept as a test bed, not only to see how the public reacts – a big factor in whether a production version gets the green light – but to fettle things like how not having a solid roof affects chassis strength and other factors.

The company’s work will be made easier by the fact that the GT86 was designed with a cabrio version in mind from the outset: the coupé has frameless doors, for instance, which means Toyota won’t have to worry about fixing rigidity problems there, and the soft roof still gets a glass rear screen. Door lock reinforcements will be used to reduce torsional twist, and Toyota will be looking at how to preserve the GT86′s driving style given the FT-One drops the center of gravity even lower.

Inside, there’s a custom-finished cabin with perforated white leather and navy-blue seating, and golden yellow accent stitching. There’s also a rather fetching milled metal iPhone holder, though we’re not entirely convinced by what looks like an aftermarket-fit radio.

Toyota will bring the FT-One concept along to the Geneva motor show, kicking off on March 5.

Toyota FT-Open concept teases GT86 drop-top plans is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Auto reliability is up 5-percent overall, J.D. Power has declared for 2013, with some surprises for US manufacturers including General Motors, though Toyota stands clear as the overall winner despite its accelerator hangover. The Japanese firm dominated in seven segments, across all three of its Lexus, Toyota, and Scion brands, in the 2013 vehicle dependability study, based on 37,000 reports from 2010-year vehicles.

Singled out for praise were the Lexus ES 350, Lexus RX, Scion xB, Scion xD, Toyota Prius, Toyota Sienna, and the  Toyota RAV4, with the Lexus RX topping the chart for the fewest reported problems. Porsche, Lincoln, Toyota, and Mercedes Benz close out the top five marques.

However, it’s not just Lincoln flying the flag for American auto companies. General Motors snatched four awards in total, with the Buick Lucerne, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Tahoe, and the GMC Sierra HD all getting segment awards. Ford’s Ranger clinched an award in its segment, too, while Chrysler’s Ram saw the biggest year-on-year improvement in reliability.

If there were any doubts that reliability affects repurchasing behavior, J.D. Power’s findings dismiss them. 54-percent of owners stick with their current brand when buying their next vehicle, assuming they’ve had no problems with their existing vehicle. However, that brand loyalty drops to 41-percent after three or more issues; it’s even more of an issue among premium car brands, owner loyalty for which drops to 39-percent under the same circumstances.

That’s worth remembering for marques like the Lincoln Motor Company, which are attempting to refresh their image with a more luxury feel. However, it’s also a reality-check for the potential impact of high-profile safety recalls, as Toyota in particular has suffered from in recent months. In January, the company was forced to recall 1.1m cars worldwide, while the month before it paid out a $1.1bn settlement over acceleration lawsuits.

Despite Toyota cars bouncing back to the service centers like ping pong balls, that doesn’t appear to have negatively impacted its showing in the J.D. Power survey.

Toyota top in 2013 reliability but US marques show resurgence is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.