One common complaint point againsthybrid carsis that they ’re a fiddling too bland . Despite some pat , futurist - seeming feature film on theinstrument panelthat inform drivers of efficiency statistic like average miles per gallon and shelling charge levels , some hybrid cars might not take in the eye of possible novel machine buyer .
This is typically because most hybrid cable car are little and stocky , and companies struggling to catch up with up with current eco - friendly trends have plainly retrofitted old , established pattern . Hybrid powertrains are also considered slightly dull or less powerful than the conventional gasoline - power cars on the road . The reason for this is twofold : First , the gas engine found in gaseous state - electric hybrid cars are generally smaller than those engines found in typical rider cars . A smaller locomotive engine equals less might , which , of track , makes it more difficult for hybrid to speed at a profligate rate . For instance , while most conventional machine can accelerate from zero to 60 mile per hour ( 97 kilometers per hour ) in about six irregular , most hybrid cars take around 10 second to attain the same hurrying . This smaller gas engine is twin with an even smaller electric motor , which provides extra power to drive the wheel – but still ensue in much less might .
Although it ’s generally accepted that intercrossed cars are an important innovation that make fewer carbon copy emissions and reduce the human impingement on planetary warming , the engineering has n’t impressed everyone . Some are simply wondering : When will loanblend take up having a fiddling more squawk ?
Toyota , Godhead of the popularPriushybrid , has considered the need for a more sporty design in the intercrossed railway car food market . After spend some fourth dimension at the drawing panel , the company has enter a fomite call the Toyota FT - HS Hybrid Sports Concept . And the result is something that looks more like a backwash railcar than a intercrossed car , and some have even described it as a " Prius on steroids . " Even though the FT - HS is currently a concept car – signify there ’s a practiced prospect the cable car might never go into full production – the design pop the question a unique view of a flashier kind of loan-blend .
Toyota FT-HS Design
The first thing that stand out about the Toyota FT - HS Hybrid Sports Concept is the gondola ’s plan . It does n’t look like any other hybrid car currently on the route . The FT - HS was designed by Calty Design Research , which is Toyota ’s aim studio site in Newport Beach , Calif. The troupe originally introduced the car at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit , Mich. , as nothing more than a few sketch and some 3 - five hundred images , but working models have since emerged and some reports advise the concept could go into production soon .
The FT - HS ( which stand for Future Toyota Hybrid Sport ) has a sporty , triangular profile , one that ’s exchangeable in spirit to the Toyota Supra , the company ’s earlier sports car that ’s no longer in production . Calty apparently model the flowing design with the look of a downhill skier in judgement , where several individualaerodynamicparts are emphasized over an overall sleek design . The area under the headlights , for instance , pounce inwards more dramatically than is typical , and a ridge that rises along the hybrid ’s lower door sharpness extends upward near the rearward wheels .
The crossbreed is a 2 + 2 , intend that it ’s meant for a number one wood and a passenger but two more can squeeze in the back if necessary . The FT - HS is quite gravid , actually – nearly as heavy as a Corvette , measure 170.3 inches ( 432.6 centimeters ) from front to back , 73.2 inches ( 186 centimeters ) wide and 50.8 inches ( 129 centimeters ) grandiloquent . With the intent of put focus on the hybrid applied science , Calty made part of the locomotive engine visible through a golf hole in the hood .
Calty call the inside of the FT - HS the " Solo Space , " underscore the number one wood ’s importance and highlighting the driver ’s seat as a sort of cockpit . Much of the design propose lightweight material ; the seating area consist merely of slender pad of paper and the wheels ( made of carbon fiber ) are also lightweight to encourage a sporty , Formula 1 spirit . The ceiling might also cease up being retractable , sliding back to report the backseat surface area , pretend it just a two - seat car .
Toyota FT-HS Specs
As surprising as the aim of the FT - HS is , especially in term of intercrossed cars , the main draw to the conception is its high performance . While the gas railway locomotive inside 2010 Prius , for instance , bring forth only 98 HP , the throw mogul inside the FT - HS would come from a 400 - HP hybrid powertrain , a pregnant rise . A 3.5 - litre V-6 engine would fire the railway car , which is manifestly interchangeable to the DOHC ( dual overhead camshaft ) 3.5 - litre V-6 from the Lexus GS 450h .
The galvanizing motor in the FT - HS would also ply morepowerthan most people wait in a hybrid . Engineers expect to use a water - cooled , 650 - V motor that can grow as much as 197 - HP at peak output . Thebatterypowering the electric motor could be lithium - ion , which would consider about half as much as the usual nickel - alloy hydride bombardment found in most hybrids today . The FT - HS will also use rearward - wheel - drive , and the execution mark for the fomite ’s zero to 60 miles per minute ( 97 km per hour ) time is 4 seconds , which is less than half the clip it train for the typical hybrid car to speed up to main road speeds .
Although Toyota primitively annunciate in 2007 that the FT - HS would be quick for product by 2009 , the company has yet to make further announcements touch on its development . In fact , fluctuating fuel Price and a poor economic system in 2009 may have led to the death of the FT - HS , according to Automotive News [ origin : Abuelsamid ] . On top of that , there are many technical challenges in developing a hybrid sports automobile that are hard to gauge because of so little information between the introduction of the FT - HS and now . If something does come forth , however , a sporty , mid - range intercrossed railcar might be a secure launching for drivers who are unsure of the engineering ’s performance issues . And if it does institute this elevator car to market , Toyota hopes to betray the FT - HS somewhere in the middle $ 30,000 image .
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