Road trial of plug-in hybrid vehicles underway

June 4th, 2009 Toyota: hybrids best 'green' car for some timeTOYOTA, Japan — A Toyota executive overseeing research said Thursday a battery breakthrough is needed for electric vehicles to become mainstream, and hybrids will remain the best "green" car choice for some time. His comments came just hours after the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota's Prius hybrid was the No.

June 3rd, 2009 Toyota to start plug-in hybrid leasingTOKYO — Toyota said Wednesday it will start leasing plug-in hybrid cars, that are even greener than its hit Prius, by the end of this year in the U.S., Japan and Europe. Toyota Motor Corp., the world's top automaker, will start leasing 200 plug-ins in Japan, 150 in the U.S.

August 12th, 2009 Hybrid and electric power systems at a glanceHybrids like Toyota's Prius and plug-in vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt run on systems other than purely gas-fired engines. The systems, or powertrains, that drive the so-called greener cars use electricity generated by batteries and electric motors to either supplement or largely take the place of internal-combustion engines.

July 17th, 2009 Toyota to start making hybrids in Great BritainTOKYO — Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, said Friday it will start making hybrid cars in Europe next year as part of a growth strategy that hinges on its strength in green technology. Toyota Motor Corp.

June 11th, 2009 GM cancels Malibu hybrid, works on new systemDETROIT — General Motors says it is working on the next generation of its gas-electric mild hybrid system that will be more efficient than the one it is canceling in the Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Aura. Company spokesman Terry Rhadigan says cars equipped with the current system weren't selling and inventory is backing up on dealer lots.

August 6th, 2009 Toyota Prius top-selling car in Japan for 3 monthsTOKYO — Toyota's hugely popular Prius hybrid ranked as Japan's top-selling car in July, clinching the spot for the third consecutive month as tax breaks boosted sales of green vehicles, an auto industry group said Thursday. The Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota Motor Corp., the world's No.

September 3rd, 2009 Toyota Prius top-selling car in Japan for 4 monthsTOKYO — An auto industry group says Toyota's hugely popular Prius hybrid ranked as Japan's top-selling car in August for the fourth straight month. The Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Friday the Prius kept the top spot in auto sales with 21,669 vehicles sold.

September 15th, 2009 Daimler bets on efficiency, shows electric, hybridFRANKFURT — Daimler AG unveiled a number of new electric and hybrid cars Tuesday at the Frankfurt Auto Show, saying it plans to keep its focus on luxury and fuel efficiency. The Stuttgart-based company presented the Mercedes-Benz Vision S 500 plug-in hybrid, a spinoff of the only existing production hybrid from a German carmaker on the market, the S 400 Hybrid.

June 4th, 2009 Toyota Prius tops monthly auto sales in JapanTOKYO — Toyota's Prius was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May, clinching the top spot in the domestic market for the first time and overtaking Honda's new hybrid, the Insight, which fell to third.

October 19th, 2009 Toyota unveils new hybrid-only modelTOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. has unveiled a more expensive and bigger hybrid-only model than its hit Prius, underlining the Japanese automaker's ambitions to make green technology more widespread.

July 17th, 2009 Toyota making hybrids in UK, Honda sets overtimeTOKYO — Toyota said Friday it will start making hybrids in Europe next year, while its Japanese rival Honda is bringing back overtime to meet demand for small cars, underlining the potential of their green vehicle strategies to underpin recovery from the auto slump. As part of a growth strategy that hinges on its strength in hybrid technology, Toyota Motor Corp.

June 1st, 2009 Japan green incentives lift electronics salesTOKYO — Japanese incentives for ecological gadgets are helping lift electronics sales, according to ministry and industry data, in what may be an early sign of some recovery in a recession-battered economy. Under a government stimulus package, that kicked in May 15, people who buy energy-efficient flat-panel TVs, refrigerators and air conditioners accumulate "eco-points," which the government promises will convert to discounts or trade-ins for products that have yet to be announced.

June 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A scientist has proposed a way to make hybrid cars more efficient, by solving a problem in the vehicles that leads to a waste of energy and very high fuel consumption. The scientist in question is Toni Font, who recently graduated from the ETSEIB (Escola Tecnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona).is proposal is based on one of the problems of conventional vehicles: the loss of kinetic energy during braking.

September 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists led by an Indian-American has found out a new way of cooling microchips in electric and hybrid cars, aircraft, computers and other devices by understanding how the fluid overheats in tiny microchannels. The new type of cooling system, devised by a Purdue University team, will be used to prevent overheating of devices called insulated gate bipolar transistors -- high-power switching transistors used in hybrid and electric vehicles.

August 26th, 2009 Toyota recalls 95,700 Toyota, Scion vehiclesTORRANCE, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.