Toyota Plans Electric Sports Car

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

07-12-12, 11:04 AM

GS69

Lead Lap

Thread Starter

Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: NC

Posts: 4,213

Likes: 4

Received 10 Likes on 8 Posts

Toyota Plans Electric Sports Car

Toyota Plans Electric Tesla Rival

Toyota is plotting an all-electric sports car to rival Tesla as part of a host of new performance models planned in the coming years.

Naohiko Saito, Toyota’s handling guru, has said the electric powertrain previewed in the Toyota 2000GT EV at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is “an early part of the development process involved in refining the technology”. He added that the technology would be seen 1st in a city car before being developed for a sports car.

That could involve mating a manual gearbox to the electric drivetrain, something which is being developed in the 2000GT EV. It channels power through an electric motor and works in conjunction with an inverter that alters torque levels being sent to the wheels depending on the ratio chosen.

Hiroyuki Ogawa, Toyota’s advanced drivetrain engineering chief, said there was “a desire to use a manual gearbox in our electric and hybrid sports cars”.

He added the CVT gearbox was “efficient but not fun”, and the manual ’box “promises much better feel for the driver”. A production manual hybrid from Toyota is at least 3 years away, he confirmed.

Last edited by GS69; 07-12-12 at 11:08 AM.

07-12-12, 12:13 PM

venom21

Instructor

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: ab

Posts: 756

Likes: 0

Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts

I still shake my head at that 2000GT. A classic needs to be left alone to shine, not be used as an experimental test bed..

07-12-12, 03:01 PM

Marklouis

Lexus Champion

Join Date: Jul 2010

Location: al

Posts: 1,781

Likes: 2

Received 7 Likes on 6 Posts

^^^
agreed. such a rare beautiful classic. this is how it should look, and stay that way.

I also hope the Tesla Rival looks better than this concept.

Attached Thumbnails

Toyota Plans Electric Sports Car-toyota-2000gt-1.jpg

Toyota Plans Electric Sports Car-model-toyota-2000-gt.jpg

07-12-12, 03:12 PM

Hoovey689

Moderator

iTrader: (16)

Join Date: Oct 2008

Location: California

Posts: 42,283

Likes: 17

Received 122 Likes on 82 Posts

A modern 2000GT eh...

07-12-12, 07:45 PM

JessePS

Moderator

Join Date: May 2006

Location: QC/FRANCE

Posts: 8,349

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

Toyota vs Tesla. Now this should be interesting. I still say that Toyota should buy up Tesla and Lotus when the time comes

07-12-12, 08:10 PM

spwolf

Lexus Champion

Join Date: Jan 2005

Posts: 19,831

Likes: 11

Received 102 Likes on 73 Posts

important part here is some kind of manual transmission for hybrids and evs, which wont be classical manual but based on the power inverter, and 3 years away from production.