Originally Posted by PeterPolyol
One would think that Toyota has the EV expertise because of their HSD hybrids, but thats surprisingly not the case. HSD hybrids are not at all like EV's in practice. Akio intends to fast track EV development by collaborating with the others in which they intend to basically build a huge common partsbin. Seems to be similar to other EV JVs like Ford and VW. The agreement allows each company total design freedom to implement their EVs as they see fit, but they all save on component development and supply scales.
Using the old planetary gearset 2-motor setup like in a CMax and Prius, one could envision scaling down the IC engine (2.0L in CMax) to 1.0L, and scaling up the battery to 20kWH+ or so. Although the Honda architecture is more modular to create a pure EV Accord or Civic. ...Honda Accord Hybrid's non-planetary-gearset setup is practically already an EV, sans the big battery for now, given the electric drive motor in it already makes 181 hp by itself, much of the time using the engine to supply electrons instead of a big expensive battery pack sending the juice.
Originally Posted by PeterPolyol
Ford. Ford screwed the pooch for too long. Their whole DoE "bailout grant" with an interest rate lower than the rate of inflation, was 'lent' to Ford under the pretense of developing EV tech. Instead they used it all to fund operations and (gasoline car) plant upgrades. Ford should have been much farther ahead right now with EVs, than some imited production run Eco-halo cars.
I don't know if Ford saw the current low gasoline prices coming way back in 2008, but in retrospect, Ford made the right decision on trying to avoid throwing too much development dollars at a money-losing BEV in this climate. .. They continued to refine their Escape, CMax, and Fusion hybrids instead. By comparison, Nissan went crazy and put a bunch of $$ in Leaf development, and where are they now? Nissan is getting beat on BEV range by the new GM Bolt which just came out. Leaf is decent, just not the all-out leader in tech at the moment that other newcomers are.
Interesting about VW & Ford collaborating on future EVs. In the past, as in my Ford Focus EV, Ford acted as Systems Integrator and coach builder really while Magna & LG Chem did all the electrics. This way, Ford could study the situation, see what was covered under patents and what they could legally copy in the future, and get some experience with the whole design. ....... At the same time, Ford keeps engineers & scientists busy with the future in R&D aimed at beating other patents, and could either go with in-house designs or continue with some purchased modules, depending on what is most cost effective going forward. Hedging bets! This collaboration is kinda smart.
Originally Posted by PeterPolyol
It's crazy how companies are flocculating into groups, just to beat the other groups
Best use of the word "flocculating" ever. I've never used that word.