2 million Toyota hybrids sold

Henno Kruger — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:28:58 +0000

Toyota’s hybrid vehicle sales have reached 2 million. It took the Japanese Auto Manufacturer almost 10 years to reach the 1 million mark for hybrid vehicles sold. It only took 2 years and 3 months to reach the next million. All 3 generations of the Toyota hybrid vehicle, the Prius is responsible for 1.4 million of those units. Toyota has been selling hybrid vehicles since 1997. The Japanese Auto Manufacturer claims that this has contributed enormously to reduction of carbon dioxide emissions on the planet. Toyota claims that the 2 million hybrids sold by them have resulted in 11 million tons of CO2 not being released (by conventional gasoline driven cars) into the atmosphere. The company currently sells 13 different hybrid models in 50 countries worldwide. The Toyota Prius has been the top selling vehicle in Japan for the last 4 months. It will be a while before hybrid cars will truly be part of the fabric of society. To my knowledge no major releases have been announced for hybrid cars in South Africa, but I could be wrong. Who knows? Maybe 10 years from now all of us will be looking in the classifieds to find a 2nd hand hybrid. Maybe electric cars / hybrid cars / green cars will fail and we will all be stuck without transportation and take up the art of walking as a past time instead.

Related Link:
Toyota – Official Website

Nissan LEAF Electric Car

Henno Kruger — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:46:10 +0000

The Nissan LEAF is the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car. The car was specifically designed for a lithium-ion battery-powered chassis. The Nissan LEAF is a medium-size hatchback. The vehicle seats 5 adults comfortably. It also has a range of more than 100 miles. The Nissan LEAF is earmarked for release in Japan, the United States and Europe for 2010. The car should usher in a new era of mobility or maybe even a zero-emission era. The Nissan LEAF is an embodiment of the Japanese motor manufacturer’s vision for the future and the result of decades of research. The Nissan LEAF features a zero-emission power train and platform, a distinctive design, a real-world range autonomy and connected mobility (with an advanced intelligent transportation or IT system). Just as leaves purify the air in nature, the Nissan LEAF purifies mobility by taking emissions out of the driving experience. Nissan expects that the Nissan LEAF will be competitively priced when it’s made available to consumers in late 2010. It will probably be made available to lease first, before going on sale to the public. It will probably only be released in cities / areas where an electric car infrastructure is in place already. The Nissan LEAF was launched at Nissan’s headquarters at the beginning of August this year. This electric car is powered by an array of thin laminated lithium ion cells which are capable of putting out 90 kW of power. The Nissan LEAF’s front-mounted motor delivers 80 kW / 107 hp.

Face it, the Nissan LEAF is not a bad looking car. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m used to the idea of a normal fuel-driven car. The whole concept of the electric car still needs to be imprinted in this auto enthusiast’s mind. It will probably be a while before one can buy a like the Nissan LEAF in the classifieds. It probably will not be released in South Africa. The country has no infrastructure in place to support an electric car.

Kief Cars » Green Cars

2 million Toyota hybrids sold

Nissan LEAF Electric Car