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Hybrid vehicles are predicted to carve out 2.5% – 2.8% market share of new vehicles sold in 2008. The 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid again leads the pack accounting for 50% of all hybrids sold. This over-achieving fuel efficient gas/electric hybrid recovers energy from the braking system when the brakes are applied and uses that energy to charge a battery.
Many other car manufacturers, including Honda, Ford and Chevy, marketed fuel efficient hybrids in 2008 with limited success. But their efforts continue as the industry goes green. Toyota has three of the top five best selling hybrid cars (see below).
Best Selling 2008 Hybrid Cars:
1. Toyota Prius
2. Toyota Camry
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Hylander
5. Ford Escape
Currently Toyota uses Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries in the Prius and other 2008 Hybrids. The engine is called “Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD)”, a refinement of the original Toyota Hybrid System (THS) used in the 1997-2003 Toyota Prius. The name was changed to accommodate usage outside the Toyota brand. Toyota describes HSD-equipped vehicles as having E-CVT (Electronically-controlled Continuously Variable Transmission).
Toyota is expected to continue leading other manufacturers in fuel efficient automobiles over the next few years. Toyota will be introducing lighter materials (carbon fibre and aluminum) and plug-in Lithium-Ion batteries with a goal of achieving 90 mpg.
Honda employs a parallel drivetrain with an electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission. Honda calls it’s technology “Integrated Motor Assist (IMA)”. IMA wasfirst introduced on the Insight in 1999. It uses an electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission. The implementation employs a parallel drivetrain..
A spokesman for GM recently predicted that 4 out of 5 cars sold in the year 2020 will be fuel efficient hybrids as a result of increasingly tougher emissions standards. More information on 2008 hybrids.