Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive is already one of the most advanced gasoline-electric powertrains on the planet, but the Japanese automaker is looking to squeeze even more technology into its high-efficiency vehicles, with the use of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors that were developed in collaboration by Toyota, Denso and Toyota Central R&D Labs.
According to Toyota, the semiconductors used in today’s hybrids and electric vehicles have more electrical resistance than SiC semiconductors, accounting for an electric energy loss of around 20 percent, so switching to the more-efficient SiC semiconductors should result in improved performance from the electric drive components. To find out exactly what kind of improvement that would be, Toyota will begin a year-long test (starting this month in Japan) of a Toyota Camry Hybrid prototype that utilizes a power control unit (PCU) equipped with these new semiconductors.
While Toyota has not revealed when it plans to start using them in production vehicles, it doesn’t seem like it will be ready in time for use in the next-gen Toyota Prius expected to debut later this year.
Click past the jump to read more about the 2015 Toyota Camry Hybrid SiC Prototype.
Toyota Camry Hybrid SiC Prototype originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 4 February 2015 13:00 EST.
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