For Immediate Release
April 17, 2003
Toyota's Develops New Hybrid System

High-voltage Control Architecture Increases Efficiency,
Driving Pleasure
Tokyo—TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION announced today it has completed a next-generation hybrid system that radically enhances the synergy between electric motor and internal combustion engine by employing a high-voltage power-control system for greater motor output. THS II—developed under Toyota's "Hybrid Synergy Drive" concept—boasts improved environmental performance and drastically raises the "fun to drive" quotient for hybrid vehicles.

The new system represents the latest evolutionary stage in Toyota hybrid technologies, starting with those constituting the Toyota Hybrid System (THS) that powered the Toyota Prius into history books in 1997 as the world's first mass-produced hybrid passenger vehicle. Like THS, THS II places greater emphasis on the role of the motor than do systems that use a low-output motor to temporarily supplement a primary-drive-force engine.

As the world's leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota has aimed to revolutionize the automobile for the 21st century. Following the Prius, it introduced the THS-C-driven Estima Hybrid featuring a continuously variable transmission and the THS-M-propelled mild hybrid Crown, both in 2001. The technologies used in THS and its derivatives made possible the commercial launch of the TOYOTA FCHV fuel cell hybrid vehicle in 2002. Toyota has now sold more than 130,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide.

THS II highlights
  • Allows complete electric-motor-only operation when engine efficiency would be low
  • Meets the strictest emission regulations already in effect, or scheduled to go into effect, in various countries.
  • Introduces several efficiency-enhancing advances, including:
    - the use of a high-voltage power circuit to boost hybrid system voltage to 500V for higher motor and generator efficiency and substantial reductions in loss during energy transmission
    - the optimized placement of the motor rotor's permanent magnet
    - a higher-performance hybrid battery
    - improvements to the engine
  • Uses the synergy created by pairing a 1.5-times greater-output motor and a 1.5-liter high-efficiency gasoline engine to achieve acceleration equal to or greater than that of a conventional vehicle powered by a 2-liter gasoline engine.
Plans include efforts to heighten THS II’s performance for application in heavy vehicles that require larger engines. The next-generation Prius, which features the new system, is currently on display at the ongoing New York International Automobile Show.

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