A hot new hybrid vehicle that its makers hope will be the first of a new wave of energy efficient car technologies is currently undergoing testing in Israel. The car is based on a standard Toyota Prius, but substitutes that car’s engine for an electric engine incorporating a high capacity battery and a jet turbine.

A number of car makers are presently going to head-to-hear in order to deliver highly energy efficient designs with low associated greenhouse gas emissions to the marketplace and, within this, the idea of electric cars that derive their power from jet turbines is not 100 per cent innovative.  However, the makers of this particular car – Israel-based firm ETV Motors – claim that their design is a realistic market proposition.

The engine used in their adapted Toyota Prius is designed to charge it while in motion, while the battery is described as possessing sufficient power for trips of up to 80 kilometres off a single charge.  With trials currently taking place in terms of individual components, ETV anticipates that full car assessments will begin in 2010.

The whole idea behind providing electric car recharges from within is that the car will not be reliant on external electric car recharging points, although these will still be able to be used, if required.

Car Turbine Engine

The car engine turbine is the result of a collaboration between ETV and an unspecified Israel firm working within the aviation industry. According to ETV, it can accept a multiplicity of different fuels, including biofuels and older diesel and gasoline types.  Its rotation speed will be a consistent 80,000 rotations per minute, in order to provide maximum energy efficiency at all times.

According to the firm’s chief operating officer, Arnold Roth, ETV is in talks over whether it could/should make the relevant car parts in-house, or sub-contract these requirements out to another firm.

“We have been approached by Tier 1 manufactures who are interested in our technology”, he stated.

In terms of cost, Roth added that the new vehicle would fall below current, market-available designs.

Hybrid Vehicle Technology

Commenting on the new Israeli hybrid vehicle technology, one industry figure highlighted its strengths, but stressed that it was still some way from making its market debut.

“Today, every major automaker is now hard at work developing its first production plug-in vehicles in the next four years using existing technology”, Calcars.org founder Felix Kramer stated.  “Once ETV Motors has fully developed prototypes, potential customers will be able to analyse both the performance and cost benefits of the new systems compared to other contending advanced technologies.”