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BMW, Toyota To Build Hybrid Supercar Together
We should not be surprised if most, and eventually all high performance supercars will be hybrids in the coming years. A trend that has already started with the latest breed of hypercars such as the Mclaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder.
In case you were not aware of it already, BMW and Toyota are in a partnership for quite some time now, to develop the next generation electric sports car.
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There will of course be two versions of this car - one is said to be a high performance BMW Z4 replacement and the other, a Toyota Supra successor that's been already witnessed in the FT-1 concept.
BMW & Toyota will pool in their resources and technological know-how to make this car a reality. BMW is likely to produce the internal combustion engine, and make use of its carbon-fiber reinforced polymer technology and lightweight aluminium construction expertise (seen in the BMW i8). The electric drive technology is likely to be derived from Toyota's Le Mans racing experience.
AutocarUK says, this new hybrid technology that will be used in the car will make use of supercapacitors, that would make it the world's first production car of its kind.
Supercapacitors have several advantages over existing lithium-ion battery technology. They are lighter, can store kinetic energy more efficiently, and charge and discharge much faster. This makes them ideal for use in high performance cars. They do not retain charge for as long as conventional batteries, but that's not a concern in case of supercars.
The report also says that the supercapacitor powered, front engined sports car will only be the first of several joint projects between BMW & Toyota that will see the two auto giants sharing engineering know-how and components.
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