Toyota Motor Corp. announced on Tuesday that it can improve its hybrid's fuel efficiency by 10 percent with a new design for semiconductors.
The Japanese automotive manufacturer is looking to test the new semiconductors on the road within the year, according to Green Car Reports. The company developed the design with Denso, its in-house technology partner.
Today's combustion engines have lower friction and consume fuel and air more precisely than older ones. They also do a more efficient job than older engines at burning fuel.
Semiconductors are located in the power control unit (PCU) of a hybrid vehicle, Green Car Reports said.
The flow of electricity from the battery to the electric motors is controlled by the PCU. The PCU also sends electricity created from deceleration and braking back to the battery. This electricity is referred to as regenerative energy.
Rather than just using regular silicon, the company's new technology uses silicon carbide to develop the semiconductor wafers. The automaker's engineers were able to use silicon carbide to decrease the loss of energy that turns into heat, Autoweek reported.
"One of the keys to improving fuel efficiency is improving power semiconductor efficiency," said Kimimori Hamada, project general manager of Toyota's electronics development division.
Silicon-carbide semiconductors are more efficient because they can switch on and off at higher temperatures. They can also save space usually taken by PCUs.
Toyota said PCUs are responsible for almost 25 percent of a hybrid's loss of electrical power, as well as for a 20 percent decline in semiconductors, Green Car Reports said.
The company said using a new silicon carbide compound can reduce these losses by a huge amount, and that it could also bring the size of the semiconductors down by 80 percent.
Toyota's upcoming Prius is currently experiencing a 10 percent gain in efficiency over the current model, Green Car Reports said.
While the new semiconductors are not confirmed to be included in the latest Prius models yet, Toyota proposed to "boost development activities" so the technology can be included in the car sooner.
