Green Automobiles Rev Up At Tokyo Motor Show
丰田新一代混合动力车成东京车展亮点
As the competition for greener cars ratchets up, Toyota Motor Corp. signaled its strong endorsement Wednesday of a new generation of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles that may serve as a successor to its best-selling Prius.
随着环保汽车领域的竞争加剧，丰田汽车(Toyota Motor)周三表示了对新一代油电混合动力汽车的强烈支持，这可能会作为丰田汽车畅销车普锐斯(Prius)的后续产品。
Toyota, along with rival Honda Motor Co., is pursuing plug-in hybrid technology. Such cars can be recharged via an electrical socket and drive many miles on electricity but have a gasoline engine that charges the battery when it runs out of power. Ordinary hybrids such as the Prius run on a combination of gasoline and internally generated electricity but can travel just a short distance on electricity only.
丰田汽车正与竞争对手本田汽车(Honda Motor)一道推进可充电混合动力技术。此类汽车可以通过一个电源插座进行充电，凭藉电力可以行驶许多英里，但同时也拥有一个汽油发动机，在电源耗尽的时候给电池充电。普锐斯等普通混合动力车可以通过汽油和内部发电共同提供动力，但单凭电力只能行驶短距离。
'The plug-in hybrid vehicle . . . can be driven without anxiety about how much power might remain in the battery or whether there may not be charging facilities nearby,' said new Toyota President Akio Toyoda at the Tokyo Motor Show, as he unveiled the Prius plug-in hybrid concept car. 'We believe the plug-in hybrid is more than ready for a full-fledged adaptation in the near future.'
丰田汽车新任总裁丰田章男 (Akio Toyoda)在东京汽车展上发布了这款普锐斯可充电混合动力概念车。他说，驾驶可充电混合动力车，你不必担心电池还剩下多少电量，也不用担心附近有没有充电设施。我们相信，在不远的将来，可充电混合动力技术肯定能够发展成熟，得到广泛运用。
Also Wednesday, Toyota Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said gasoline-electric hybrids would account for 30% of Toyota's global sales by 2020. Within that group, the new generation of plug-in hybrids would claim a significant share, he said. He didn't provide details but said plug-in electric hybrid cars should 'spread the way the Prius has.'
丰田汽车执行副总裁内山田武(Takeshi Uchiyamada)周三说，到2020年油电混合动力车可能会占据丰田汽车全球销量的30%。他说，在这一类型中，新一代的可充电混合动力车将占据相当大的份额。内山田武没有透露这方面的具体情况，但他说，可充电混合动力车应当会沿着普锐斯的道路继续前行。
Plug-in hybrids still face a high-cost hurdle, but Toyota says it will try to contain that by giving them a relatively short electric-only driving range, limiting the amount of expensive battery capacity they need. The plug-in Prius prototype can go only about 20 kilometers on battery power, then would operate like a regular hybrid, it says.
可充电混合动力车仍然面临着成本较高的障碍，但丰田汽车说，此类车的纯电动行驶里程可能相当短，从而控制汽车所需的昂贵电池的容量，努力控制这方面的成本。丰田汽车说，这款可充电普锐斯原型车单凭电力只能行驶大约20公里，随后运行就和普通混合动力车一样了。
The push comes as Japan's Big Three -- Toyota, Honda and Nissan Motor Co. -- gamble on the future of vehicle technology. Missing the next big thing could mean years of development and heavy spending to catch up, which many rivals faced when the Prius unexpectedly caught on earlier in the decade.
日本汽车三巨头──丰田汽车、本田汽车和日产汽车(Nissan Motor)目前正在纷纷押注汽车技术的未来。如果哪家汽车公司错过下一代重要技术，可能就要花费数年的研发和大举投入才能赶上；本世纪早些时候普锐斯出人意料大受欢迎的时候，丰田汽车的很多竞争对手就曾面临过这种局面。
All three car makers also demonstrated all-electric battery cars at the Tokyo show, which opened to the media Wednesday. They include Honda's boxy EV-N, Toyota's FT-EV II mini four-seater and Nissan's skinny two-seated Land Glider.
日本三大汽车公司都在东京汽车展上展示了各自的全电式电动汽车，其中包括本田汽车方正造型的EV-N、丰田汽车的FT-EV II微型四座车以及日产汽车外表简练的Land Glider两座车。东京汽车展周三向媒体开放。
But behind the scenes, only Nissan appeared to stake its future on full electric cars -- which, unlike hybrids, can travel only as far as their battery charge lasts -- while Toyota and Honda executives expressed skepticism over that technology. Toyota's Mr. Uchiyamada said the company believes full-electric battery cars 'will likely gain only a highly limited share' of the global auto market.
但在幕后，似乎只有日产汽车将其未来押在了全电式汽车上。与混合动力车不同，全电式汽车行驶距离完全由电池决定。而丰田汽车和本田汽车管理人士对这项技术表示了怀疑。丰田汽车的内山田武说，公司认为全电式汽车可能只会在全球汽车市场上获得非常有限的市场份额。
Honda Chief Executive Takanobu Ito said fully electric cars 'are likely to face difficulty in becoming a mainstream solution in the foreseeable future.' Honda, he said, is therefore 'devoting our energy in getting the most fuel-efficiency out of the battery system and electric power motors to come up with a truly compelling hybrid.'
本田汽车首席执行长伊东孝绅(Takanobu Ito)说，全电式电动汽车要在可预见的未来成为主流产品可能会面临困难。他说，因此本田汽车正集中精力从电池系统和电力马达中获取最高的能效，以研发出一款真正有竞争力的混合动力车。
Norihiko Shirouzu / Mariko Sanchanta
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