Toyota has filed a patent for an electric compressor system. The Toyota Supra could be one of the strong candidates to debut this technology.
Rumors about the future Toyota Supra have been many and among them are the possibility of adopting a hybrid engine. For now, very little is known about the engine of the new Japanese sports car, but the recent publication of a patent for the Japanese brand may give us some clues.
According to this patent, the next Supra will be able to use an electric compressor. The patent registration dates back to May 2015 and was published last week by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This means that, for at least the last two years, Toyota has been working on developing this technology.
Toyota's patent focuses on simplifying an electric compressor system, with the aim to lower production costs and increase component durability and performance.
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We remind you that the use of electric compressors is nothing new in the automotive industry – see the excellent results achieved by this solution in the Audi SQ7.Therefore, we are looking forward to the results of this technology applied to a sports car like the Supra. There is no certainty about its applicability in this model, but it is known that Toyota Motorsport GmbH is collaborating with Toyota in the design of an electrically assisted internal combustion engine.
The new Toyota Supra should be presented later this year, with sales starting in 2018. The project is being developed in partnership with BMW. From this shared platform a successor to the BMW Z4 will be born, in addition to the Supra.