Yo Baby

The Russians are entering the gas/hybrid auto market with an edition called the Yo.

Here are the important points from a NYTimes.com article 12-13-10(Billionaire Backs a Gas-Hybrid car to be built in Russia by Andrew Kramer):

 – Can use gas or natural gas to generate electricity

 – Spearheaded by Russian industrialist Mikhail Prokorov(who also owns the NJ Nets NBA team)

– “While two electric motors propel the Yo, a small petroleum engine that can burn either gasoline or natural gas will run nearly continuously to generate the electricity they consume. Instead of charging a battery, as in the hybrid Toyota Prius, the generator in the Yo either powers the motors directly or fills a bank of capacitors that can hold only a small charge.”

– “The designers say that at about 67 miles per gallon, the Yo will achieve better fuel economy than the Toyota Prius (about 51 miles per gallon), in part because it is lighter.”

– “The Yo, which is expected to go on sale in Russia in mid-2012 and cost about $14,500, will have a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a range of 680 miles.”

– “The fuel economy, the designers say, also owes to its unusual engine, a Soviet-legacy design where the pistons move in a circular motion. This approach to internal combustion, called a rotary vane engine, had some use in Germany in the 1930s but was largely abandoned later except in the Soviet Union, according to Andrei G. Ginzberg, chief engineer for the Yo”

– “The Yo is intended for domestic sale in Russia,”