Filed under: Hybrid, Technology
LoJack systems draw their power from your car or your motorcycle’s (or laptop’s) battery to send their signal. With a traditional vehicle, this generally isn’t a problem as the draw is small and as long as the a car gets driven regularly, there’s plenty of juice on tap. Hybrids are another matter - with so much already reliant on a car’s battery, and more devices coming, every little bit of energy counts.
For hybrid applications, LoJack has introduced a self-powered system that includes a proprietary energy supply. The company hasn’t offered all the details yet, but it could be a re-engineered version of the LoJack for Trailers, which also comes with it’s own battery. The trailer system battery lasts for five years and we’d assume the auto version would be good for at least that long.
The system will come to market next year, which might give the auto industry time to make enough hybrids that need to be tracked. Last year’s IIHS list of top ten most stolen cars only had one car on it - the rest were SUVs - and at number eight on the list of least stolen cars was the Toyota Prius. Besides, in the car theft capital that is California, the last thing you need is LoJack for hybrids: you’ll find most of them hypermiling on city streets or doing 95 mph in the carpool lane…
[Source: LoJack]
Continue reading Stealing Current: LoJack goes no-power for hybrids
Stealing Current: LoJack goes no-power for hybrids originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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