PriusChat Forums - Prius and Hybrid News

market share for electric vehicles?

Cacti — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:09:11 GMT

"So how far away is meaningful market share for electric vehicles? Certainly no one can be sure, but the Electrification Coalition offered its opinion earlier this week. According to AutoBlog, the coalition calls for plug-ins to make up 25% of the market by 2020."

Florida giving $5,000 rebate for Prius PHEV Conversions

Danny — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:24:31 GMT

A new story entry has been added:

Florida giving $5,000 rebate for Prius PHEV Conversions

Quote:

Are you a Floridian and have been looking at converting your Prius into a plug-in (PHEV)? Well, today may be your lucky day, especially if you live in South Florida. The Department of Energy has approved the state of Florida's plan to use $500,000 of federal stimulus funds to offer 100 people a $5,000 tax credit in exchange for converting their Prius.

More Prius fun to distract you from your day job

Prius Team — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:23:00 GMT

For those of you who just can't get enough Prius fun in your day, here's a link to our games on the Prius Facebook page (Toyota Prius Boxes | Facebook). Here you'll find not only the Virtual Drive game that Doug posted last week, but also our other fun Prius related games including the new one, Touch & Go, a great distraction for those bored at work.

Enjoy!
Erica G, Prius Product Marketing, Toyota USA

BioCar: 2010 Prius Test Drive/ Essai routier

Tideland Prius — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:56:03 GMT

YouTube - Test Toyota Prius III

2010 Toyota Prius V Drive Time review

Tideland Prius — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:49:23 GMT

YouTube - 2010 Toyota Prius V Drive Time review

(Best Motoring) Eco Battle: Insight LS vs. Civic Hybrid vs. 2008 Prius S vs. iQ 100G

Tideland Prius — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:21:00 GMT

For those who are unfamiliar, Best Motoring is a Japanese car show that features and showcases sports and tuner cars and puts an emphasis on performance. Plenty of their "reviews" (so to speak) involve track time at Tsukuba Circuit (located near Tsukuba, Japan). They also have "touge" (pronounced toe-gay) which is basically a mountain run time trial.

Here, they test a better equipped Insight (LS model), base 2nd Gen Prius (S model) a Civic Hybrid and a nicely equipped iQ (G model).

The iQ comes with a 1.0 litre, 70hp engine. It weighs a mere 840kg and comes with an optional CVT (as equipped in the video)

YouTube - Eco Battle @ Tsukuba - Insight vs Civic Hybrid vs Prius 2008 vs IQ

(Best Motoring) Fuel Economy Battle: Insight G vs. Prius L vs. Golf TSI

Tideland Prius — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:17:46 GMT

YouTube - Best Motoring - Honda Insight vs Toyota Prius vs Golf TSI fuel consumption

I'm amazed at the numbers. First one is highway, second is.. well as you can see in the video, bumper-to-bumper traffic

(Best Motoring) 3-Lap Battle @ Tsukuba: Insight G vs. Prius L

Tideland Prius — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:11:24 GMT

For those who are unfamiliar, Best Motoring is a Japanese car show that features and showcases sports and tuner cars and puts an emphasis on performance. Plenty of their "reviews" (so to speak) involve track time at Tsukuba Circuit (located near Tsukuba, Japan). They also have "touge" (pronounced toe-gay) which is basically a mountain run time trial.

At the wheel of the Insight is Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya (kay-e-chi su-chi-ya) and in the Prius is Naoki Hattori (Nay-o-ki hat-tor-ri)

Anyway, here's the video. Even if you don't know Japanese, just enjoy the race and take in the visuals.

YouTube - 3-Lap Battle in Tsukuba - Honda Insight vs Toyota Prius (Golf TSI as "camera car")

Prius Plug-in deliveries to begin in mid-December

Danny — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:21:50 GMT

A new story entry has been added:

Prius Plug-in deliveries to begin in mid-December

Quote:

... at least in Japan. According to a Toyota Japan press release, the details of the leases should be finalized by the end of November, with deliveries of those highly sought after Prius PHEVs beginning in mid-December and continuing onward until the country's 200 units are all gone.

Prius Leads Police Chase

ggood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:46:50 GMT

Prius Leads Police Chase | NBC San Diego

A elderly man driving a Prius led California Highway Patrol on a slow speed chase on three highways Friday morning.

Best and Worst New Cars 2010 - CR

bwilson4web — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:22:08 GMT

In contrast to the 2009 "Best and Worst" Consumer Reports, the 2010 issue (available on news stands) listing the owner satisfaction breaks a 5 year record of the Prius being the top rated vehicle in owner satisfaction (pp. 2):

92 - Dodge Challenger
91 - Ford Fusion Hybrid
89 - Porsche 911, Corvette (base)
88 - Toyota Prius
87 - BMW 35i, Corvette Z06, Boxster, Jetta TDI
. . .

It is now fifth.

The Prius still comes in highest rated in:

family cars - least expensive over five years (pp. 4)
family cars - most reliable list: Prius, Fusion/Milan gas and hybrid, Altima hybrd, Camry hybrid (pp. 8)
family cars - predicted reliability score: Prius followed by Fusion/Milan and rest (pp. 11)
family cars - best new-car values: Prius (pp. 19)
wagons and hatchbacks - Prius 44 overall MPG / 32 City MPG/ 55 Highway MPG (Consumer Reports testing) (pp. 21) ... Smart ForTwo Passion 39 / 30 / 44 (*)

The interesting part is the section "Fuel Economy" that in one table lists the Prius as a "Wagon & Hatchback" (pp. 21) and in the next table puts it in "Small Cars" (pp. 22.) Interesting because in all other sections and the USA EPA ratings, the Prius is listed as a midsize, family sedan. The other remarkable claim is there are two vehicles that have a fuel payback even if fuel costs nothing:

Mercedes-Benz GL320
Volkswagen Jetta TDI

The modeling used for this section probably needs a closer look but I get the impression the "Tax rebate" pays a large part of this remarkable diesel fuel savings.

The vehicle profile still lists the Prius with an 80 "road test score" (pp. 162) and all but one of the other metrics have a solid, best rating. One step below a solid, best rating line is "Accident Avoidance." The funny thing is "road test score" entails the largest number of subjective, tester ratings. But with "more than 50 individual tests" (pp. 40) making up this number, we remain blind as to how this number is calculated for any set of vehicles.

In the Consumer Reports "Quick Recommendations" (pp. 30) the "Lows" are "Steering feel, rear visibility." Without the full list of 50 elements, we can't really tell everything their testers fault but it looks like steering rated a comment. Then the "Road-Test Highlights" has more of a clue (pp. 186-187.)

It will take a little longer to convert the "Road-Test Highlights" and "Which Cars are Safer" into a single score metric. With luck, we should be able to reverse engineer something that approximates their scoring formula. We have enough vehicle scores that we should be able to figure out their weighting.

Overall, when non-subjective metrics are used, Consumer Reports tends to give the Prius the highest ratings. It is only in the subjective area of "Road-Test" that clarity remains obscure and the "Fuel-Economy" section that claims two diesels run 'for free.' As for owner satisfaction, it would be helpful to see a count of the responders since a small number of vehicle owners could give either inflated or deflated "Owner Satisfaction" scale.

Bob Wilson

Mercedes 2010 ML450 Hybrid just became available to the public

Rybold — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:44:07 GMT

2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid 4Matic Launches Today for Lease Only

The ML450 Hybrid combines Mercedes� 3.5-liter V-6 (running on the Atkinson cycle) with two electric motors to produce a combined output of 335 hp and 381 lb-ft of torque. The sophisticated transmission allows the SUV to be powered solely by the electric motor at speeds up to 34 mph, and helps the ML450 Hybrid achieve a fuel economy rating of 21/24 mpg (city/highway).

2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid 4Matic Launches Today for Lease Only ? Automotive News & Car Rumors at Automobile Magazine

City of Houston adds 10 Plug in Prius

ToyotaFleetManager — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:10:58 GMT

November 17, 2009

Houston, Reliant plug-in for gas/electric hybrids * update

The City of Houston it teaming with local electric retailer Reliant Energy to add ten plug-in hybrid electric cars to the city's current fleet of vehicles, plus several public recharging stations.
The city has purchased the ten 2009 Toyota Prius', (with five more to follow) which have been converted to charge via plug-in. Reliant will set up ten recharging stations, with seven of them being made available to the public.
99 MPG: The display of one of the City of Houston's new plug-in Toyota Prius' as I sat in the passenger seat going North on I-45.

The project is designed to "raise consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars and to promote Houston and Texas as an electric vehicle center."

"Our pilot project gives both Reliant and the City of Houston the opportunity to learn more about the performance of electric vehicles and the needs of drivers while promoting consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars," said Reliant Energy President Jason Few in a statement. "The more we know about consumer habits, the better we can provide the infrastructure and the products and services to meet the needs of electric vehicle owners and drivers in Texas," said Few. "Ultimately, this is about providing consumers the tools - in this case the charging infrastructure - and information - like that we will get from this trial - so they can make informed choices about how they use energy."

It's not a cheap pilot project: each car is about $23,100 standard, plus another $10,000 for the A123 plug-in conversion.
"It won't happen in a day, it won't be coerced and it won't be mandated," Mayor Bill White said at the press conference this afternoon. "But this I will predict. In the next decade one of the biggest changes you'll see in energy use in this country will be the adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles."
The city currently has one of the largest hybrid vehicle fleets in the country, with 693 vehicles, many of them Prius'. There are 55 more Prius' on order plus seven hybrid garbage trucks.
The big difference betwen the other Prius' and the ones is fuel efficiency -- the new vehilces could get as much as 100 mpg and won't need to use the onboard gas engine to charge the batteries as frequently.
Another lousy camera-phone shot of the Prius display.

The public charging stations will be located at City Hall, the Health Department office at 8000 Stadium Drive, and at the Mayor's Citizens Assistance Office at 9615 Rustic Wood, Kingwood.
Two of the vehicles will be used by the Mayor's Citizens Assistance Office, two by the General Services Department, one by the fire department and five in the health department.

Ford Fusion is Motor Trend's 2010 Car of the Year

Danny — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:37:57 GMT

A new story entry has been added:

Ford Fusion is Motor Trend's 2010 Car of the Year

Quote:

Let's take a moment to applaud the fine piece of engineering that is the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Congrats to Ford for putting together a great car.

2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Fusion

Auto Recession: The Toyota Way

hill — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:47:04 GMT

Even what remains of "The Big 3" must be envious.

Route to Recovery Blog Archive Toyota plant workers sheltered from the downturn | Blogs |

Now THAT's how one handles hard times.

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