PriusChat started the party early back in April on Earth Day and Toyota USA has finally joined in the 10th birthday party celebration with a marketing effort of their own. Meetings in Japan began on "Project G21", as the Prius was codenamed, back in 1990, but the North American market never saw an actual car until the North American International Auto Show in 2000.

It's been a couple of months since I've seen a good example of bad journalism, but this article had my attention from the title: "Chevy Volt priced in the US: Cheaper than a Prius".

And there it is. After 3 years of speculation, we finally have a price for the 2011 Chevy Volt: $33,500 after the $7,500 federal tax credit, or $41,000 MSRP. This price includes destination and a massive list of standard features.

GM is getting very aggressive with the Volt's lease price. The 3 year 36 month lease will be $350 per month with a $2,500 down payment due at signing.

Toyota's "Prius Team" was nice enough to recently post some special preview details on the 2011 Prius right here in the PriusChat forums. The big news? Well, there really isn't any. Toyota will now offer the Black exterior paint color with the Bisque interior color option. This was not an option available on the 2010 Prius, but Toyota has added it based on customer feedback. No other color changes.

The fact that Toyota has invested the time and engineering to develop a plug-in version of the much-loved Prius is fantastic. That they will be performing long-term, real-world tests with fleets over the next year is impressive. That they gave me one to drive around for a week is downright silly and careless. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad.

We've been hearing about the Chevy Volt for about 3 years now, seen a total redesign during the prototype phase, and we've almost seen the project canceled several times. Now, finally, tomorrow at noon, Eastern, GM will announce pricing for their "Extended Range Electric Vehicle" Volt.

GM is under a lot of pressure to price the vehicle competitively after Nissan blew the industry away with their $32,000 price for the LEAF.

What's your guess on the Volt's pricing?

Hooray, we finally have a "Prius drives into something" story without it ending in vows to sue Toyota and the driver not taking responsibility! According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, a Prius driver's foot slipped off the brakes and onto the gas pedal, causing the car to drive through a Wells Fargo's plate-glass window.

The driver was helping a passenger in the car, which was parked next to the ATMs, about 9 p.m. when the accident happened, Capt. Dan Walters said.

USA Today's editorial board has laid out its case on why an increase in the gas tax is the real way to promote energy conservation. Throwing out facts like increased sales of fuel-efficient cars following the $4 gas prices of 2008, a more than doubling of the United States imported oil over the last 37 years, and that gas taxes are less than half what they were per mile in 1970, USA Today makes a strong argument for a phased-in increase of the gasoline tax.

Toyota Canada has recently launched a new Facebook page for customers to learn more about the Prius PHV that is hitting the streets. Available at http://www.facebook.com/ToyotaCanadaPriusPlugin , the Facebook page includes video introductions to the Prius PHV, photos, and other information on the PHV. All in both English and French!

This week hosts Russell Frost and Danny Cooper go it alone with the regular panel taking a well deserved day off. In what turns out to be an all EV episode Danny & Russell discuss new electric bikes, new Nissan EVs, the Nissan Leaf battery warranty survey debacle, the RAV4 EV lives again through Tesla partnership, Honda relents and says they'll make a plug-in and an EV, Google signs a 20 year contract for windpower and an Aptera spin-off company announces another potential vehicle that makes no sense.

Hosts: Russell Frost and Danny Cooper