The PIP will lose market share in 2013 to the VOLT and be overtaken by the Tesla

Fixed ya post for ya!

 

While I can appreciate the humorous intent, please remove. We don't need to start rewriting other member's posts.

 

Totmacher, you forgot the smiley face at the end of that.
If you were serious, please let me know, I would be happy to provide you with the correct information.

 

Who is we? Who should we be?

It would have been wonderful for all the plug-in hybrids to team up in the fight against traditional vehicles. Things didn't work out that way though. The "over promise, under deliver" situation and "leapfrog" attitude made things very uncomfortable and we've been struggling to find common ground ever since.

In other words, there has to be agreement on goals.

What are they? For when? For who?

 

and yet you constantly attack first time posters

 

Did you notice the interior trunk picture? They conveniently placed a piece of luggage on the folded backseat. The Fit has a flat loading space once the seats are folded but apparently the batteries are taking up that spot in the EV making the seat fold higher up.

I wonder who came up with the idea that ~100 miles is good enough EV range? I mean, just looking at the picture, it seems like Honda could get a flat floor space if they stuffed a few more batteries in the lower trunk space. Ditto for the Leaf and Focus EV. There's clearly enough space for more batteries. Don't know about weight though. But Tesla seems to be doing fine with the Rav4 and its 40 kwh battery.

 

Our household has agreed on one loosely defined enviromental goal.
Decrease household carbon footprint by X% in XX years
We try to keep on top of new technology and 'best practices'. Then estimate our current energy usage and then set our short term goals by filling in the 'Xs''.
Over the past 10 years we have:
1. Installed solar panels
2. Reduced kWh consumed by ~20% (dumped cable, use CFL)
3. Reduced waste stream by 50% (recycling & composting)
4. Reduce BTUs used to heat home by 80% (installed woodstove
5. Reduce gasoline consumption by >50%

We had a number of options for goal #5. We opted to purchase a fuel efficient car. Given our circumstances (commute, driving style, budget) the PIP works for us. At this point I am convinced we would have achieved our goal by purchasing any of the currently available EVs or PHEVs. I am certain I would be getting even better results in a Volt. However, back in october We were not in a position financially to purchase a Volt. As it turns out despite its limited EV range we were able to exceed our goal by switching to a PIP. This played a critical role in our decision to purchase a PIP and on how to maximize fuel economy.

This site should focus on:
1. encouraging visitors to purchase fuel efficient vehicles.
2. providing feedback on PIP performance, help troubleshooting and tips on maximizing fuel economy.

 

Have you ever been inside a Fit? It is absolutely NOTHING like an iQ, Smart, or Fiat. And even those three cars are not exactly the same either (though obviously MUCH closer to each other than the Fit).
I think the point the poster was making was basically the same one USB has been making in regards to the cargo capacity of the pip vs. the C-Max. The former didn't lose much cargo capacity due to its batteries, due in no small part to its smaller EV range. The other vehicles had to sacrifice cargo capacity to fit their batteries.
RAV4 EV is another vehicle, btw, which doesn't require any sacrifices in cargo capacity for its electric storage needs.

 

I'm not convinced that automakers have a lot of concern about their plug-in vehicle sales. My understanding is that they're building these cars in order to comply with fleet "ZEV Credit" requirements of California. Without these credits, an automaker cannot sell its vehicles in California. As long as an automaker sells 5,000 of these vehicles (or so), the requirement is met.