Featured EV laggards Toyota and Stellantis complain about proposed EPA emissions rules

The efficiency gains on the larger vehicles weren't enough for Americans to pay the premium. They were also smaller than the minivans being sold in the US.

 

Say what you want about 'em, at least they're easy to fix?

Your experience is part of why I rent those on demand.

Well, that and I'm pretty strict about owning the smallest thing I can use for the greatest fraction of my needs.

 

The Previa was an awesome vehicle that I'm sad they stopped selling in the USA long before the 2001 model. We also never got the diesel option here in the USA. But there was a mid-engine supercharged version which was pretty cool. That, and the stick shift versions, also pretty cool.

But alas! What does it matter. I can't afford a normal sedan at current prices, let alone a minivan.

I can see the EV and EPA thing doing one of two things: 1. either manufacturers like Toyota keep on saying and lobbying that they can't sell EV's, that there's not enough market for them or 2. they will eventually comply, but the cost of vehicles will only keep increasing above what they have been squeezing out more people out of buying a car.

 

IIRC the Estima hybrid also used the more expensive nickel metal hydride traction pack. That's okay because the Volkswagen battery Microbus is (hopefully) just around the corner. If it gets produced in AWD will be all over it

 

The ID.Buzz is a cool concept I hope does become a reality. Maybe some day wages will catch up with inflation and I'll stop complaining about prices, or the used car market will go back to normal and I'll stop complaining about prices.

 

In defense of this chemistry, it does not lock up the active electrode material in a slowly growing, inert layer. To the best of my knowledge, all Li-X cell chemistries slowly lockup the lithium ions in the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer.

BTW, anyone who figures out how to make an Li-X without an SEI layer will likely get a Nobel Prize. Not only will the cells last several human lifetimes, they will have nearly 2-3x energy density. <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

I loved my buses back in the day. Home of the same-day 0-60!

 

I loved my air cooled VW!!! But it wasn't just the style, but all the utilitarian and practical quirks it had that gave it character. Like running the windshield washer off of extra air put into the spare tire. Or the heat exchangers for heating the cabin that were powered by the same fan that cooled the engine. Or the engine fan and alternator sharing the same pulley. Or the cam shaft that each lobe ran two lifters, for two different cylinders. Ah! The oil pump and cam shaft also shared the same gear going to the crankshaft. And don't forget the simplistic instrument cluster. It was elegantly simple and ingenious IMO.



Now I drive a Toyota with more buttons on the dash and touch screen menu and steering wheel than a main frame terminal, half of which I still don't know what they're supposed to do, and not one of them is powered by extra air in the spare tire. That, and all the digitally controlled gauges, most of which don't really tell me anything important, but the gauges I'd prefer aren't there with no hope of ever installing them.

 

I sure miss mine too. But I also realize that there's just no way we could make those run clean enough that we could have them on the roads in the numbers that we need.

 

.... and how that simplicity sometimes resulted in a valve punching thru a piston. Yep - v dub simplicity meant easy rebuilds too. The local group used to have contests completely removing & reinstalling the engine & startup ... which could be accomplished in just a couple minutes (w/ quick disconnects everywhere)
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Ya, I know. But that doesn't mean every new car has to be an iPad with wheels in order to save the planet.

But then again, I'm probably the only person in the world that would want a new EV that has things like a windshield washer that runs off the spare tire instead of being on some menu on an iPad.

The VW I bought had bad brakes, engine and several other things. I was able to rebuild the engine, redo the brakes and other parts and sell it for a whole lot more that what I had paid for it.

Now I have a Gen 2 Prius that I've owned for 2 and a half years that I've never driven, because it needs a new engine and a bunch of other things, and looks like it's going to cost me $6,000 (or more!) just in parts, not the mention the time fixing it. The engine doesn't look like it's connected with only a couple wires, a fuel line, accelerator cable and 4 bolts like the ol' VW's engine.

 

The downside of that 40 hp 1200 cc motor was it could pollute more in a month than a new prime would do in its 100k miles. And the bug is far far away from 5 star safety. To this day burned into memory is they look of the fatal crash victim who flew out of a bug upon impact. Some things do get better w/ time.
Still ... i do love love love me a built notchback.

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Un doubtedly. Which is why I sold my 1972 VW Super Beetle and bought a 2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid with the money from the VW as a down payment.

But don't tell me the Avalon must be more fun and better looking. I bought it for practicality reasons. The car is rather boring IMO. But it gets me and my family from point A to point B safely and comfortably without spewing a huge cloud of toxic gases along the way. Maybe a very small cloud, since it's not an EV, but definitly not one like the ol' VW.

 

"How many US states tax vehicles based on how much they pollute and consume vs their MSRP?..."

That's partially a rural divide question...Rural drivers feel they have to rely on big cars like pick-ups. They see it as unfair to subsidize small fuel-efficient cars. In Virginia, we tax extra all cars over 25-MPG out of respect for the rural complaints.

I do wish the Feds would withhold transportation $$ from states which penalize fuel efficient cars, but that's just me.

 

We are beating up Toyota here, but probably hybrids are important approach.

To me FORD and GM are basically throwing in the towel, saying they cannot compete.
They are strongly supporting 100% US-made EV's as a way to force the US public to buy their cars, and also they see it as a way to get rid of the unions, longer term.

Let's get real.

 

hmmm - perhaps there's a philosophical rationale that makes sense of that taxing policy. Aren't the urban building blocks (lumber - sand gravel - oil - metals etc) usually located in very non-urban areas? Many of those harsh environments, (snowdrifts, giant dirt road potholes Etc) that the non-urbanites exist in - require larger vehicles with greater ground clearance.
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I agree with @wjtracy that rural drivers tend to only feel they have to rely on big, utilitarian vehicles. I do not agree that many of the "harsh" environments and roads in rural USA truely require larger vehicles with greater ground clearance. As someone who has lived in rural, dirt road, snow drift country for all my life, it's pretty rare that someone out here truely needs a pickup or SUV. For most rural dwellers of the USA, a common sedan would fulfill their needs just fine.

The truth is that most of the rural USA does have good enough road repair that you can make a sedan work just fine. However, what does make sense is for those who do go off the beaten path for recreational purposes. The only times I wish I had some generous ground clearance and perhaps AWD is when I'm up camping and hiking in the mountains and either have to take it quite a bit slower in the Avalon, or I just can't get into an area that I would like to visit since the ground clearance is too low. Well, there's that reason, and the reason of towing something very large, like a trailer with ATV's or a large, goose neck camper trailer or a big trailer for work purposes. That's another reason for owning a pickup or large SUV.