2nd Gen Prius Plug-In already in the works? September 2016 release noted

I haven't commissioned a study, but anecdotally, I have heard from many vehicle owners that the HOV sticker incentivized them to purchase the qualifying vehicle over a different model. When the program began, it incentivized Hybrid vehicle sales tremendously, which lead to consumers gaining confidence in the technology. Just as significantly, those 100,000+ vehicles continue to emit less air pollution than the cars consumers would have purchased instead.

 

I have a PHEV, and I get some HOV access. However, that's not why I bought it, and unfortunately for me the HOV access is only on the main highways, but most of my driving is in the city. The PHEV support for HOV lanes does not extend to usage of HOV lanes within the city.

However, if I could use all the in-city HOV lanes, I might pay $5000 (CAD) more for the car, at least if I needed it. Indeed, our government is debating whether or not to monetize the HOV lanes. eg. Pay an extra $500 per year for the privilege of using the HOV lanes.

But for me it's kind of moot. For the main road we take to work every day that has an HOV lane, we usually have 4 people in the car already, and will usually have at least 3 people for some time, because our daycare is at our work and both of us parents work at the same place, so the whole family goes to the same location every day. Thus, we get access to the HOV lane on the way to work anyway. And by the time my kids are out of the daycare, the city plan is to remove the HOV lane for an LRT.

tl;dr: HOV lanes access is a pretty strong incentive to get a PHEV or EV, if you need to use those HOV lanes that is.

The other evidence that HOV lane access spurs PHEV purchases is the fact that California pricing of used Plug-in Priuses fell through the floor when California stopped issuing HOV stickers. I still don't understand why someone would ask to pay less for a PiP than an equivalently spec'd Prius though.

 

The California stickers last until 2018 and I believe they are transferrable; that is, if I sell my car, the new owner gets to keep using the sticker. But the price of gas is very low, so interest in fuel efficiency, unfortunately, has fallen in the market.

 

If a person bought a hybrid mainly for the HOV access, they are likely to replace it with a the non-hybrid they wanted when the HOV access stops. That's what happened when gas prices dropped. So HOV access gains spike in sales during the time it is in effect, but it might generate resentment from those stuck in the normal lanes.

In regards to the plug in hybrid access, some buyers of the Prius PHEV and even the Volt admit they bought the car just for the HOV stickers, and had no intention of plugging the car it. California should just sell the stickers outright, and raise some funds for the state.

 

No matter what kind of social system you create in any endeavor, some people will cheat and take advantage of it against its intent. That doesn't mean the entire effort is wasted. Some people don't behave themselves well.

 

and if they buy an alt tech car for hov or any perk, they may be surprised and fall in love. then they might buy another, perk or no perk.

 

That is always a possibility. It just doesn't seem to be panning out consider the uptick in SUV and truck sales with lower gas prices, and Prius sales remaining a fraction of Corolla or Camry sales. Perhaps the gen4 will help there by being more than just a great hybrid. With a longer EV range, the next PHEV should be more attractive to those that want to plug in.

Since California also had and has decent financial incentives on hybrids and plug ins, HOV access seemed unnecessary. Since you had to buy new or used with inflated price from the stickers, it isn't much different than just selling the stickers themselves.

 

obiously, gas prices are counter acting everything. that doesn't negate the premise. plenty of people bought hybrids to 'save money', and have gone back to gassers due to gas prices.

 

That's been there for a looong time But I'm excited that they are hinting it should be coming out soon. I saw some pics of it too recently which I think are valid. It does look different from the Gen IV a bit.

Interesting that the Hyundai IONIQ is building the SAME car with 3 different platforms while Toyota is separating the looks of the Plugin.

Meanwhile the Plugin Van will exist in two platforms I think (read Pacifica).

 

too bad they don't have a date on it. still, it's good for those who think it isn't coming.

 

On the Belgium Toyota site the date is set on september.

Come back in september to discover the new Prius Plugin.

 

For some reason I heard in the upcoming weeks the new PiP, and the production release in September as a 2017 model. I could be wrong, I have been wrong many times before regarding the 4th gen

Definitely expect wireless charging as part of it and 20 miles EV.

My question is...will it be 58 mpg combine afterward? And can it make it to 30 miles EV...?

 

Sigh... How many times has the American public bought gas-guzzling cars, only to cry when gas prices rise?

People shouldn't blame the President when gas prices go up. They should blame themselves for being so stupid.

 

Government, save me from myself! It's the socialist way!!

 

unfortunately, it's the only way.



Merged.

i love this, very creative!



Merged.

i doubt 58, probably more like the non eco. 30 miles on back roads 30-40 mph? i wouldn't be surprised. probably 20 epa as you say.

 

....well PiP2 better be good if it comes. PiP1 had no competition except Volt, now PiP2 has Fusion Energi and other cars, not to mention lack of HOV access. I just do not know, but Toyota probably knows if new HOV stickers are coming for CA. If I thought Toyota was definite on PiP2, that would tell me they know something good is coming from CA re: HOV incentives.

 

Toyota's goal has always been to deliver a choice capable of being self-sustaining. That's means returning a profit and selling in high-volume without any special incentives (tax-credits or HOV privledges).

That's why approach has been so different from the supposed competition... Volt.

In reality, the competition is other traditional cars. Having to share the same production facilitates and share the same showroom floors, that should make sense.

Sadly, many haven't seen that. For that matter, they don't notice market changes either. But then again, that's typical consumer behavior.


Merged.


I found this recent quote encouraging: "Chrysler introduced the new Pacifica at the Detroit Auto Show less than two months ago. Production started Monday, and units will be at dealers in four to six weeks."

How could I not respond to that? The new plug-in hybrid option came quite unexpectedly and will be delivered right away. That means no hype to deal with in the meantime.

A fundamental problem with GM was the mindset that early announcements were beneficial; consequently, it set them up with the "over promise, under deliver" problem. And despite over a decade of struggle with that, the problem persists.

We continued to get a lot of grief from Volt enthusiasts about the gen-2 Prius plug-in. For quite awhile, they would spin the discontinuation of the gen-1 as an end to the entire endeavor. Toyota finally to say something to put an end to what became a greenwashing effort. Ironically, there was a ton of hype for gen-2 Volt, yet GM only rolled it out in limited quantity and only to 11 states. To make matters worse, they announced the rollout of Bolt nearly 2 years in advance of actual availability.

In contrast, we will likely learn very little about the gen-2 Prius plug-in until shortly before rollout begins nationwide. Why rush? After all, it has proven a winning formula. The original (gen-0) model of Prius was revealed in October 1997 and sales began just 2 months later. That blew the minds of other automakers and proved to be effective.

What good does it do to hype a rollout so long in advance? That forces the automaker to attempt to match what was promised much earlier, even it if means sacrifice due to market change. That's a hard lesson learned with gen-1 of Volt. How come GM continues to make that same mistake?

Thankfully, we aren't seeing that with Chrysler. It will be intriguing to see how the market responds to that. It should provide a clue what we can expect with Toyota.

 

Totally agree: The range of PiP 1 is terrible. I think that PiP 2 needs 2x-3x the battery capacity and range as PiP 1.

 

Range wasn't the point. People in this market had a very difficult time accepting the low-cost approach of augmentation though. So the next, will target that market shift. If nothing else, Toyota has shown the ability to adapt to change.