2009 Prius could be radical!

Waiting is not a good option with technical items unless you really don't need or want it now.... no matter when you buy, you will be missing out because the better one is right around the corner. Who knows for how much and whether any tax incentives will be involved and whether there will be bugs to deal with being a generation change.

So.. I feel its good to just jump in and when they come out with a new one wait till its not buggy, then buy. Some love the thrill of messing with beta things, but I don't like doing that when I'm paying so much and so dependent upon it.

 

Prius aside, a Hybrid V6 Camry will be a bad idea. Look at the sales number of Accord Hybrid. Last month, Honda sold 351 Accord Hybrids (less than 1 per dealership), a very very small portion of Accord's sales. Why bother? It make sense for Lexus, but not for Toyota.

 

40,000 miles a year, I'll have this one worn out by then. Sounds about perfect.

If this one ever gets here (Feb 8 - 27th) supposedly..

 

Same here Windstrings... I need my car to be out there every day...

 

I like the idea of the Prius always being on the cutting edge. One thing about a Prius, it sure does attract attention. I do not mind driving something that a few people will say, "Ugh!" too. It's not for everyone.

The Li-ON battery pack is a no-brainer and will be pretty standard by '09-'10 and standard in the other company's hybrid products.

 

Then time to sell 2006 Prius and then buy 2009 Prius if those features are really attractive.

 

With the advancements I know we will be seeing over 100 MPG for the first time. However, I hope the '09 is not a plug-in. Although the majority of Prius owners want it, a big reason I am a Prius lover is because of its environmental friendliness. What good is a plug-in Prius that sucks in a lot of juice created via coal power? The last time I checked, coal is far more polluting to our planet than the small amounts of CO2 emitted by our 1.5L engines. You're only kidding yourselves if you think you're doing good for the world by buying a plug-in.

 

I don't agree. Plug-Ins are environmentlly sound for many reason. 1st, look into how much electricity it takes to refine a gallon of oil into gasoline. Compare that to how far you could get with using that electricity to charge your battery instead. So using gasoline already requires electricity and coal. 2) Plants are basically idling during the night and coal is burned, generating wasted power so that the plant can be grought back online in the morning. In CA more then a million cars could be charged with this available power. 3) Coal plants can be built cleaner today but is currently not enforced. If we change our economy it would make sense to clean them more. We don't have to use coal, many people use solar cells in their home to charge their house and car (see darelld for example) we could also look into other sources like nuclear.

So I don't think we are kidding ourself, I think people who believe gasoline is the only alternative and that it's "clean" are kidding themselfs

 

Couldn't really tell from the article: Are we looking at a redisigned 2009/10 in the US as well as Japan? What's been the lag time between features appearing in Japan and then coming to US?

 

Also "household" electricity is produced in many different ways around the planet.

In Norway for instance, all our electricity comes from Hydro Electric plants - pretty clean if you ask me...

 

Yeah this idea (very common here un US) that EV cars are somehow dirtier then Gasoline engines i svery annoying. What do people think? That drilling oil in the middle east, africa or south america, transporting it here, refinng it into gasoline (and/or disel etc), transporting all that gas on trucks to your gas station and then pumping it into your car uses less energy or is somehow cleaner then then using power delivered to your house? I don't get it. I guess the oil industry have done a lot of marketing or something... anyway, progress can't be stopped for ever.

 

Electricity from coal Vs petrol is a wash regarding CO2, and pollutants wise (NOx, hydrocarbons. Sox) worse with coal.

But Coal is not a mandate. Make your own, or buy green electricity from your supplier, and advance the cause.

 

Go ahead Toyota! Make it not a plug in. Then I can keep mine much longer!

 

I don't think I made the point I was trying to so I'll restate... Yes it takes a lot of energy to convert oil into gasoline, so in essense by using gasoline you are still responsible for the coal that is used to create that output. You are right about that. What I am saying is that it takes a lot of juice to recharge a battery so the potential green value created by using less gasoline is diminished somewhat by the use of coal (if you live in the United States) to generate the electricity. I don't think that is the direction to head if we are going to truely become more green.

Better regenerative methods to capture lost heat, a more punch-per-pack battery (lithium-ion over nickel-metal hydride), and possibly solar panels to store more energy would greatly reduce the use of the ICE more in our hybrids. With more horsepower outside of the ICE, Toyota could go with an even smaller motor and/or code software to limit the use of the ICE further under certain speeds/acceleration.

No, I don't think gasoline is the answer but if we can go from gulps, from sips through a straw, and finally to sips through a Hi-C straw I think we made great progress in the 12 years hybrids have been around. Although we are using gasoline which was created through the use of electricity, we will be using less of it than ever before. Using technologies to limit/rid the use of polluting, non-renewable resources for energy is the path needed to become green. Plugging in your car counters that goal.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tomdeimos @ Feb 5 2006, 11:25 AM) [snapback]204107[/snapback]</div>

Don't get all excited about Prius going Plug-in. When they go Plug-in you don't have to use the Plug-in feature if you don't want to. The vehicle will still use regenerated power to make electricity from the braking and coasting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HeavyCruiser @ Sep 18 2006, 07:03 PM) [snapback]321398[/snapback]</div>

Yea, but if he's like me, he won't be able to stand it knowing there is better technology he doesn't have.... and better gas mileage.