Featured Tested: 2022 Toyota Prius Prime's Time Has Come and Gone

I'm pretty sue that you have not talked to "most americans" to confirm that prejudicial statement. Almost all of the ones I talk to are envious when they find out that the Prime is providing me with 61.4 real MPG on the freeway without changing my driving habits.

The ones that want big cars would rather not have gas hogs, but the American car manufacturers have been complaining that they can't make an efficient car for so long that everyone has bought into it.

They don't have an excuse now, since every patent that made the Prius so efficient has now expired. There's no reason that a more modern 'synergy system' can't be built into every car and truck line to provide instant efficiency gains.

 

i don't have to talk to them. look at model sales, no prejudice involved, just data.

the problem lies not in the stars dear brutus, but in ourselves.

besides, you're in california, might as well be the moon

 

a sure solution for climate change

 

2021 was not a normal sales year with the pandemic and chip production that was happening being bought up by other industries. If not for the tsunami and Fukushima disaster disrupting their supply lines previously, Toyota would not have had a stock pile of chips, and their sales would have been just as dismal as the rest.

As it is, 59k annual sales for the Prius brand is far from its 234k peak, which kinda supports topic's point.

Considering the Bolt was under a stop sale order for half the year because of the battery recall, 24k for 2021 is sort of impressive.

Well, there is the reason of cost. The Corolla hybrid is $3000 more than the ICE model. Which is a big part of why it is only 11% of total Corolla sales. There is also the reason of power-split systems not working for every application, which is why the Tundra hybrid doesn't use it.

 

depend on which country we're talking about

Electric cars hit 65% of Norway sales as Tesla grabs overall pole | Reuters

 

• 1.9 gal/100 mi - hybrid
• 2.9 gal/100 mi - gas
• 150 gallons per year = 15,000 mi/yr / 100 mi
• $4 * 150 = $600 gas savings per year
• 5 years to reach $3,000 in gas savings

Good thing gas prices are not going higher.

Bob Wilson

 

The Ram 1500 2WD with V8 and eTorque mild hybrid system sees the same cost savings in fuel over the V8 without it.

What does Ram charge for the eTorque system?

$0

If Ram/Chyrsler/FCA/whoever they are now couldn't subsidize the mild hybrid through avoiding CAFE fines, charging $1500 for it would be a profit grab.

It would be great if all cars with engines were hybrids, but hybrid systems aren't free. As long as someone else could sell a non-hybrid for lower price, they all will. Otherwise, if the others don't have an excuse to sell a hybrid, then Toyota doesn't have an excuse to make the Corolla, Camry, etc. hybrid only.

 

was this a typo or did ram/stellantis/whomever find a way to suck even harder?

 

The truck with the eTorque V8 is rated 3mpg better than the plain V8(can't compare the V6 because it is eTorque only). Because the truck uses midgrade, the annual cost savings in fuel end up the same as between the Corolla hybrid and non-hybrid.

 

i'm not trying to make the prime look bad, or hurt anyones feelings about their binky. it's a great vehicle in my opinion, and could be made even better, if sales swayed the manufacturer to make improvements.

bur regardless of skewed covid sales, prime was in deep doodoo practically being given away in the northeast.

it doesn't matter what excuses mfgs. make, or buyers. 20 years of prius has resulted in very limited success at moving hybrids into a major player.

still, their effect on peoples thinking has been positive in many ways, and has contributed to some societal desire to reduce fossil fuel usage.

you can say the same about bevs and hydrogen. who knows what the future will bring, but they are all positive steps forward in technology.

r&d does not go wasted.

 

I was reminded again this weekend of the reason that Hybrid sales don't approach conventional ICE sales. Here we are at 22 years since hybrids hit the US market and people have no general education about hybrid costs and benefits.

I was at a social gathering in an Oregon seniors community when the subject of hybrids came up. The first question that came up was "how much does it cost to replace the battery" followed by "How long does the battery last". Virtually all of the people thought that the battery cost was above $30,000 and that it would last around 8 years.

When the idea of a PHEV came up, there was even more confusion. There was general acceptance of the idea when I explained that a PHEV with 30 mile range will handle virtually all daily errands and furthermore it can recharge at home in 2 hours with a $200 EVSE.

I think that a good public education program might do a good job of making PHEVs more widely accepted, although at the expense of BEVs. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

Car dealers are still one of the main reasons for confusion and FUD about hybrids and EV's. Whatever they may have remaining on their lots these days aren't likely hybrids or EV's. And even if those were available in numbers, salescreatures are usually disincentivized to sell them due to lower frequencies of $ervice and monie$ from $ervice. It is always about the money. I'm not saying they always lie, but...

Sadly, I see this every day with customers I deal with (I work retail grocery at a store that actually talks with their customers regularly). We converse mostly about food, but other non-contorversial subjects come up, and cars are one of the safe subjects. I'm known as the "EV person," and I find it necessary to unconfuse the FUD regularly with fellow employees and patrons alike. I didn't want that role, but I'm OK with it. What I hear as quotes from stealership stories is frightening. It is 2022 and this still goes on?! What the heck?

 

amazing. 10 years since i bought my pip, when they tried to talk me into a minivan or pickup, still the same old story.