Toyota Will Offer a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle by 2010

We have Dr. Andy Frank for nudging auto manufacturers in the direction of PHEV's. The beauty of it is, that after hacking into existing systems, the tinkerers figured out the whole plug in thingie CAN be practical. Now, once you actually HAVE one of these puppies made by the real manufacturers? The REAL tinkering will begin. I forsee battery ad ons that let you do 100 gas free miles via tinkerers.

 

This is great news. I'd be much more interested in purchasing a Prius with a plug-in feature.

 

It looks like Toyota is on track with a plug-in Hybrid Prius in 2010. Chevy on the other is clueless as to when the Volt will be ready and is even suggesting buying a Cobalt to tied you over!

"Asked what he would tell people unhappy that they can't get their hands on a Volt, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said: "That's too bad. They'll have to visit a Chevy dealership and buy a Cobalt or a Malibu."

Sheer arrogance. Jaw drops to the floor...

Read the LA Times article:

Toyota aims to roll out plug-in hybrids in 2010 - Los Angeles Times

 

CleanMPG Forums - View Single Post - 2008 NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) - showing its green side

Picture of MFD on phev-6 test with 62 mph ev/glide limit.

 

You ought to read up a little better. Toyota has about 100 test mules running around the landscape. Volt is still developing their card board picture of the Volt. Toyota doesn't need to show anyone anything. They simply DO it. As for the Vue? Wow, they have a whole ONE car? I guess that's good for GM, on GM standards.

 

The article mentions trying to determine IF people want to plug in their vehicle. At $3 per gallon coupled with poor air quality and most vehicular trips at less than 50 miles . . . who does not want to bypass gasoline stations!? It seems hard to accept that auto manufacturers still cannot accept the paradigm shift to PHEVs!

 

There sure is a lot of miss-information in this thread.
First, we only know of four plug-in "test mule" Prius in North America. They are the current body with two of the current NiMH batteries. They (Toyota) also have requested permission of the Japanese govt. to test similar vehicles in Japan, but we don't know for sure how many they have built or will build. Perhaps Ken can enlighten us.

The "Chevy Volt" is clearly a marketing exercise. You DO NOT let your competition know what you are going to introduce re production several years in advance. It's marketing because just look how they have paraded the one working example around before the media. Yes, there really -is- a working Volt. I've even seen video of different people driving it, including Alan Alda. I don't want to know how much it would cost to manufacture. Does anyone here other than raving "Buy American" enthusiasts actually believe GM will mass produce this car? Who will they sell a $100,000+ EV to? Oh, and one minor point, the batteries in the current Volt will not work in the "real world". They do work in "concept car" use. How long before they're ready for use by the general public?

 

Just published today is an article stating:
Lutz said the battery technology has shown no problems so far and a working lithium-ion battery pack for the Volt could be demonstrated by June 2008.
GM, Toyota battle turns electric - Boston.com
Saying GM "could" have ONE this year also implies they may NOT even have it by this year ... not that there really IS one.
Please provide a link to said video, as most have only seen the Volt being pushed. Thanks

 

I'm still trying to figure this out. Does the announcement of a 2010 plug-in mean the 2010 model year (coming out in late 2009) or does it mean the 2011 model year (out in late 2010)?

 

everyone's situation is different, but currently i am averaging just over 6 cpm on the Prius, 2 cpm on the Zenn. thats a 4 cpm difference.

couple that with the fact that 68% of the power i use is renewable (56% hydro) so the "clean" question is not a question at all.

keeping resources in the country is not a question...(we dont pay another country for wind, water or solar)

granted my Zenn does not cover all my needs, but at the same time, does not prevent me from doing all that i need to do since i have the Prius to rely on (it is also in full time use). but the Zenn does provide 100% of my commuting needs and yes i am lucky in that, but there are a LOT of people who could do it to.

in my signature, i post costs of the Zenn and the difference in cost to the other main cars we drive or drove (the Corolla is being used by father in law who has a 60 mile daily commute and it replaces his 15 mpg vehicle). in the two months we have been doing this, we have never needed the Corolla one time.

but the bottom line takes the miles driven in the Zenn and the cost difference if those miles were driven in the Prius. and then adds the miles driven in the Prius that would have been driven in the Corolla... so the amount saved is a worst case scenario... also, miles driven in the Prius as a family (the Zenn is a two seater so family trips not an option) are not counted in that calculation.

right now, i only average about 100 miles a week in the Zenn... but its winter. that figure will increase come summer...so whats 100 miles a week? that is "only" $4 a week in gas savings...but there is just so much more to the picture than that

 

cpm?

 

cents per mile

 

looking @ the zenn its also 70& smaller than the prius and no airco?
so 6 cpm prius or 2cpm zenn... looking at the car.. the prius ecuals the zenn and even better compared

here a nice funny video
YouTube - ZENN on the Rick Mercer Report

 

toyota is a very conservative company and not nearly as innovative as many of you think. Their moto isn't "look what we created" but rather "whatever you do we can do better than you"

remember, honda had their hybrid insight on sale for a year before the first prius, and the prius didn't become a popular 'hot commodity' until the 2004 redesign, the anticipated phev prius will make its debut w/o lithium technology, which will follow a year or two later.

toyota may dominate the hybrid industry, but their lack of courage may allow everyone to catch up to them for the phev industry. speaking of which, please check out my new thread where i talk about a new phev i saw at the detroit international auto show called the fisker karma.

 

My favorite quote from the artical;

Just like the Prius really.

 

Prius = December 1997

Insight = December 1999
.

 

its comical but in a very tragic way. along with Canada, the US is pretty much doing what it can to prevent these vehicles from being attractive enough to buy and i would not have bought my Zenn if i were legally limited to 25 mph either

most states (all except my state WA, and Montana) limit these vehicles to 25 mph max...studies show that most wont buy the vehicle unless it does the higher allowed limit of 35 mph like mine does.

the video is a bit dated (not as much as the NEV laws!@!) and things have gotten better. but for the most part, you have companies like Zap circumventing the laws by offering 3 wheelers and a motorcycle endorsement requirement instead...

i guess gas is still king

 

what i mean is you compare the zenn with the prius
the zenn without airco ( or not? )
its a lot smaller

i think when you put the HSD prius technic in a car the size of the zenn
and use a smaller engine then the 1.5 from the prius the ZENN HSD will also get you to around 2cpm and even have aircon, criuse control etc.

i thin the zenn is a funny car buth you can not compare it to the prius

 

oic... i am not in any way inferring that the Zenn is better than the Prius as a transportation vehicle. if the Zenn were 3 times the car it is now, it still wouldnt stand a chance against the Prius.


but isnt that why we bought the Prius in the first place? because there is no good reason to have 300 horses ready to roar while sitting at a stop light? teckogeedom aside, the Prius simply gets you there more efficiently than most and its pretty nice ride at that.

now the Zenn is battery operated. its not technologically advanced in anyway whatsoever. the core technology is about 100 years old. it has a laundry list of compromises and it will not even come close to fitting the needs of a great majority of us here. heck, it does not fit all my needs either, that is why i still have my Prius, Corolla and F-150...(hoping to dump something soon!!)

BUT

it does fit 100% of my daily commuting needs.
it is preferred for the estimated 13 trips a week (actually that is now only 6-8 trips a week since the Zenn is now used for commuting to work and back 6 days a week between me and my SO)

so how many can

1)afford to spend $15,000 on a niche transportation option?

2) be in a position to use it effectively? it has limited range, speed and passenger occupancy (its a two seater)

not easy answers to say yes to. its easy to see why darelldd has his RAV4 EV. heck other than a range that eliminates less than 2% of the commuting population, there is no compromise for him.

i do it, because somewhere, somehow, we need to get back to what darelldd was lucky enough to get, a full featured, full sized, full speed EV. i am not on the bleeding edge of technology, i'm on the bleeding edge of REALITY