Comments on: Toyota Will Offer Plug-in Hybrid by 2010

By: R Walker

R Walker — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:01:59 +0000

You’re an idiot

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:38:12 +0000

Well said! Wake up America!

By: Big Red

Big Red — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:22:44 +0000

My wife routinely gets 58-60 in her Prius in combined driving without trying to hard and I get mid 50s with a less light touch on the gas. Battery technology will only get better and this is a direction we should go so long as the economies of producing electricity remain reasonably cheap and we move away from the environmental issues of coal. The environemntal issues of batteries will get better as well and fuel cells loom on the horizon. Wind, solar, tidal and even new nuclear Thorium reactors all hold much promise. The national or corporate slights of some are interesting in this day when most Americans who can invest in their futures, do, which for many of us means Toyota stock or other multinational corporations with good producsts and management. It is a world economy no matter how national pride may factor in.

By: Brian Curnow

Brian Curnow — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:23:05 +0000

Well so far – so well and good. It seems Manufacturers are finally waking up to what we want at long last – Toyota with the Prius Plug-in concept and the Chevrolet Volt and Saturn Vue plug-in hybrids being early moves in that right direction.

But don’t ignore what Volvo are up to with their Plug-in Concept announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show which looks the most promising of the lot from this side of the pond.

The reasons being idendepent Electric Motors on all four wheels therefore no wasteful Transmission losses, regenerative braking, a small onboard omnifuel motor to recharge the batteries when away from mains power. It’s a simple and therefore totally workable solution offering unlimited distance for minimal operating cost – Volvo are suggesting just 2 cents per mile !

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1184402424&channel=294380095

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1312350978&channel=212469179

This could be the right way forward, and it seems to us to make a lot of sense from this vantage point.

By: Floyd Burton

Floyd Burton — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:56:20 +0000

I sense a bit of prejudice toward the Japaneese people. We are driving our 4th Toyota Prius and have never been happier with these cars. We trade car's every 2 to 3 years not because they are worn out but because we like new cars.

We always average between 47 and 52 MPG in and around town and on long trips. We always drive with the AC on also. I don't think the Ford Focus or Honda civic could do that and if you have driven a Prius, it is a much easier car to enter and exit and has the interior room of a mid size car.

We will be ordering a new 2009 Prius this April and trading our 2006 model in, the 2006 will have around 36,000 miles on it.

By: jeffdietzel@hotmail.com

jeffdietzel@hotmail.com — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:58:52 +0000

What will it cost on your electricity bill to charge this car? I don’t spend a lot of gas already, if this increases my electricty bill by more thatn $50, then it’s a wash. I have a HCH right now.

By: Ron Pallack

Ron Pallack — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:23:47 +0000

The electrc plug in HAS ALREADY BEEN INVENTED AND DESTROYED, KILLED...it was the EV1 by General Motors. Rent the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car" at Netflix if you can stand being angry and sick. Here are the details of this wonderful car that TOYOTA had a hand in killing.

Driving the EV1 was unlike driving any other car. No key. No maintenance (except periodically rotating the tires and a coolant change at 100,000 miles). No visits to the gas station. No lag between pressing the pedal and getting a response from the engine. Jackrabbit starts — 0 to 30 in 3 seconds, and the prototype’s top speed was 183 mph.

Production cars were limited to a top speed of 80 mph.The second generation GM EV1 purpose-built electric vehicle had software upgrades, refined ride and handling, improvements in fit and finish, and new plush upholstery, with two battery technologies: An advanced, high-capacity lead acid, and nickel metal hydride.

Propulsion…The Gen II was powered by a 137 horsepower, 3-phase AC induction motor and used a single speed dual reduction gear set with a ratio of 10.946:1. The Gen II propulsion system had an improved drive unit, battery pack, power electronics, 6.6 kW charger, and heating and thermal control module.

Batteries…26 valve-regulated high-capacity lead-acid (PbA) batteries were standard for the EV1 battery pack. These advanced batteries were an improvement over the pack available with the first generation EV1 and offered greater range and longer life and a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack. This technology nearly doubled the range over the first generation battery and offered improved battery life as well.

Range…The EV1 with the high-capacity lead-acid pack had an estimated real world driving range of 55 to 95 miles, depending on terrain, driving habits and temperature. …The range with the NiMH pack was even greater. Again, depending on terrain, driving habits, temperature and humidity, estimated real world driving range varied from 75 to 130 miles.

Charging…The EV1 could be charged safely in all weather conditions with inductive charging. Using a 220-volt charger, charging from 0 to 100% for the new lead-acid pack took up to 5.5 to 6 hours. Charging for the nickel-metal hydride pack, which stored more energy, was 6 to 8 hours.

Blended Re-generative Braking…Braking was accomplished by using a blended combination of front hydraulic disk, and rear electrically-applied drum brakes and the electric propulsion motor. During braking, the electric motor generated electricity (re-generative) which was then used to partially recharge the battery pack.

Aluminum Structure…The structure weighed 290 pounds and was less than 10% of the total vehicle weight. The 162 pieces were bonded together into a unit using aerospace adhesive, spot welds and rivets.

Composite Body Panels…The exterior body panels were dent and corrosion resistant. They were made out of composites and were created using two forming processes known as Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) and Reinforced Reaction Injection Molding (RRIM).

Aerodynamics…The EV1 was the most aerodynamic production vehicle. It had a 0.19 drag coefficient. It was shaped like a tear drop when viewed from above. In fact, the rear wheels were 9 inches closer together than the front wheels, which allowed the tear drop shape. The EV1 was the world's most energy-efficient vehicle platform.

Specifications…The EV1 had an electronically-regulated top speed of 80 miles per hour. It came with traction control, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, airbags, power windows, power door locks and power outside mirrors, AM/FM CD/cassette, tire inflation monitor system and numerous other features.

By: Sean A.

Sean A. — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:52:53 +0000

I tried to be a consumer of American cars we each had new Saturn Ion’s and both cars developed problems while still under warranty we lost our ass because we had to switch car brands mid stream because of them being unreliable. The cars would just quit running with out warning and had to be towed we could have been killed if this had occurred on an interstate.
Buying American is a great slogan but in my case it turned out to be a poor investment my 04 Saturn was completely paid off 3 years early less than 25k miles on it. I had planned to keep it but it began to have these computer issues and the fourth time I had it towed I said never again and went to Toyota and traded it on a scion and aside from the monetary loss I am satisfied the scion XB is reliable and economical. Two weeks later we traded my wife’s 06 Ion on a Toyota prius.
The reason people have bought foreign cars is varied but for me I want reliability.
We tried to get along with used cars but around here we have to screw the mechanics into the ground when they die because they are so crocked. We but new because we were forced to.
I don’t have the time or money to cull through the American automakers products.

By: Sean Adams

Sean Adams — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:15:26 +0000

I already have a prius will toyota design their new parts to be installed into my car. True we can get the calcar upgrade but we will wait until the car is out of warranty long before we make any warranty busting decisions. We live in the Baton Rouge area and we do mostly urban driving with daily commutes under 20 miles we would benefit from a plugin.
We just got our new prius in May 07, mpg is dependent upon who is driving wife = 40mpg. I get 45mpg city about 50 oh the hwy.
Since I am a professional driver and have learned and use the SMITH system of driving I can get better results when driving due to this low impact/common sense style of driving.
My dream is to have a car that is a plug in with solar cells on the roof to charge the car when it is parked in the sun. If we had that we could have a car that is almost emission free.

By: sean

sean — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:40:14 +0000

Dear all,
Pls read.

TOYOTA OPEN ROAD BLOG

FOR THE RECORD: How Many Hybrids Will We Sell, When Will We Sell Them and in Which Models?
Posted: 18 Jan 2008 02:35 PM CST
We’re responding today to a couple of stories, including one of our own, that are a little misleading.
The first of the stories to which I’m referring reported that Toyota has promised to sell a million hybrid vehicles per year by 2010.

The stories that contain this information refer to a presentation by Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota Motor Corp., at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 13. But they’re not exactly correct.

What Mr. Watanabe said, when he was commenting on a pair of new hybrids he said would appear next year, was this: "Our long-stated goal is to begin selling a million hybrids per year sometime during the 2010s."

He was saying that sometime in the coming decade, we anticipate selling a million hybrids a year, not that we anticipate doing so in 2010 or before. As you can see, what’s been reported and what Mr. Watanabe said are two different things.

How easy is it to make this kind of mistake? It’s very easy indeed. In fact, to our very great dismay, Your Faithful Servants here at Open Road made the same mistake. As you will have seen if you’re keeping track, we’ve gone back into our own Watanabe announcement post and corrected it.

While we’re at it, there’s another clarification that needs to be made. It involves whether, and when, every Toyota model will be available as a hybrid.

The Toyota vision is, and always has been, that every one of our model lines eventually will offer Hybrid Synergy Drive as an option. Mr. Watanabe mentioned that during his remarks at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last week. In doing so, he was echoing the remarks, and the vision, of Fujio Cho, his predecessor.

We’ve seen stories recently suggesting that we aim to meet that goal by 2010, or by 2012. But that’s never been our position or our timetable.

Our target for offering Hybrid Synergy Drive in every model line is, and always has been, the 2010s. We’re talking the ’10s decade – in other words, by 2020 at the latest. This is what we’ve always said, and what we’re still saying.

We feel compelled to clarify these points because misinformation, no matter how honestly and unintentionally it is presented, can have an awfully long shelf-life. And misinformation benefits nobody.

~Contributed by Jon F. Thompson, Corporate Communications