Comments on: Toyota Unveils Plug-in Prius

By: joy29

joy29 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:14:49 +0000

i hope that plug in hybrids will be out in the market soon, for plug in cars are the solution for today's rising gas prices. -from the Auto Biz Guru’s point of view

By: Aussie Bob

Aussie Bob — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:24:16 +0000

I wouldn’t be too focussed on the 8km limit – the EV1 had a far greater range, and my new Prius has a vast empty storage area under the boot floor. I’m actually surprised they got 8km – the standard Prius battery pack (the one they used for the TEST) is not designed to sustain long distances – and this is entirely appropriate for the hybrid configuration. I’m hoping that there’ll be a plug-in upgrade available to extend the life of this Prius – seems adequately well built to go well past 10 years (I’ve maintained far lesser vehicles for longer).

Rob M

By: Roger Nicholas

Roger Nicholas — Wed, 21 May 2008 01:00:33 +0000

I have an 05 Prius and I like getting 50 mpg. I would also be interested in whatever retro-fit available to make it a plug-in as well. However, let me assure you, as soon as we start buying less gas, our dear Uncle Sam is going to figure out a way to get his pound of flesh to pay for highway usage. The “gummet” loves getting your tax dollars. They will have some kind of metering device on your cars charging system for that assessment. It’s just a matter of time. Although, clean air isn’t something you would have to sneeze at.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:38:29 +0000

GM and Toyota already tested and proved the NiMH batteries out, just before the pulled the plug on the EV1 and Rav4-EV.

By: Doug Thompson

Doug Thompson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:14:42 +0000

GOD HELP US $4.00 A GALLON IS DESTROYING OUR WAY OF LIFE. INFLATION IS OUT OF CONTROL, WE CAN"T AFFORD TO BUY HEALTH INSURANCE, WE ARE DESTROYING THE ENVIORNMENT, WE ARE AT WAR FOR OIL,WHEN WILL THIS NIGHTMARE END?

SOLAR PANELS + PLUG IN HYBRIDS IS THE ANSWER!

By: Green Republican

Green Republican — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:04:20 +0000

My commute is only 11 miles round-trip, and the stores/restaurants I patronize during the week are within 5 miles of home or work. An all-electric range of 25 miles would easily suffice for my weekdays ………………………………………………… My situation is not unusual. The Fed Highway Admin reported that for 2005, “Rural residents have an average work trip length of 14.0 miles while urban commutes average only 10.6 miles.” See http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs05/national_household_info.htm ……………………………………………. Imagine the reduction in air pollution if even 20-30 million Americans could burn gas only on the weekend……………….. Just as important, we’d reduce the amount of money we send to Islamist or otherwise totalitarian oil-exporting regimes. Better to give billions of dollars to American and Japanese car companies than to Saudi Arabia (#1 net oil exporter in 2006), Iran (#4), and Venezuela (#6).

By: Al

Al — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:55:01 +0000

I have a 2005 Prius and it has been very dependable. I did buy the Toyota 100,000 mile bumber to bumper warranty, so I feel confident that all risk is covered during that time. I have had a couple of problems but Toyota took care of them. I would really like to install an extended battery system to get the estimated 40 miles of driving before the gas engine is needed. With that I would never have to buy gas as my usage is not over the 40 mile range per day. How can we speed this up??

By: John

John — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:52:34 +0000

I’ll be all for it until I go to jump into my car and discover I’m grounded because a program decided it had to help smooth out a peak. It’s been said before but, when I see a car that can handle my commute to work plus a few errands and is affordable, I will buy it. I’m probably not going to shell out for a new plug in and turn right around to have CalCar or whomever retrofit it to get what I need. Remember, this is only the start of a mass market offering. Allow time for the companies who choose to ignore the problem time to catchup.

By: DR

DR — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:12:46 +0000

Heard Denis Hayes on the radio a few days ago talking about the potential to use plug-in hybrids as energy storage devices for the grid. Once enough are out there they could be programed to sell or consume electricity depending on owner need.

This would help smooth out the peaks and valley in grid power production needs.

Interesting idea.

By: James

James — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:07:38 +0000

So let me get this straight. Calcars.org with their converted plug in hybrids, the EV cars that were crunched by GM that were leased for years and the Tesla roadster all are wrong. Something stinks to high skies here folks! Altair batteries are leagues ahead, the Tesla roadster has been thoroughly tested and the old EV1 cars worked. The auto companies have to stop feeding us this misinformation. EVs can go more than 8 miles on a charge and the technology is out there. Now if we want to talk about price and mass manufacturing issues then I am all ears for now, but do not feed me this horse crud of the technology is not there!