meyersnole Posted May 5, 2015 at 07:03 PM Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 at 07:03 PM Another head scratcher from Toyota. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098145_toyota-prius-plug-in-production-to-end-in-june-new-one-coming-next-year The author seems to imply the body design is the problem with the Toyota plug-in, I would argue its the limited range as to why it is not selling. Yes, the folks that are buying the plug in just for the car pool lane sticker might like this... but it is not practical. 11 miles, 6 miles continuous? This prompted California to rewrite the spec to 10 continuous miles to qualify... Toyota's reaction... build one at 10 miles continuous EPA. (Face palm!) No wonder they are sitting on the lot and only sell about 300/month (according to this article). What do they see that Ford, GM, Nissan, et al do not? Everyone else is looking at more range and better batteries -- and increasing their PHEV lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
immortal216 Posted May 8, 2015 at 08:30 AM Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 at 08:30 AM I agree it is dumb however, Toyota doesn't really believe in EV cars they are now betting big on Hydrogen cars i bet it has something to do with their hybrid synergy driver powertrain. If they made EV cars they wouldn't be ujsing the HSD which they pumped tons of money into via R&D. Hydrogen will be practical for cars in about 5-10 years however electric cars are almost practical now and PHEVs are very practical given they have decent range. When it comes to technology Toyota needs to catch up but still they are very solid reliable cars and at this point i believe that's the only reason people still buy them because they trust them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traumatic Posted May 8, 2015 at 08:54 PM Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 at 08:54 PM Sadly, it appears that the PPI was purely a 'compliance car' designed to snap up some of the California market. Now that the HOV stickers are almost gone (probably within the next month) with no more likely to be issued by the state government in 2015, it seems they're playing a wait-and-see game for 2016. If policy changes, they may rush another half-a$$ product to market, if not, there won't be anything. Similarly, Honda quietly cancelled the plug-in Accord in 2014 after only 499 cars. They're definitely not following the lead of GM, Nissan and Ford in producing competitive vehicles that are pushing the technology envelope and are able to sell in the national market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonzo71 Posted May 11, 2015 at 05:04 PM Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 at 05:04 PM Well, I can see plugin slowing down. There are just not enough or fast enough stations to justify the cost of the car and the government will only back it for so long. The avg citizen just arent buying them and a lot has to do with the cost and places to charge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meyersnole Posted May 11, 2015 at 10:18 PM Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2015 at 10:18 PM Well, I can see plugin slowing down. There are just not enough or fast enough stations to justify the cost of the car and the government will only back it for so long. The avg citizen just arent buying them and a lot has to do with the cost and places to charge Get the range to 200-300 miles (like Tesla and GM) and charging in public is not nearly as important. Even with my ~20 mile range I love not having to plan a trip to the gas station or charger every x days. It is very convenient to charge at home overnight, but the public is very unaware of what a PH/EV car really is, let alone their advantages. I am really hoping that the Bolt makes a splash and that Ford and Nissan have good response. Not sure yet if Tesla will be able to ramp up to anything more than a niche player... or if they do if it will be sold off to one of the major producers. As successful as Tesla is (they sell everything they make and maintain a waiting list) they simply can not ramp their production fast enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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