My concern is "you know who" is trying to transition to zero carbon too quickly and considering little has been done to upgrade power generation capabilities across the country and the electrical grid, they are putting the cart before the horse with the EV transition push and it just seems like a recipe for disaster. A little common sense could go a long way.
.......That's a very good point. The PHEV will save on gas consumption on average if you make a lot of short trips that run mostly on battery, but once you are out of the shorter PHEV range, you are dragging around a larger/heavier battery/motor than if you had a non-plug-in hybrid, and that hurts the gas-only-mode mpg.
So for short trips, the "EV" part of the PHEV is dragging around an ICE and transmission, and for short trips, the "ICE" part of the PHEV is dragging around a battery, motor and controllers. There is a 'sweet spot' where they make good sense though.....
Toyota says it can make six PHEVs rather than one full EV with the available scarce resources is has available (nickel, lithium, rare earths, cobalt, etc.).
And 90 regular hybrids with the same scarce materials needed for one full EV.
do you have any idea what the gas mileage was without the ev range? I am looking at a rav4 and was curious?
15c/kwh would less than half of what gasoline would cost in Cali. I have 13c here in Nevada and the Bolt's electricity cost is a bit more than 1/5 what it would cost to drive the Forester it replaced. The RAV is about 1/3 less efficient than the Bolt, but it is still a lot cheaper than gasoline. If you are in Texas where my 90 year old mother is, it would still be cheaper than gasoline, even though gas is cheap. The vehicle is more expensive, although we qualified for the 7500 credit a couple years ago, so the Prime was only about 1500-2000 more expensive than a RAV hybrid.If you are primarily concerned with economics, you must address the cost of fuel for the PHEV-- the electricity-- when in electric mode. If you pay $0.15/kwh or so for electricity, like we do in California, the fuel cost while running on electricity will compete with the fuel cost of running on gasoline. This becomes particularly important on a trip on highways at high speed, where air resistance and lack of use of regenerative braking will greatly degrade the distance per kwh. Specifics vary according to the gasoline miles per gallon and MPGe of the specific car under consideration.
What else can they say without any competitive EVs to sell? Part of their schizo FUD campaign. I’ve owned several Toyota’s including two hybrids, but I doubt I’ll buy another Toyota after learning this. Very well documented, just one excerpt.Toyota says it can make six PHEVs rather than one full EV with the available scarce resources is has available (nickel, lithium, rare earths, cobalt, etc.).
And 90 regular hybrids with the same scarce materials needed for one full EV.
Toyota has been lobbying governments to water-down emissions standards or oppose fossil-fuel vehicle phaseouts, according to a New York Times report. In the last four years, Toyota's political contributions to US politicians and PACs have more than doubled. Though Toyota had promised to stop doing so in January, it was caught making donations to the controversial legislators as recently as last month [July 2021].
Toyota has also begun to wage a campaign of FUD—fear, uncertainty, and doubt—to cast EVs as unreliable and undesirable. "If we are to make dramatic progress in electrification, it will require overcoming tremendous challenges, including refueling infrastructure, battery availability, consumer acceptance, and affordability," Robert Wimmer, director of energy and environmental research at Toyota Motor North America, told the Senate in March.
Toyota says it can make six PHEVs rather than one full EV with the available scarce resources is has available (nickel, lithium, rare earths, cobalt, etc.).
And 90 regular hybrids with the same scarce materials needed for one full EV.
What else can they say without any competitive EVs to sell? Part of their schizo FUD campaign. I’ve owned several Toyota’s including two hybrids, but I doubt I’ll buy another Toyota after learning this. Very well documented, just one excerpt.
A 200 km electric range is not a reasonable design metric.I agree that they can make more PHEVs than EVs with the same resources but won't the ratios depend on the size of the PHEV battery?
72 kWh Bz3x
13.6 kWh 2023 Prius Prime ratio 5.3
Wouldn't a 200 km range PHEV be likely to require at least a 26 kWh battery? The ratio would be less than 3. Maybe the resources aren't proportional to battery size by some magic. Also I can only guess based on vehicles they actually make. Depending on what's available in a couple of years we might be inclined to a strategy of an EV alone + a hybrid.
I’m not OK with anyone buying influence from the people’s representatives, but I know it’s always been practiced. It wasn’t as institutionalized generations ago as it is today. So I’m accept Toyotas right to lobby, along with consumers right to not patronize them. We get what we deserve…I hate the politics, but keep in mind that "lobbying" is the main tool that companies have. Their president doesn't stand up and refute a congressman on TV, so they do it the hard (and maybe) dirty way. It's our system - right, wrong or indifferent. I'd love to change the system, but I don't see it happening.
But, what I came here to say is that I buy Toyotas because they’re reliable and they reasonably meet my needs. I'd love to have a Toyota RAV4 Prime, but my old RAV 4 has a lot of life left in it (I hope.)
A 200 km electric range is not a reasonable design metric.
What most people need is a grocery getter that does not use fuel and a 30 km range more than does that.
Sure, but we are speaking about PHEV. The new Prius Prime would suit us fine if we can get comfortable in it.
At this point in our lives the seats have to be good for us, the in and out.
A 200 km electric range is not a reasonable design metric.
What most people need is a grocery getter that does not use fuel and a 30 km range more than does that.