Scion iQ EV To Launch In 2012, Only 50 Mile Range

Great if you're one of the worlds population who lives IN a congested city and you don't drive more than 10 miles each way to work.

If you drive more than 50 miles a day then this car isn't going to be of use. Nor will it be useful if you have a large family, want to tow a trailer, drive down dirt roads etc.

Hopefully this will stop the 18 possible posts about how it will and won't fit peoples own personal circumstances. It's a city car designed for super congested cities of the type found in Japan and Europe and probably not American urban sprawl.

 

Oh, I don't know ...
I live on the outskirts of a small US city, and a 50 mile mini EV is *exactly* what I want.

 

I would use that for 90%+ of my trips, then use the Prius for the rest.

 

why only 20 miles out of 50?

i think it makes sense as EVs are best for small distances and this is also great small car for big cities.

I would be hard pressed in Europe to go more than 80km in a normal day, if i do, it would be long trip.

 

This would be about perfect for me...depending on head/leg/cargo room; I'm 6'2". My daily commute is just under 20 miles one way AND I can recharge at work. This would leave me about 20 miles (leaving the last 10 for fudge and weather conditions) of range after work for errands. Since it's a two-seater, the wife can come shopping if she wants/needs to.

 

This is great News to hear and I hope to see the price for the car around 20,000 which will help alot of people to buy it

Anyway guys I want to publish a message here in the site but I don't know how to do so !!

Can ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME ?? YOU CAN SEND ME A DIRCT MESSAGE TO MY MAILBOX

THANK A LOT

 

Oh dear. If this gets a competitive price, then I might get this instead of a new hybrid. This battery powered iQ could potentially carry 85 to 90% of my driving needs, while my diesel can do the rest. It makes perfect sense... if it is significantly cheaper than a Volt.

 

Unacceptable.

 

looks too small, i like the size of the prius. but for ten grand...

 

The IQ has been treated with no love by Toyota, at least not in the US. Our version will be a Scion, that was delayed to sell other Scions, and then delayed because of the disaster. Who knows when the gas version will be out in the US of A. Then there was this business of the IQ being a "tuner car". I call it a "tuna car", but I digress.

Now the EV version only has a range of 50mi, cementing the stupid little car label that many will place on it. Sure it will work for many, but the love will wear off quickly due to the short range. The industry is really trying hard not to sell small cars like this in the US of A.

 

having 2 cars for one person makes neither economical nor ecological sense

 

^^
Most households in the US have more than one person, and most household in the US that are 2+ people have more than one car.

My household is two people during the school year, and 3 - 4 people in the summer and during school holidays. I travel outside our town once a week; the remainder of driving is around town. A small, efficient, limited range city car along side a long-distance car makes perfect sense for my family. I just have to get over running the EV on coal, or figure out a way to power it with clean energy. It had better consume less energy/mile than our Prius though.

Before someone screams "PV' for the EV, I'll answer that PV is a good solution in general, but not so much for my house. Oddly enough, the reason is that I conserve energy avidly and PV on the scale I would use is quite expensive. Irony. I may have to wait until I can buy into a local clean energy commons or co-op.

 

It should have 16 kWh battery judging from the range. So it should qualify for $7,500 tax credit. Leaf is around $25k after tax credit. I have no doubt Toyota could get this little guy under $20k. I hope I won't be wrong!

 

Multiple car households are more common that you may think. Our family has more than 2 per member.

Adding a couple more than are EVs are on the list. The Rav4 EV when it comes out will be the first purchase. My Prius is being converted to a PHEV by myself. No I won't drive them most of the time and only the gas powered ones when I need longer range. I will drive them as I want to because they are all fun to drive in different ways.

 

I'm thinking along the same lines. At 200 wh/mle, 80% DOD, and 20% buffer, the car would require a 15.625 kwh nominal battery capacity to be a real-world 50 mile/charge car.

 

If Toyota use the same 60kW (80hp) Prius' MG2 traction motor to power the iQ EV, they can reduce the cost. More parts such as power control unit (inverter) can share too.

 

I agree, for a crowded city this car makes sense. In those situations who want to pay more for range or deal with parking issues? I attended the annual "Celebrate Davis" event last night to watch the fireworks and I swear all of Davis and Woodland were there so parking was horrible. I watched all these giant SUVs and trucks trying to parallel park in small openings and I couldn't help but laugh.

I think cars like this work well for the European and Japanese markets or in places like San Francisco.