Who Wants to be First to Own a Gen IV Prius the the US

But isn't installing charging stations a lot cheaper than building a hydrogen filling station? The latter costs approximately $1-3 million per station to build. You could build a lot of charging stations for that kind of money. Better yet, you can build them into existing infrastructure such as parking lots, rather than having to build a new station needing its own dedicated space.

EV's major issues of range, charge times, and costs are coming down much faster than fuel cell vehicle costs are. True, the cost of some EV's were cut to help boost sales, but in a few years they can be profitable as costs drop, and more importantly, more people learn about, and can afford them.

 

That's a very good point...but remember also that when the G3 came out gas prices were very soft, and the Prius was not nearly as mainstream as it has become over the last 5 years.
Gas prices are still relatively low.....but still high enough to justify a G4...particularly since some people still remember $4 gas.

When my company bought my G3, they were selling at MSRP minus 2-3 thou (mid-2010)

Somehow??????
I still maintain that the first 50 buyers will pay full freight.....plus.

We'll see in 2016....or 2017.....or......

 

There's no new Plug in when the 2016's make their debut. It's not ready for prime time. We should have had a new Prius for 2015 but it missed the mark, in a way, so it's been delayed till fall 2015. But, no plug ins for 16, perhaps 17?

 

If it has a new look good reviews , I'll get a 2018 all the bugs will be fixed , about like Gen III
And the 2012

 

One I won't be worried about the Mirai for a long, long time. As excited as Toyota is about it, the Mirai just isn't on my radar and won't be for at least a decade. By that time maybe they'll have a hydrogen refueling station within about 50 miles and I might get to see one in the wild. And that's a big maybe.

For Toyota's general information, quit trying to compare the Mirai with the Prius. It's not the same thing. I have 2 ways to refuel a car around here, electricity or gasoline/diesel. A lot of members here on PriusChat actually went to other states and drove either their first Prius or a 2012 PiP home when they first came out. If I was to do that with a Mirai it would be a one way trip and the only one for at least a decade. After reading about the New York State "Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Development Plan – “Roadmap”" written by SUNY College professors, I believe they made an excellent case for expanding Fuel Cell usage and hydrogen production in proper perspective. I for one would be delighted if fuel cells were put to widespread use in terrestrial applications first and allow the infrastructure to build around that as the plan suggests. And then as the plan suggests provide the infrastructure for mass transit fleet vehicles before private car ownership as that would save far more GHG and lower far more emissions that trying to change POVs to use hydrogen. Anybody who has ever followed a diesel bus or truck in the winter can attest to the need for lower emission. Toyota, I would be far more impressed with a fuel cell Tundra than a car. This will probably be the last time I talk about Fuel Cell cars for at least a decade.

As for the new Gen IV, no I'll stick with my PiP, and wait to see what improvements Toyota has made for the Gen II PiP or other Plug-ins.

 

I would rather them drop the "fool" cell boondoggle altogether or, if not, at least concurrently work on building an EV with decent range.

 

I'll wait till the 2nd year of the gen 4 ,,, most of the bugs will be found and some fixed by then , hence why I bought a 2012 gen 3

 

I'll be early ordering through the fleet guide that usually becomes available a couple of months before retail release. Since I'm served by the Port of Portland, the closest POE to Japan, and the car is actually built in Japan, I'll be an early adopter.

The plan is to order the lightest configuration and have time to prep, test and tune the car for the SCCA autocross season. Depending on final SCCA rules, the car could be competitive if classified favorably.

 

Great. You can do the trouble shooting for the rest of us and give an early review.

I bought my gen III in August 2009 in Portland. It developed many rattles which I obsessively tracked down. One rattle started after one of the bolts holding the spoiler fell off and was loose inside the hatch. The dealer here in Colorado concluded that the vehicle had been damaged, presumably during shipping, and repaired, probably at port in Portland. The clue was that a section of the hatch had duller paint than the rest which I hadn't noticed. To be fair, that could have happened with a later production car as well.