Should Toyota release PiP Gen2 nationwide, if...

But they did in the US for stated reasons. At least the PIP is not forbidden for purchase or lease in non-CARB states like some other "compliance" vehicles.

 

Very limited tho? There just seems to be a general Prius drought, at least at our nearby dealership. Waiting on 2016?

 

You have one incorrect assumption and one questionable one.

The incorrect assumption is that Toyota's priority is to sell cars to lower greenhouse emissions.
This is incorrect, and even if correct, is short sighted.

I recently saw the Japanese grid Fuel sources (I believe it was on this forum, if someone has the link please let me know). It isn't pretty, and it appears the PiP emits more CO2 in Japan than the Prius. If your assumption were correct they would stop selling the PiP in Japan.

Further, if this were their priority, would we not see studies funded by Toyota to ascertain the grid cleanliness in various regions? Also, why sell by state, rather than utility coverage as those regions?

Hasn't Texas been left out of PiP sales, they are in the Best zone.

Even if you close your eyes to all these inconsistencies, the benifits, of running under electric power, to the local pollution levels and urban heat island effect (ref Hidden benefits of electric vehicles revealed) are large. Why deny these health and energy benifits to people?

The questionable assumption is that the only choice is between a Prius and a PiP.
This may be true, however I suspect it isn't.
I know of two people that wanted a PiP and bought other, non Prius, cars instead (one a CMax energi and one a Volt).
Perhaps the PiP would help bring in customers from other, less efficient cars where the Prius will not.

To answer your question, yes, absolutely.
You can't educate people about a product if it isn't available.

 

2011 was the last year.

 

Toyota would only based sales of the PiP based on some profit goal. Whether this goal is short term or long term is debatable. Whether this goal actually succeeds or not is debatable. But Toyota basing the PiP rollout on EV grid cleanliness is not the reason.

 

Fine, the arguments listed still hold.
Why sell the PiP in Japan with its dirty grid?
Why not sell the PiP in Texas?
Why don't they fund their own studies on this so they can determine where to sell?
Why didn't they roll out to more states as the grid got cleaner?
Why follow state boundaries rather than regional electric grids?

It just doesn't hold water.

Here you go, if you consider any question, consider this one...

If Toyota's priority for the Prius family is GHG emissions, why, in states where the PiP is cleaner than the Prius, are they still selling the Prius?

 

Lots of ifs and maybes in there.

In case you missed it, here is the question I am most interested in hearing your thoughts on.

 

But somebody else said sales aren't the primary reason.

Or wait, that was you

 

I live in Ontario, and it's a province bigger than Texas, about 50% bigger in fact. I just bought a PiP.

Personally I don't think Toyota should be nannifying PiP releases. Toyota should just release it nationwide and let the customers decide. It may not be a great car for a 50 mile commuter to Dallas, but it could be a good car for a condo dweller in Dallas. If the governments want to restrict certain states from having it, then fine, but that's a different argument.

BTW, in Canada PiP availability is low, but that is only if you mean buying it off the lot. You can order it from any province in Canada.

 

The pip on electricity is more or less on par with it on gas in Japan. The lowest one at a given point likely depends on trip duration more than anything else. Japan does have fairly high carbon emissions ~400+g/kWh, but that's only because they've shut down so many nuclear power plants. Once they bring their reactors back on line after safety inspections and in some cases retrofits, they'll be back down to ~300+g/kWh, or less.

Japan takes steps to restart first nuclear reactor since Fukushima | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

 

I am not sure the mental calculation for PiP in Japan. You got crude oil in short supply and elec in short supply. One would think the crude oil price collapse is great for Japan.

 

Note: For Canada, where I live:

Electric Cars and CO2

Canada uses far less coal and far more hydro and nuclear in their generation mix than does the United States. As a result, the emissions per kWh are about a third of those in the USA.

Given the same assumptions about electric vehicles as in the American analysis above, electric cars in Canada could expect on average to cause CO2 emissions of 0.2*1.1*234 = 51 g/km to 0..3*1.1*234 = 77 g/km, compared to ICE emissions of 167 to 224 g/km.

The picture is even brighter is some provinces such as Ontario and Quebec, where a greater proportion of electricity is generated from nuclear and hydro sources, and very little from coal. For example, the CO2 emission range for EVs recharged in Ontario would be 45 g/km to 70 g/km, and in Quebec would be a mere 2 g/km to 3 g/km. Quebec's exceptional result comes from their unique position of getting almost 97% of their electricity from hydro power.

Canada in general and Quebec in particular should be fertile markets for EVs.

I live in Toronto, Ontario. My wife is originally from Montreal, Quebec. It's interesting to so see that some of the highways near Montreal are lit at night by streetlights. Also, a huge amount of home heating in Quebec is electric (as opposed to natural gas).

 

Truthfully though, even though the PiP is indeed sold nationwide in Canada, Toyota Canada's support of it is kinda half-@ssed. The ONLY available OEM accessory for it is the block heater. I had to order my OEM cargo tray from a US site via eBay, and my wife is going to order non-OEM cargo nets online.