Prius Plug-in Hybrid Update

Call it what you want. After all, it was a mid-cycle release in a highly volatile market. So, looking back is messy anyway. The point was to collect data from well informed consumers to strengthen the next-gen rollout.

 

Yep. Model S coming in June. If the new PiP is awesome, I'll swap the 2012 PiP for it. Otherwise, not sure.

 

Maybe this means they will ditch their current battery technology and use Tesla batteries instead? After all, Toyota did invest in Tesla.....

 

maybe what means that? whats wrong with current battery technology?

 

Does this mean, no prius plug-in production for over a year. Are they guessing how many will sell between now and ??? end of 2016 when the next gen comes out, or are they simply going on hiatus for awhile, 2015 my then much improved 2017. Will the next gen roll out to more than compliance states? Or is it planned as a compliance vehicle as well?

 

California Green HOV stickers are about to finally run dry. Coincidence?

 

My guess is it is more about the mirai, and less about the stickers. Prius Team please chirp in.

If a California dealership has a mirai and a plug-in prius both in view, and a customer sees the sticker price and the fuel economy of the plug-in prius, that mirai becomes even a harder sell.

 

you can feel the anticipation.

 

Well the Prius Plug-in has been selling about 435 per month since September 2014, down from nearly 2700 units in the single month of May 2014 (both when the first batch of green HOV stickers were up and Toyota had the $4000 rebate plus 0% apr for 60 months), although that has been supposedly attributed to the low supply of 2015s available. On the other hand, the Mirai will not launch until September 2015, with an estimated 300 units sold this year in the US. Therefore I would not think the discontinuation of the Prius Plug-in is related to the Mirai (the RAV4 EV discontinuation maybe, but then again the contract was for 2600 units total so once that order was fulfilled we should not have expected anything different).

Maybe it is an indicator of the Gen IV Prius, but I would expect to hear details about the Plug-in at a later date than the Liftback. Or perhaps with the release of the 2016 Volt towards the end of the year combined with the green HOV stickers finally running out Toyota has an even lower sales forecast for their current Prius Plug-in and decided to discontinue it now.

 

Pre-heat while charging would be good as would a spare tyre.

 

Freeing assembly lines for G4?

 

Is Erica no longer on PriusTeam? When the PlugIn came out, she was the "face" of PriusTeam.

 

pm me, and i'll have my peeps talk with your peeps.

 

Hey! bisco.
my Peeps?
Please send them home!

 

I don't know about Bisco's list, but mine is shorter than 500.

1. 20-25 mile range
2. no smaller cargo space
3. EV threshold changed to 70 mph and more throttle needed to switch out of EV to HV
4. Higher mpg and MPGe
5. Charge port in front
Minor things
1. Better heat in EV, better defrost in EV
2. Don't switch out of EV just because some HVAC control was flipped...at least for a minute while adjustments are made
3. Better software for estimated EV miles (i.e. the across the board ~10% hit no matter what HVAC mode is used)
4. Better control of charge timer
Vision, Autonomous car electronics
1. blind spot detector
2. surround car view, front camera (for parking)
3. pedestrian detector

Mike

 

You can certainly have all of that, but you forgot to say how much you were willing to pay for it...

 

a carpool lane car with a standard equip GPS that doesn't know about carpool lanes … puhlease! this seems like a SW upgrade (& map update) could fix.

 

You are asking for higher capacity, more powerful battery that takes less space. Let's see Toyota can work the magic and also throw in the spare tire.

Heated rear seats would be nice. HVAC should be OFF by default if the car starts in EV mode.

It is good to finally have a voice from Toyota to straighten the record and end speculations that gets salty and spread.