Prime Mover: Toyota Maxes Out Tech & Style in World's Best-Selling Hybrid to Create 2017 Prius Prime

Wow, look at that screen, amazing! Previous PIP never showed up in my state but hopefully this one will. Until then I'm happy with my rav4 hybrid. But very impressive mpg and screen, again!!!

 

I guess living in SoCal where we have lots of charging stations but a lot more plug-in electric vehicles my viewpoint is different than yours. Drivers of PHEVs in general prefer to drive on electricity (otherwise what's the purpose of getting a PHEV unless it's for HOV lanes). With a smaller battery compared to BEVs, that requires more charging stops to maximize EV usage. If 6.6 kW charging was the norm, the turnover time at charging stations would be much better (assuming drivers move their cars when charging completes). If you can get a car charged up in 1.25 hours instead of 2.5 hours it means you can get more cars to use the same charging equipment in a day. Unfortunately the number of plug-in electric vehicles greatly outnumbers the number of charging stations. Also, it would make charging stations that charge per hour instead of per kWh more viable.

 

Interesting timing as Tesla is releasing their new more economy priced car end of this month. This Prime looks great. I hope I can get it or the cheaper Tesla.

 

Caution. Tesla is not releasing anything this month that you can drive home. They are planning on releasing details of a car likely still a bit in flux design/spec wise. Hopefully they will provide more information about how many quarters/years until we should expect the first deliveries. Likely a year after the Prius Prime is available. They have also stated repeatedly that release heavily depends on the Gigafactory up and running in order to produce batteries at a price point the model 3 can make money.

 

Tesla 3 production won't start until late 2017 (a year after the 1st Prime deliveries) and first sales will go to previous Tesla customers per an email I received from them today. So it could be 2+ years from now before regular peeps could take delivery (and only 200 mile EV range)

 

tesla

 

My father-in-law just sent me this link, published yesterday.

2017 Toyota Prius Prime: Will People Buy Toyota's Most Advanced Hybrid Ever?
"2017 Toyota Prius Prime: Will People Buy Toyota's Most Advanced Hybrid Ever?"
Article details the unveiling of a new Prius model dubbed "Prius Prime", a plug-in hybrid with 22 miles of electric range and featuring a nearly-12-inch flat-panel screen in the center console.

I'm not convinced that this is real - the logo on the back of the car looks ridiculous, and the layout of the screen in the console looks like a (decent) Photoshop job on top of the current 2016 Prius interior.

Could someone more familiar with this vouch for whether this is legit? Thanks.

 

WOW dude, talk about being late to the party. You might want to check the Gen2 plug-in forum or at least use the "New Posts" button to see what's currently or recently being discussed.

 

Yes, it is legit. There are a bunch of threads regarding the Prime that show even more.

 

There's what? At least 10 threads on this? At least two are stickied at the top.

 

Okay, sorry guys, please stop jumping all over me on this. I actually clicked (or thought I clicked) on the "2G plug-in" forum from the main page and somehow ended up in the news forum without realizing it. Not seeing anything on the Prime, I figured nobody else had posted about it yet.

 

Sort of an OK article, I really like the first glance to the pictures.
Tomorrow March 25th, I will be taking my own at the Expo-show.

 

Nope, Is this the new Hyundai Iconic?

 

I understand the desire to drive EV miles, but charger selection is a cost vs customer demand on the manufacturer's end. A 6.6kW charger is going to cost more, and may even require more space. Plug ins are still on the pricey end of the new car spectrum. Even if slight, that price increase can push the MSRP up past a tipping point for potential customers budgets. Then the ICE in a PHEV means the need for a faster charger is simply not has great as for a BEV.

Now, if you really want to upgrade the charger on your Prime, I'm sure it can be done. People have already done so on Leafs and Rav4 EVs. It will cost more to you than a factory installed fast charger, but then the factory cost of such a charger isn't being paid by the majority of owners that will make use of it.

And as I said when the charger size was announced for the Volt, this doesn't exclude a faster charger later on.

 

nope, i'm the evil one, he's canadian.

 

Canadian eh?
I wish. Banff is heaven.

Not French either, but France does have a fair share of beige sandstone buildings.

 

c'est la vie...