Featured Model 3 has 310 mile range

I was just thinking the same thing.



They're making them like full-blown truck stops, with everything you might need while you're there.
.

 

come east, young man.

 

When you're 4' feet in snow come Rose Parade, & we're out here in the flippy floppies @ the beach, margarita in hand, you may want to head West.

.

 

i want to head west now.

 

Your compass is br0ken so you keep heading south instead of west??

Jack Sparrow's compass

 

yes, but my ball and chain are still intact.

 

Mine is until a 'Prius' is built in North America.

I'm trying to convince my wife that the longer breaks on our 600 mile trip to the parents would be better for her back.

It is only a matter of time until those large truck stops start putting in DC chargers. There already got the restaurants, shops, and restrooms in place.

 

Quality too high on the Japanese built cars?

 

U.S. Built Toyota models don't seem to be affected. Same with the Nissan's.

Mine is getting that 5th seat back in, & an additional 50% more electric range. Even though I really don't like the body style I'd still be able to deal with it.

300 miles is more than our old stodgy framework can handle. So in a plugin, or an ice, that's plenty for us. I don't imagine that ever changing back to straight shot uber long hauls like when we were younger .

Now about that I'm not so sure. Consider the amount of power (transformer size) a truckstop uses. It pumps gas, refrigeration for the 6 pack of beer, lighting, maybe a compressor for tires - & AC power. That's not so much power. Now ... you find most single & dual DC quick Chargers where there's an extremely huge amount of power being pulled already .... places like multi-story hotels, auto malls/service centers, shopping malls etc. So those locations can typically deal with they're existing transformers even if they added a DC charger or 2 . I have never seen a DC quick charger in the several States we've traveled, that has a solo medium side business. Even the ones that appear that way, like at a few Cracker Barrel restaurants - are often drawing off the bigger transformer nearby that also feeds some hotel or strip mall, as well as the Cracker Barrel.
Would a truck stop really want to pay for a much larger/expensive transformer, in addition to the cost of DC Chargers that can easily cost $5k - 10K? I'd love to think so, but .....
.

 

Quality comes down to the company. If they won't the same level from all their plants, they'll get it. If there was actually a marked difference between Japanese and North American built Camries, it would be well documented.

My Prius boycott started because the US was getting a Prius plant, but Toyota's plans changed. Now I understand that things on the ground can change, but North America is the second largest Prius market in the world, and for hybrids in general.

Upon first view of the outside shots for Prime I thought, "I could make an exception for this." Then I saw the interior.

I personally could use more EV range, but just fixing the battery packaging for the fifth seat and cargo space would make it the car it should have been.

Yes, the distance is starting to get tiresome, but we travel with a dog and two cats.

The truck stops I've used tend to have plenty of space for battery or capacitor banks, but I was only expecting a handful of chargers at first.
Then plenty of truck stops already can supply power to dozens of sleeper cabs and/or air conditioning and heating to others. So they might already have the necessary grid supply for fast chargers.
I don't think the truck stop retail model is any different than the residential gas station one. There is only thin margins on the fuel sold, and most of the profit comes from selling the other stuff and services. I think these places will start seeing that the cost of the charger for customers that will be waiting longer than most people in ICE cars is worth it.

 

I thought China was headed to be number one or two.Since China mandated domestic production, Toyota built there. Perhaps the current US administration's bent for domestic production of goods could resurrect a US Prius plant.

 

I don't know about that. The current administration seem to hate anything that even remotely hints at saving the environment, never mind that a US-built Prius would give lots of jobs to Americans, who could also be driving around using American produced power via coal and natural gas plants, or driving it with North American oil.

Toyota would probably have to club some seals and kick some puppies, in addition to having the Prius belch out rolling coal exhaust before they'll give it any incentives to produce a Prius here.

 

It appears that the model 3 is now ready to be delivered to normal customers, well normal customers that are in first in line.

The software now is ported to the intel hardware for entertainment, and little things like fm radio and ease of entry now work. My guess is it will take 6 months for full volume production and better autopilot based on the new better hardware. Full volume production IMHO is 5000+ a week with high quality of fit and finish and software that is better than the autopilot 1 in the model S on all features except electronic nannies (it will check that the driver is ready to take over, unlike the first set where drivers acted as if it was full self driving).

 

The Gen 4 never even launched in China, and the last year of Gen 3 sales was barely into double digits per month.

The locally-produced Corolla and Levin (same thing as the Corolla, but made in a different factory) HEV, based on the Gen 3 powertrain, replaced the Prius.

 

I think I saw old stories where Toyota was considering producing them in China. Thanks for the correction

This story mentions a PHV Corolla. I would think that could be a good model for the US market..

Toyota Bringing Two New Plug-In Hybrids to China | Fortune

 

Actually, I forgot that FAW-Toyota was producing the Gen 3 in China... so it's simply that they were flushing inventory in 2016.

 

Made our $1,000 reservation on Christmas Day. Our ideal date of purchase will be between July and October of 2019.

 

i can't wait until the day i see one charging at whole foods.

 

I've seen it already ;-)