Will they ever make an all electric Prius ?

toyota will follow the market on bevs, not lead like hybrids

that fact that tesla does not make an inexpensive bev doesn't mean they don't want to, it means they can't.
toyota won't be able to either.

5 years from now? maybe, but i doubt it. especially with coronavirus, i think it is going to stall advancements and innovation for awhile.

 

One of the things I've heard being worked on - and seen some to market - is for PHEVs to have greater EV range - some have doubled in the past few years, with better batteries and possibly bigger batteries. Which is really the best of all 3 worlds. For the majority of their driving, to work and back, to the shops, the school, to bingo (?) and back - EV mode. Then going on Annual vacation (something people did before COVID-19), Hybrid mode still gives considerably better MPG or l/100 than a traditional ICE. And the ICE in PHEVs is getting more economical.

 

I think they will milk their PRIME tech for all they can, eventually offering it in every car with EV range of 25-50 miles, for at least the next 5 years. As someone else said, Toyota is on record saying they have limited battery supply and don't have enough to make a mass market EV, so this approach makes sense. I hope that changes some day and batteries are no longer the bottleneck but it might be awhile. So I would expect a longer range Prius Prime, and ideally a "Prius V Prime" of some sort with more cargo space...if they made that now with AWD I would have bought it instead of the AWDe I just got.

I don't see them making a full EV in 5 years, but maybe 10...

 

agreed

 

There's also the concern at the other end. If we had 1 billion+ EVs with ½ tonne batteries - every 12-15 years, there will be a billion DEAD Li-ION batteries. And up to ½ a billion from TukTuks, Scooters, bikes and rickshaws. Yes, some can be repurposed for a short time, but there is no effective large scale, economic way of recycling them.

Makes a smaller battery in a hybrid, dramatically lower petrol use, or even a PHEV which straddles between the 2 - quite a viable option.

 

Where 3 Million Electric Vehicle Batteries Will Go When They Retire - Bloomberg

Tesla is developing a 'unique battery recycling system' - Electrek

Tesla launches battery recycling at Nevada Gigafactory

 

Is there any reason why they cannot be dumped into the ore hoppers feeding the mine refineries?

 

No real idea - I've forgotten my chemistry - and never did metallurgy. I just read something on BBC a while back that there was no economic way to recycle them - it's not just the Li - but they have any number of other formulas. Apparently they're not as toxic as NiMH in the reprocessing though - but much larger batteries generally.

 

Will they ever make an all electric Prius ?


Yes. Just take a Prime and don't put gas in it.

 

Don't believe anything the BBC say, they are the most bias untruthful broadcasters.
Even so, things happen very quickly in the business world and I suspect that as soon as end of life batteries start popping up in numbers, there will be an influx of recycling and/or re-purposing plants appearing.

 

Your avatar - I think I finally worked out what it is - "Last of the Summer Wine"?

 

Until Americans don't have to wait 45 minutes for a full electric charge multiple times when taking 1,200 or 2,000 mile road trips, the appeal of all-electric is limited to suburban uses with occasional road trips. Sitting around at a charging station for 20 to 45 minutes just makes entire families targets for crime. Hell, I avoid half of the gas stations around here as it is - too dangerous, too many 'hood people come up begging for money.

45 minutes of that? No, thank you.

I want Toyota to expand the Hybrid models, as I'd certainly be tempted by a Hybrid Tacoma in a few years. It doesn't have to be 'fast,' as long as it gets great fuel mileage when working around town, and a great range on gasoline when out doing big road trips.

 

Is that a local or regional thing?

That risk just isn't part of my experience base, but then my 1200 mile trips still leave me 2000 miles from your zip code.

 

Yes, true Yorkshiremen