Featured Prius to be discontinued in Germany......

I'm guessing Toyota might be waiting to see if the vehicle rental thing becomes a reality in the near future, much like an Uber but you drive it or it drives you. This would spell the end of needing to park the vehicle at home, city car parking and basic vehicle ownership in general.
A radical change from what the average car owner did in the past, much like the average horse owner within 20 yrs from the turn of the 20th century.
The ownership of the motor vehicle has had a 120yr reign, the vehicle available at the press of an app button on a smart phone makes owning a car a rather expensive luxury.
It will require the driverless car to be allowed to actually travel on public roads without a driver so it can travel from the lot where it parks up and charges to the spot where you plan to pick it up.
Will the requirement to actually have a drivers licence gradually disappear for all but the enthusiast, I think that will be very similar to learning how to ride a horse or drive a buggy with a team of horses ......
I think we all lived through a great period with the automotive revolution, but I think those days are numbered ......

T1 Terry

 

i hope it happens before they take my license away...

 

Level-5 autonomous will need to be available for an entire decade prior to that happening. There's is much to prove still. Rollout is only the first stage in a business shift of that magnitude. It is only one of many long-term objectives anyway. So for near future, there's nothing in that category.

 

good luck terry...

 

Gen4 Prius is designed for solar roof as an option outside USA. USA roof strength specs apparently prevent here.
Not sure how sales on the solar roof did in Japan etc

 

In Norway, plug in cars have 55.9% of the market share. Of course, they've been making a concerted effort toward this goal for quite a while now.

It is really battery cost and power density that will determine BEV share in the rest of the world. The cost has been going down at a steady 6-8% for at least the last 10 years. Since this is compounding, it has meant a remarkable reduction of cost (or increase in density/driving distance, depending on how you look at it). If it continues at this rate it will be 2025 when the real breakthrough will occur. Actually, because of the enormous increase in battery R&D money and effort happening recently, I think this is accelerating.

What do I consider a 'breakthrough'? When a well-built BEV that can drive 250 miles and be fast charged costs as little as the cheapest high-volume ICE cars on the market--I'm talking less than $20k--maybe even down to $15k, then it is probably game over for high-volume ICE cars. All you have to do is look at what happened in the luxury car market, which is largely dominated by a company that didn't even exist 20 years ago. I'm not saying ICE cars will disappear overnight, just that BEV sales will start growing like crazy.

 

Has anyone watched the TED talk on the steps from horse and cart to the petrol powered vehicle? Those two photos of a major city block where "spot the car" went to "spot the horse" in just a few yrs? Change can happen that quick.
Who would have believed 10 yrs ago that Elon Musk would be providing the vehicles to travel to the space station and back .....
Rimes change faster the faster technology escapes the grip of those who try to hold it back, just ask the taxi business here in Australia, no idea how Uber has effected the taxi industry in the US but it has devastated the industry over here, yet the Uber concept is yet to turn a profit ......
Combine Elon Musk and the Uber idea taken a few steps further forward ...... a driverless Uber is just around the corner, like it or not, the city car will be a thing of the past before you know it.
That means the cost of an electric car will no longer be the issue, it will be ICE powered cars being able to meet the new city emissions Musk will push for and being able to adapt to the whole driverless concept .....

T1 Terry

 

I heard the reason was because the PV glass wasn't safety glass, producing sharp shards when it breaks.

The true reason is more likely that Toyota figured there would be too few takers for it in the US. It is around $3000 elsewhere.

 

no but the story of how the width of a horses nice person determined the space rocket designs was a fun antidote

 

Toyota Prius Plugin 2019 is still available here in germany. Only Prius Hybrid is gone because almost nobody purchased Prius Hybrid, except many taxi companies. And you get 6.750 € bonus (part from manufacturer, part from country) for PHV cars under 40.000 € value (including tax). Pure EV cars like VW ID.3 get even 9.000 € bonus up to end of 2022. Charging infrastructure becoming better here, you can free charge up to 1 hour at Aldi stores and many other food stores. McDonald´s plans to implement charging stations too.