Toyota Shows Distain: Even for their Own RAV4-EV

So are we going to blame/credit the Lexus ads as leading the recovery of hybrid sales?

I'm not quite ready to go that far.

Bob Wilson

 

Heavens no! I don't quite see how you would draw that conclusion.
It is just another bit of misinformation that works to slow plugin growth.
Similar, although not nearly as extreme as the whole Canadian Nickle mine fiasco.

 

And wasn't the Lexus ad for the brand without mentioning hybrids?

 

Fwiw, second-hand Leafs are start at about 1.2 million yen in Japan, about $11,500. Some only have 10-15,000 miles. Its a good deal for a car that at Japan electricity prices will be around 2 yen a kilometer to drive. A Prius with the same mileage will be close to double that price second hand.

Just for comparison purposes, clean diesel Nissan X-trails start at about the same price for a car that is 5-6 years old and has 50,000 plus miles. Such car will have been a similar price to the Leaf when new. The fuel cost will be about 8-9 yen a km, making it one of the cheaper 4wd cars to drive. They're very plastic-y inside if you ever see one though.

 

Lexus Hybrids Take Jab At Electric Cars With New "Always Charged, Always Ready" Slogan

 

Toyota and Lexus are only stating the facts, what is wrong with that? Hybrids are always ready to drive.

 

So have both of my plug-in's (Volt & Energi). I haven't heard of any PIP owners who've been stranded either.

 

The point is and I am sure you know, you don't need to plug in, no worries about not having a full charge when you need to go.....I would believe that for a high percentage of buyers that is a concern. Hybrid is still the best of both worlds.

 

The point is Lexus is feeling the heat or else otherwise why even mention the competition?

 

To be fair, it is much more subtle and less of an outright lie than their last anti-plug commercial.
Of course, my Tesla is ready to drive to my destination more often than my Lexus, Prius or other gas cars ever were.

 

Lexus has always done things differently and better. They are committed to Hydrogen and the Lexus version is in the works. So Hybrid is what they do best at this time and will continue to support this tech. I for one believe in Toyota and their vision.

 

So you must charge at home and at work?

 

With 250+ miles of range, I sure hope he doesn't have to charge at work.

 

That's part of the joke... that Tesla drivers are always 200 miles away from home.

 

What does he mean his Tesla is more often ready to go over any other car? It has to be plugged in at some point!

 

Uh, I'm not sure criticizing Lexus makes a whole lot of sense:

	model	City MPG	Hwy MPG
1	Lexus Ct 200h	43 ($.46/10 mi)	40 ($.50/10 mi)
2	Prius ECO	58 ($.34/10 mi)	53 ($.37/10 mi)
3	BMW i3-REx	117 ($.29/10 mi)	39 ($.56/10 mi)

($2.00/gal regular, $2.20/gal plus, $0.10/kWh)

• Prius ECO is a better solution than the Lexus in City and Hwy
• BMW i3-REx is a better City solution to both
• Both are better on the Hwy than the BMW i3-REx

Perhaps we can hear from Bob Lutz:

• GM: Hybrid compacts don't make economic, environmental sense - Jan. 6, 2004
  
• Tesla A 'Fringe Brand': Former GM Product Czar Bob Lutz (Video)

We can find any number of foolish claims without looking hard. But I would observe the BMW i3-REx has no warm-up on battery power. In contrast both hybrids pay a significant warm-up penalty in the first 1-2 miles which is why it is my daily driver.

Bob Wilson

 

I don't want to put words in his mouth, but the point is, if you sufficiently or fully charge at home and/or work, especially both, It is ready to go.

I don't charge my Leaf much at home much since charging is free at work (and PG&E rates are outrageous once you hit tier 3), but if I charged fully at home and fully at work and didn't care about stopping anywhere to charge (e.g. free or paid public charging, back at my work, etc.) and all my trips were within range of the vehicle, I would NEVER need to stop anywhere to fuel up.

With my ICEV, I may have to stop or go out of my way to fuel it.

It is not a big deal to pull into your garage at home and plug in, esp. when the inlet is in the front of the Leaf. It is not a big deal to pull into an EV charging space at work and plug in.

Do you have a gas station at home? Do you have gas pump at your parking spot at work and accompanying underground gasoline storage?

With the 200+ mile EPA range rating of Teslas, if one does what I said earlier, it becomes even more rare that any public charging is needed. (My Leaf's EPA rating on a full charge is only 84 miles on a new battery.)

Imagine if you had a cell phone that you couldn't charge at home nor work and you had to every now and then drop by a special cell phone charging place to charge your phone. That's what he's alluding to if you drive an ICEV.

 

Do you get free gas anywhere?

At one time about three years ago, the Mississippi casinos offered a coupon for gas. It has been a long time since I've seen that.

Bob Wilson

 

Cwerdna pretty much hit the nail on the head.
I charge only at home an in almost 150,000 miles over 6 years (two cars) neither my wife nor I ever needed a charger away from home unless we were on a trip.
Of those charges away from home, the car was ready when we were all but two time.

In my ICE vehicles I often had to stop to refuel the car. Occasionally causing me to be late.
The car was ready to go, to the gas station, but not where I wanted to go.

This isn't true for everyone. Some drive more than 200 miles a day, or live in North Dakota or somewhere like that which has poor charging infrastructure.
Likewise "always ready to go" isn't completely true and misses many of the nuances of EV ownership.

But as I said before, this one is much less blatant in its anti-plug message. And a 30 second commercial doesn't give a lot of time to delve into nuances, so I really have no issues with this one.

Besides, winter is approaching which does plenty to make EVs much more desirable to most Minnesotans.