Featured 2G Prius Plug-in Reveal - March 23 @ 9:10 am EDT - Live Stream here

I saw a '16 Prius on the way home yesterday. It's a Prius. I didn't particularly like the styling on the rear lights, but I only saw the car in the daylight. I can't imagine the Pip will look any different than the Prius I saw. Performance is another story.

The interior looked interesting - from the little I could see at 15 MPH, anyway.

LOL, my 2012 Pip has its last payment this month… A conspiracy or a coincidence?

 

Yeah, taillights are similar to the New Civic!

 

I don't know! Prius Impossible?

yeah, I forget the C-HR,

 

The Possimpible. Like it. I propose we call the PIP2 that name. Hashtag #Priuspossimpible

 

Priusably the best one I've seen in a while. Hard to read without thinking "Pimpable", which surely a Prius is.

Wouldn't it be #possimpible#prius if possimpible is what you want to coin.
.

 

So what's the next thread going to be called? PiP 2nd Gen? Maybe that would make sense since PiP is officially diverting from the regular Prius (though same platform and I bet same overall shape...)

Anyway, why couldn't this be the Plugin Sienna Hybrid or Rav 4 lol. Rav 4 was EV at one point...

Interesting commercial. Wouldn't it throw everyone for a loop if it was indeed the NS4?

And i doubt this would be called Prius Prime, Prius Plugin suits it ... come on!

 

We're gonna need a bigger boat...

 

Why not? Don't you think the technology is ready for prime time yet?

We've seen plug-in hybrid struggle in the past. Volt was far too expensive (production cost). Ford's Energi required too much interior space compromise. Prius PHV attempted to strike a balance, but needed to wait for the battery tech. Haven't we arrived at that tipping point now?

Personally, I would like the "prime" label... since I was the first who suggested it as Prius identifier... back in 2009.

There is a great deal of potential for plug-in hybrids. Remember 15 years ago when Prius was just starting to get recognition as a possible solution for the masses to reduce emissions & consumption? Some couldn't imagine how the added motor & battery would appeal to consumers. Yet, we are now seeing Toyota approach the 9-million sales milestone. Greater battery-capacity and the addition of a plug seems such a natural next step. It doesn't have to be enormous or powerful. The non-plug battery certainly didn't deliver that, yet it was a huge success anyway.

People focus so much on extremes, they overlook the obvious. Simply consider the success of ubiquitous technologies. Things like touch-screens have become so common, we don't give their actual specifications a second thought... even though they are restrained much more than they would have to be. There's a balance of need & want. Toyota is striving to deliver that.

 

Battery technology certainly hasn't improved very much from the first generation PIP.

When I look at the space for the hybrid battery in the 2016, it looks to me like it's plenty big to hold a 10kWh battery. I don't understand why the hybrid lithium battery takes up so much space. Maybe it's all packaging and cooling.

 

We've seen improvements to energy-density and packaging, as well as major cost drops. There's been research with different chemistries too. On the usage side, we've seen refinements to the controllers & motors.

Don't expect anything profound. The expectation of a wide variety of generational improvements is quite realistic though.

 

Take a look at the Volt's battery specs, and not just gen1 to gen2. The gen1 received improvements during its production run. Then consider Li-ion battery costs were dropping a minimum 7% a year since the Volt was released.

 

The improvements in specific and volumetric energy density are in the tens of percent, not the factor of two to five we really need. The improvements in cost have been similarly modest.

We have:

180 Wh/kg
$150/kWh
3,000 cycle life (at 180 Wh/kg)
10-15 years calendar life

We need:

800 Wh/kg
$25/kWh
20,000 cycle life (at 800 Wh/kg)
30 years calendar life

Long way to go before batteries don't suck anymore.

 

Also, space & weight, probably the reason they don't ship Yaris with 25 gallon gas tank.

 

Those specs go way beyond "don't suck". You could build a 400 mile EV range with 120 kWh for $3,000 of cells that would have a battery life of 8,000,000 miles.

We can build excellent cars on specs that are achievable through normal battery evolution in the next 5-10 years. Of course, even now or in the next 2 years we can build Volt and Bolt EV and Model 3 cars that are great although still slightly pricey.

 

Which is about what we've had with gasoline cars for 40 years.

 

Exactly how many miles are you driving in a day?

How many ICE cars have gone 8 million miles with major rehauls of the engine and transmission, let alone just brakes and fluid changes?

 

I didn't say you'd discharge it fully every charge, just that you'd charge it fully twice a day (i.e. once at home, once at work).

 

Ah, so it really is happening...