Featured Barnaby Joyce rejects petrol car sales ban amid Coalition debate on electric vehicles

Toyota does not plan on selling the Prius PHV in Australia though.

 

According to this story from last March, Toyota does not think Australa is ready for the plugin. They appear to be confusing plugin hybrid=dis like the PHV and pure electric vehicles like the Teslas. The PHV can still be fueled and drivin like a regular hybrid, if desired. Plugging to charge can result in cost savings depending on the costs of fuel vs electricity. As a hybrid it gets slightly better economy than a normal hybrid due to the larger battery which reduces running of the engine.

I know @alanclarkeau is happy with his Prius in Australia.

Australia not ready for Toyota plug-in hybrids, marketing chief says

 

I actually wanted a Plug-in hybrid - I've got SOLAR on my roof, so it would be ideal. But mid last year, there was only a Mitsubishi truck (and most were 12 mth old demonstrators waiting for a new model) or more expensive cars than I wanted to spend - AUDI eTRON, BMW 330e or MERC ?C?

Yes, IONIQ is slated for release mid-2018, and I'll be looking seriously. But there are others coming too, maybe including KIA (small SUV) and GOLF.

I really don't think the landscape is going to change much in the next 10 years - unless fuel prices sky-rocket (and it has gone up a bit the last 3 months). Since petrol prices came down 2 or 3 yrs or so ago - Australians are buying huge numbers of twin cab trucks and SUVs, importers aren't bringing many other cars in due to that demand - it was almost 3 months after release that we first saw a Gen4 PRIUS in Queensland, and stocks for sale didn't appear for another month (when I got mine).

That said - if there's a change of government, and that seems to happen here so often, a labor government might bring in some EV/hybrid tax etc concessions - like most other countries in the world, to encourage rather than discourage EV/hybrid/PHEV sales.

With the lack of charging infrastructure here, PHEVs make more sense, though many families could well use a traditional petrol car plus an EV for more city based running. But instead they'll have a twin-cab ute plus an SUV - because fuel is so cheap.

 

I believe you guys have the Hybrid Corolla but I do not see it mentioned much. Is the fuel economy that poor or the added cost of the Hybrid too steep?

 

I tried it - basically Corolla Hybrid was better than a Corolla - with a Gen 3 drivetrain - it's got independent rear suspension like the overseas AURIS, which normal Corolla doesn't get.

But drive the PRIUS, and the PRIUS was all over it. PRIUS had bigger boot, Climate Control, Remote windows, HUD, DRCC, Lane Assist. Sadly, they've both got the same stupid Radio/CD thingy without buttons or knobs:


I've seen more Corolla Hybrids on the road than Gen 4s though, probably because it's $6 or 7000 cheaper.

 

I wonder when or if they will update it to TNGA / Gen 4? Rumors are that the 2019 Corolla will be TNGA. If so, the Hybrid version should be the Gen 4 HSD.

 

Probably will - that is the plan, and I'd suspect they'll all get independent rear suspension.

Interestingly, they brought the Corolla (AURIS) Hybrid instead of a diesel. But with RAVE4, they brought in the Diesel instead of Hybrid version.

 

Do you have the Prius v / Prius + ? It is rumored that Toyota expects people to move to the Hybrid RAV4 instead in the US.

 

Yep, we have PRIUS c as well as PRIUS v - the v is a 7 seat version.

 

my opinion is that the wheels of government grind exceedingly slow (probably for the best) and i would buy the car you want, without concern for depreciation.

 

We probably need to focus on political preference vs. need.
Japan is hostage to energy imports so for reasons of self-preservation, there is obvious focus on hybrids etc.

Depends on Ozzie energy vulnerability. If you have nat gas, that's a pretty quick emergency conversion except in the USA where our safety regs add $10000 to car cost.

But also Japan is not too focus in EV as then they need to make electricity they do not have either.

USA I see as affluent enough and energy rich enough that it becomes more of a political choice which way we go or to what extent.

 

Didn't I see Toyota was manufacturing Hydrogen and then exporting it to Japan for use in Mirais? That is another energy source, but without infrastructure.

 

might be a strategic position .... Toyota has made no secret they plan on using tons of brown Australian coal to reform (then call it clean) hydrogen for their island country. Australia uses a lot of coal to generate electricity. That being the case, if Toyota were to sell phev's & ev's in Australia - the coal prices from Australia could rise significantly. Supply & demand. Follow the money.
.

 

Well conversion of coal to H2 is a much cleaner process (and more costly) than combustion of coal.
Coal would not be as huge problem for the planet if cleaner technology was used.
I am not saying USA should do that, but certainly could make sense for Japan.
Perhaps it is not too necessary right now with lower cost energy at the moment.

 

The Australian Corolla is the Auris. Toyota cancelled Corolla is most markets, but the Aussies wanted to keep the name for marketing. The US gets it as the Auris hatchback as the iM.

Toyota is shifting from diesel to hybrid for their cars. Most, if not all, of the diesel options for them are gone in Europe. They are still pursuing diesels for trucks at home and in the Asian area. They came out with a new 2.8L recently.

Australia has coal, and most of that is the dirtier brown coal. They have a no nukes policy. They are shifting to renewables like wind and solar in some areas.

Hydrogen has already been covered, but the real hurdle to plug ins for Japan is their grid. A Prime will take over 10 hours to charge at Level 1 at half their residents, and level 2 isn't possible at those locations.

It's cleaner, but the cost increase makes it a non-starter for the US. That might also be true in most other countries when the choice is installing clean coal vs renewables plus energy storage.

The criticism for Toyota and Japan over this is that they are converting it to hydrogen in Australia, shipping it for higher cost than coal to Japan. Which is all really done to claim the hydrogen used in their FCEVs is clean because the dirty steps took place overseas.

 

yes - either purpose CAN be cleaner, when it comes to CO2 & air concerns, but when mountains of toxic coal ash meet flood waters .....

those are costly - fatal - & long term screwups
.

 

Yes, our Corolla is the AURIS overseas, but somehow we ended up with a different rear suspension (or so the journos keep saying) - except with the HYBRID. As for the name, TOYOTA wanted to keep Corolla, having watched NISSAN change from PULSAR to TIIDA - and sales plummet (though I think that was also partly because the car was a bit underwhelming). It's amazing how little knowledge some people have of what goes on in the car industry (etc) - and some blindly go buy another "xyz" every 3 years - and when the discover (e.g. Pulsar or indeed Pontiac) doesn't exist any more they don't automatically go and buy the exact equivalent (eg TIIDA or Buick) but shop around for the first time in decades.

Re COAL, it's much more anthracite (Black) - WIKI says "In 2009, Australia was the fourth-highest coal producer in the world, producing 335 megatonnes (Mt) of anthracite and 64 Mt of lignite". I don't think that's changed much since 2009.

 

The country subsidiaries of Toyota do have a say in marketing and even product development. Those were the Aussies I was referring too. Toyota Japan likely didn't care what the locals called the car as long as it sold.

Lower trim Auris have the torsion beam suspension in the UK. Have to go higher trims for the independent rear. The hybrid falls under higher trims. The ones for Australia probably come from a plant making them for the UK, and Toyota figured it was cheaper to not mess with the suspension for another market. It also might help with the additional weight.

Wiki also says Australia holds around 25% of the worlds known lignite reserves. It is second to Germany.