What happens to our Prii when the plug-ins come out?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FL_Prius_Driver @ Aug 4 2007, 10:52 PM) [snapback]490735[/snapback]</div>

I don't think you can put tesla into the realm of practical just yet. A car that rakes in six figures defeats the savings at the pump, for that matter, same goes for the EV mini, which is double the price. The idea is to get an EV or a PiHYB at or within a few grand of the gas counterpart, then it is practical. Beyond that, you have to drive over 100,000 miles a year for the fuel savings to pay off.

The concept of needing new battery technology is a way of saying that we need batteries that can store say 40 miles worth of juice without costing $20 grand, so yeah a new technology IS needed. At the same time, less hazardous materials should be used, so that would eliminate thinking about using SLA's due to the lead. Durability is in important factor also, so LiIon batteries are out (funny how dell knows that LiIon's are crap, even if you pay for an extended warranty they only cover the battery for 1 year)

I didn't read anyone in this thread mentioning the Chevy Volt. They expect the first prototype with a 9 mile ev-only range by the end of 2008 and a 40 mile by 2009. Too bad it will probably end up costing the same as a corvette.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fred S @ Aug 11 2007, 06:29 AM) [snapback]493930[/snapback]</div>

The reason why laptop manufactures only warranty batteries for 1 year is because they are considered consumable products, meaning the life of the battery depends on the person using: How often they use, How often they recharge it, so on and so forth. Batteries have a set number of cycles they go through before they die, you could run your computer only on battery power period and it probably would not last longer than a year.

I have weird feelings about the chevy volt. It sounds like a marketing scheme. I mean they had the EV1 years ago, the only difference is the volt has a gasoline engine to recharge the batteries on long trips, so this whole "They expect the first prototype with a 9 mile ev-only range by the end of 2008 and a 40 mile by 2009.." is bs, the EV1 went 90 miles on one charge... common, this is just marketing.

Honestly, we should be driving pure electric vehicles that recharge by tapping into the limitless energy in our earths shumman resonance field, but thats just me .

 

I expect that one day I will be able to convert my '07 Prius into a plug-in hybrid at a reasonable cost. In the meantime, I guess I can get by with 50+ mpg.

Harry

 

All cars depreciate, even the Prius and better technology always makes depreciation worse. There is no way to avoid it, it happens to everyone. Even Luke Skywalker complained about the price he got for his land speeder because of the appearance of a new model.

Since I own more than one car, my Prius still may be more valuable to me than it's market price. I might replace one of my other cars with the latest Prius but not until there is appreciable design change. I don't want two of the same design.