Featured 2023 Prius spy shot

Assuming fuel prices remain relatively high, there will be a demand. In fact, I'm seeing far more Gen 4's on the road around here than I used to. LOTS of folks are still not ready for an EV...and the fact of the matter is, folks are *still* coming around to hybrids.

With that said, I'm hoping the Gen 5 powertrain will pull some new tricks on the efficiency side to make it stand out.

 

not too bad, definitely better than gen 4. measurements will be important

 

Like to see dash.

 

IMHO Toyota should come out with a solid-state battery BEV version of the Prius, with, e.g., 600+mi of range. Something that would truly rock the market, the same way Gen 2 did. And make the Prius relevant again.

The design is cool and all, but I am far more interested in a (EV) drivetrain. New ICE vehicles are definitely out for me, and definitely not what this planet and all of us need right now.

 

The tail lights are reminiscent of the current gen Rav4. Its nice. I hope with the lights on, it's a full length light and not just corner lights. Would definitely trade in my Two Eco for a first year Gen 5.

 

I'm assuming we're talking about EV-only range here. People wanting 176 miles range in a PHEV is so absurd, it's comical. I'd like a link to that study.

Yes, people dont all need AWD. And while not having AWD would prevent me from likely buying it, it could still be a good product for others. But I should add that Toyota can add e-AWD very cheaply and even offers it in Corollas now.

 

We can use higher pack density to lower vehicle weight and improve handling, not just give it a longer EV range. And we can also certainly meet somewhere in between.

 

site ate my post.

1 in 5 Californians have swapped their EV for a gas car — and this is to blame | PriusChat
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00814-9
I'll be able to view the full study from work, if required.

The E-four in the Corolla and Prius is low power(7hp) and low speed(43mph max).
"As Prius chief engineer Shoichi Kaneko explained to us last week at the LA Auto Show, it snows a lot in Japan. For snowy roads, front-wheel-drive vehicles have the hardest time with launch on an incline. So the first priority was to support a confident launch in stop-and-go traffic, uphill, on slippery roads."
Toyota Prius AWD-e: Going light on the rear motor helps it hit 50 mpg
Japan doesn't have road salt.
Review: 2020 Toyota Prius AWD-e isn’t what you think

Some markets have minimum range requirements for incentives.

 

I understand the sentiment. You are definitely WAY ahead of the curve ( as are most around here ). That's cool and all...but I gotta love some of the the so called righteous folks, even former Prius enthusiast, that are trashing the Prius now.

I've stated this before...but the *vast* majority of folks are still coming around to hybrids, much less EVs. It's pretty amusing watching the Fork Maverick crowd discussing the wonders of the hybrid drivetrain. Nice to see some coming around...but sad to see how behind the curve the vast majority are.

I understand that most here are early adopters, dreamers, etc...However, the reality is that most of the USA isn't going to own an EV, or even a hybrid, for quite some time. Let's just be happy that Toyota is still interested in releasing a new gen of the Prius...incidentally this site's namesake.

 

By far the easiest and least intrusive way to charge a plug-in is parked in your driveway or garage, overnight. This is difficult/impossible even for "first world" folks that live in apartments/condos, and/or only have street parking.

My take: please Toyota, take a break from bleeding-edge mpg bragging rights, consider a return to a more ergonomic dash, reinstate the spare on levels where practical, consider ease-of-maintenance, parts complexity/cost, and resist the urge to make the car look like some malevolent Pokemon

 

Those links say nothing about why a PHEV needs such a long EV range. They do suggest that range anxiety is real, and so the convenience and speed of charging infrastructure is important. You can have range anxiety in a PHEV if its total range is low and not because its EV-only range is low.

If you purchase a PHEV and operate it in EV-only mode more than 95% of the time, you should have probably bought a cheaper EV instead. (An EV with the same battery capacity but lacking the gasoline drivetrain will be cheaper.)

And if you purchase a PHEV and operate it in EV-only mode less than 50% of the time, you should have probably bought a cheaper hybrid instead.

The happy medium where PHEV makes sense is probably between 80-90% EV driving. (There are some people for whom PHEVs don't make sense.)

EV/PHEV incentives can skew this assessment a little bit.

 

Having owned ICE, three Prius, two PHEV, and a BEV:

• ICE - often has to make partial power using inefficient power ranges and the friction braking wasting energy and brake pads.
• hybrids - the engine runs at peak efficiency power ranges and uses a relatively small traction battery to handle partial power and regenerative braking. The brake pads last a long, long time. All of our Prius achieved +52-56 MPG operation in City and Highway operation.
• PHEV - with a traction battery equal to minimum of 2-3x the daily commute, it becomes a City efficient EV. However the in-vehicle charger should be at least 7 kW and a reasonably fast DC charging should be required. We had great success with 72 mi battery range and reasonable success with the ~7 kW built-in charger, 30 A, and ~50 kW, CCS-1, fast DC charger. But cross country EV travel is limited by these slow charging speeds and scarce fast DC charging network. However, the range extender engine worked just fine with 70 mph @39 MPG.
• BEV - needs +7 kW, AC charge rate and +100 kW fast DC charging. Traction battery size needs to exceed the expected range between highway, fast DC charging network stations.

Bob Wilson

 

My guess is that we are going to get a similar to rav4 prime phev drivetrain, with even better acceleration figures. That explains the oversized rims. The big battery pack offers range and performance jump.

 

No one was claiming a PHEV needed 176 miles of range. The survey with over 7700 respondents was just saying the current and previous plug in owners wanted 176 miles of range.

I find that distance a bit on the extreme side of PHEV electric range. However, the same survey also found that 10% to 20% of those plug in owners didn't have home charging. So those PHEV owners asking for such long ranges likely weren't using the EV mode as often as they would have liked, and wanted enough range to cover multiple days between charging.

Another potential advantage of such ranges in the future is that it makes a switch to renewable, carbon neutral engine fuels more feasible.

 

So, who is the audience for the Prius hybrid?

 

people who want a cleaner environment, lower fuel costs, lower maintenance costs, but cannot or aren't ready to plug in

 

*Raises hand*....I'm still rocking a 2012 Prius v...and daughter has our Prius C now. I'll be more than happy with a Gen 5 Prius. If it comes standard as a PHEV, then...bonus!

 

Yep, many think since the Prius is Toyota's King of the Hybrid they'll copy the Crown's interior....heck to the YEAH!