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Recent 5 min read. This Green Car Reports article summarizes recent discussions with Cooper Ericksen, Toyota Motor North America VP for product planning and strategy. From article - “Our research indicates the average customer commutes in that 20-to-30-miles-per-day range,” Ericksen explained. “The key to a plug-in is to have the right range to do your daily tasks on EV only, plugging in, in your garage—and then you have the hybrid portion for long trips, so it's one car that in today's world can really do the job of multiple cars.”
Future Toyota Prime plug-in hybrids: How much range and performance?

お…おお…新型プリウスが仰天顔で登場!! 次期型発表は2022年末「隠し玉」も用意 - 自動車情報誌「ベストカー」

• Unique front design that’s recognizable as a hybrid (we all know what that is code for. Apparently there was much uproar in the BeatCar editorial department over the description of the front fascia of the next gen Prius which they have rendered on the webpage.)
• Hybrid and PHEV versions. In Japan, the PHV will be renamed PHEV to follow global naming conventions
• The Prius Prime will be focused on a premium experience (e.g. NX450h+ vs NX350h) rather than as a performance upgrade (e.g. RAV4 Prime vs. RAV4 Hybrid)
• That said, it will be more performance oriented so it might inherit a modified version of the RAV4 Prime’s system
• It’ll also continue to benchmark the VW Golf for handling and “fun to drive” aspects in the compact car segment.
  
• Lastly, a hydrogen ICE version is being developed but might launch during the midlife update

I’m helping a government team considering incentives for hybrids and EVs. A common concern is that the hybrid batteries will need to be replaced within the vehicle lifetime at high cost. But is this really an issue? I see that Toyota offers a 10-year 150,000 mile warranty on the hybrid battery. And I have seen many Priuses used as taxis in Europe with many more miles on the clock and still using the original battery.

So I would like to find out who had to replace the hybrid battery on their Prius? (Not due to damage, just due to wear). Please reply via the attached poll?

Thanks in advance!

Mildly dramatized article in Wired Magazine by Sabrina Weiss about the need to step up our game on recycling all those fancy new traction batteries:

The World Needs to Crack Battery Recycling, Fast | WIRED UK

"electric vehicles don’t emit any carbon dioxide when being driven, but their rechargeable batteries are causing environmental and social concerns of their own. They contain scarce and expensive metals. And once the batteries are past their prime, they are tough to recycle."

my doctor's wife gots one and I was mentioning my Prime's "CRG" setting to charge up battery while driving around with engine and he was clueless and asked him again 6weeks later and he said it don't seem to have and only Plug In for Batt.

BMW youtubes seem to confirm. Then again ALL Toyota dealers where clueless and this seems to be an almost hidden feature (but its my fave).

• Kia bests Tesla’s previous record for shortest charging time to cross the U.S. in an electric vehicle by more than five hours
• The average charging stop during the nearly 3,000-mile journey lasted less than 20 minutes
  

All−new, all−electric Kia EV6 takes Guinness World Records™ title in journey across the United States

Source: Toyota says large parts of world not ready for zero-emission cars


Good thing they never noticed Tesla had the same problem and solved it. Tesla designed and deployed a SuperCharger network. More importantly, Tesla goes to the next layer, power generation. this is beyond the understanding of the current Toyota management. But it is...

Well - that's ONE way to get a pickup EV



The Future of Custom Vehicles: Ford Unveils All-Electric F-100 Eluminator Concept With New EV Crate Motor Customers Can Now Buy | Ford Media Center

This was posted on reddit. Sounds exciting. The new Prius will most likely be my next car as my 2010 Prius needs to retire. Enjoy.

• 71.4kWh battery
• 280 miles WLTP
• FWD and AWD with 201 or 215hp respectively
• Top speed: 99mph (same as Prius c)
• Toyota expects it to retain 90% capacity after 10 years
• 150kW DCFC. 80% in 30 mins
• 11kW AC
• Optional “One Motion Grip” steering wheel linkage and setup for 150° lock-to-lock (so, like an F1 car?)
• Toyota Safety Sense 3.0

Reservations for Toyota’s bZ4x open on the 15th December, following the car’s European debut on the 2nd December, with pricing to be confirmed and deliveries scheduled in 2022.


New Toyota bZ4x revealed as brand’s first bespoke electric car | Auto Express

2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid First Test Review: Big MPG, Big Fun

Pretty cool, the small pick up is coming back and the base model ford maverick is an affordable hybrid getting 37 mpg epa combined and 33 highway. Many people that I know that own pick ups would be happy with a small one but get to the dealer and get upsold to f150s and tundras. I think this hybrid and the upcoming plug-in pick ups may start cutting into the thirsty pick up segment.

The upcoming hybrid tundra is a step in the right direction but it is still likely to still consume a lot of gas with its 6 cylinder engine. This maverick would be better with the rav4 hybrid set up. I hope Toyota puts something like that in a pick up soon.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2021/10/25/hertz-tesla-electric-vehicles-ev-rental-car/6171433001/

No wonder the stock is nearing $1,000 / share

.

Hello there I have an 2011 Toyota Prius
That recently replaced engine
Due to head gasket issues

It drove fine for couple days
Until code P080A came up
And check hybrid system showed up
Contact someone who scanned
And he said hybrid battery needed to be replace

So today 10/21/21 I replaced the hybrid battery

but warning came up again
Check hybrid system

Inverter charges the battery

car runs but after few minutes it
It just stops
And bunch lights on dashboard

If I turn the car off for a few mnts
It runs again but warning ligh still on

Toyota, Stellantis to Build EV-Battery Factories in North America - WSJ

Toyota, Stellantis to Build EV-Battery Factories in North America
Car makers accelerate push into the American electric-vehicle market as President Biden toughens fuel-efficiency standards



A Toyota electric vehicle at an auto show in April. The Japanese company aims to invest $3.4 billion through 2030 to build electric-car batteries in the U.S.
PHOTO: HECTOR RETAMAL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Toyota Motor Corp. TM 0.07% and Jeep parent Stellantis...

Article: https://electrek.co/2021/10/07/worlds-highest-drivable-roads-18-ev-charging-stations-ladakh-india/


This is cool.

Ford to build new EV and battery plants in Tennessee & Kentucky; $11.4B total investment in two mega-sites; 129 GWh/year total - Green Car Congress

I want an EV. And since my Prius, I'd love it to be a Toyota.
But there are none.

Today I found this article, supposedly Toyota is lobbying against EV's. Not in the US myself, so I don't particularly care about the lobbying, but I had expected Toyota to be more technology driven instead of dragging its feet. And actively sabotaging, sorry, lobbying against e.g. California's right to have stricter emission rules is something I would not have expected.

Is it really that bad? From what I read here, people with the Mirai's are left in the cold as well. (I have a dislike for H2 for practical reasons and a total lack of objective reporting in newspapers about the downsides of H2, but our government is pushing it for some reason (also some lobbying going on???)).

BTW, unlike the US (or the US portrayed in sitcoms/movies), people here don't buy new cars very often, partly because they...

Whatever the many reasons Toyota has taken so long to make this announcement... And yes it's just a bunch of promises, it's still a big step forward for leadership that have been a stick in the mud when it comes to transitioning to all electric vehicles

I'm sure we're all a little bit relieved that they are no longer gonna be anti-electric fossil fools claiming hybrid cars are superior to all-electric. It took a long time for them to accept that the future market requires major investments in all electric, not just resting on their already established hybrids:
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TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Tuesday it expected to spend more than $13.5 billion by 2030 to develop batteries and its battery supply system, in a bid to take a lead in the key automotive technology over the next decade.

The world's largest automaker by volume, which pioneered hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with the popular Prius, is moving rapidly to deliver its first all-electric...