Featured OH No! Toyota Might Ditch the Prius c, v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) and Plug-In Hybrid

I highly doubt it. If the PiP were exactly equal in price, maybe, but if the price premium is significant, no.

And the current PiP has very puny battery capacity and AER (all-electric range) compared to say the Gen 1 Volt, let alone the Gen 2 Volt.

Just because charging stations exist doesn't mean they're economical to use. (My primary car for about 2.5 years has been a '13 Leaf SV. I get free charging at work. I've paid $0 for any public charging). Aside from any free workplace charging, there really aren't that many free charging stations. The rest can cost more to use than fueling a PiP w/gas, part of the problem being the current PiP having such a low wattage on-board charger. (Seems to pull only ~2.1 kW on a 208 volt L2 EVSE, from what I've seen at work when I plug them in.)

Example: If gas is $4/gal and you average only 45 mpg, that's 8.9 cents/mile. If it's $3/gal, that'd make it 6.7 cents/mile.

Some expensive stations charge $0.49/kWh. If you averaged 4 miles/kWh (including charging losses, as charging's not 100% efficient), that's 12.25 cents/mile. Relatively cheap public stations in CA (good if you have a 6+ kW on-board charger) charge only $1/hour. But, w/the PiP's low wattage OBC at 208 volts, only 2.1 kWh would've come out of the "wall" in an hour, making the cost 47.6 cents/kWh or about 11.9 cents/mile (if you averaged 4 miles/kWh, INCLUDING charging losses).

My Leaf (has 6.x kW OBC) on 208 volt EVSEs typically pulls 5.7 to 6.1 kW on those, so I'd have received 5.7 to 6.1 kWH in 1 hour. That makes time based ones a much better deal for cars w/high wattage OBCs and a terrible deal w/low wattage ones.

Most public L2 EVSEs (that aren't on Blink) are 30 amp and common commercial power is 208 volts, not 240.

 

not according to the quotes from toyota execs.

 

I didn't see any quotes from Toyota execs to the contrary. Can you point me to them.

 

they are in the other threads regarding this subject. there are two other articles with quotes from toyota. this article didn't contain any.

 

OH No! Toyota Might Ditch the Prius c, v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) and Plug-In Hybrid | PriusChat

 

thanks man.

 

The Leaf had a bad month compared with previous years, but comparing the numbers for January Leaf sold 755 units and Volt sold 996 units. Considering the Leaf is in its 6th year (with 2nd gen likely to arrive in a year or so when the Bolt arrives) and the Volt just came out with their second gen a few months ago, I'd say it did just fine. The i3 definitely tanked at 182 units.

Also, I actually find my 2012 Prius C to be a great and reliable car at a price more affordable than the Liftback, and would be surprised to see it go away. The v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) didn't make much sense to me since compared to the Liftback the only advantage is more trunk space with worse mpg and less leg space and more expensive. I rarely hear people complaining about storage space in the Liftback (although I have zero experience with strollers).

 

That's sad to hear, especially the C. It really irks me that so much of car buying decision revolves around fuel price. I'm with CPilot--even if gasoline were free, they couldn't pay me to daily drive something big. What should matter is the number of gallons, not $$. Even if the giants did manage to get good fuel economy, I never got the "bigger is better" thing.

And if the C gets dropped, all the more reason to keep it!

 

Strollers fit fine in the regular Prius 3rd gen. Not so much for the Prius c I'm told, at least for big ones.

 

OK so the quote is this from the original article these were written from?
Toyota's fuel-thrifty Prius family may decrease as the automaker ponders strategy

Well Lentz sounds a little like anouther guy whose name began with an L. He probably is just trying to pump up rav4 hybrid sales. Let's look at it in the full context

Could they can the v? Sure. IMHO they really need a from the ground up redesigned crossover phev/hybrid, but since they hold their nose for anything with a plug, maybe they will just snuff it out instead of designing it right on the platform. Especially troubling is they still want to make everything named prius sold in the US exported from japan. That has been pretty clear. A rav4 hybrid or camry hybrid built in the US has some big potential cost savings versus a japanese exported prius v next generation.

My post was mainly about the c. They really are just talking garbage here, to lower expectations. With the c/aqua the best selling car in japan, they are going to invest. Why wouldn't they continue to import them? All they said was we haven't decided. I call that just silly.

 

well I like a hauler when I need it...but Car#2 can be a Prius and that'll get most of the miles. This is for 2 driver household, if you are 1-car household harder to do that.

 

RAV4s are made in Canada, and the RAV4 Hybrid will be in Canada too. I don't think there is any US production of the RAV4, but I could be mistaken. Camry Hybrid is in the US though.

 

To AutstinGreen: well keep in mind realities of plant runs, with high SUV demands and fire in Japan steel plant, could be sometings gotta give

 

Thanks I should have said north american not US.

Toyota halts production in Japan due to steel shortage
That seems short term, but more reason to produce a higher percentage of toyota hybrids in north america. The tsunami, now this a yen that gets stronger could really hurt toyota export hybrid sales.

You have to notice that the rav4 hybrid barely beat the prius c, and its a brand new pushed model. prius v dropped 700 from last year, prius c dropped 851 from a year ago with 1763 in january. Rav 4 hybrid got 1973. I don't see how toyota can drop the c instead of improve it, and hope to maintain hybrid market share.

 

Good one! I add the strong Greenback to the list of reasons for less c,v and maybe plug-in

possibly (guessing here) EU is gaining importance now due to less strong Euro and some shift to gasser hybrids in wake of diesel issues

 

The reason for poor prius phv sales is they stopped making them last june. You can't sell things you don't have.

Prius c is helped by the strong dollar, it makes japanese labor cost less as they are screwing with their currency, giving the workers a pay cut through weak currency. It doesn't help on electricity as they import he fossil fuel to make it. So all in all weak yen should help, but can only help so much. There still are those shipping costs to get materials in and out of japan. Prius c is hurt by low gas prices in the US, plain and simple. It still is one of the best selling hybrids. Still competition from the corola, fit, mazda 3, mazda 2 (that will be the base of the new yaris in the US i think), the new liftback, etc, it needs a redesign for the US. Still it sells great in a bad market in japan.

Prius v, well we have a problem. People bought it because it didn't look exactly prius but had great gas mileage. For those that don't need the cargo, the midsize hybrids are eating its lunch, and all are suffering from low gas prices. For those that need the cargo, with low gas prices, they are buying the cute utes, rav4, cr-v, escape. Its underpowered and dated. They need to update or kill. I think its stupid of toyota to float the idea about killing it though.

Europe, well europe wants its cars built in europe. It isn't buying many of any of these japanese produced cars. They have a tarrif.

 

Well, one issue with the RAV4 Hybrid is that sales are constrained due to lack of stock. Most dealers don't seem to have any at all on their lots. This will continue in the coming months because of the steel plant explosion, although that will affect other Japanese made cars too.

As mentioned, you can sell what you don't have.

 

Their sales were in line with my expectations. They may increase then decrease as demand is satisfied.

The steel explosion only hurts cars made in Japan. Toyota has said 6 days on japanese produced cars, no impact on north american produced vehicles. There is a time delay in shipping so that stalled production in japan should not hurt dealer lots yet, but dealers may charge more on imports knowing they may not restock fast.

 

The v is my 3rd prius and I think for what it does, its great! For me, its my compromise on a Tacoma with a slide in camper. I've got lots of room when I go out to adventure, but, doing 20k miles a year around town, it saves me a ton on gas. Yes, its a little awkward in terms of where it fits in with auto genre's, but, for some of us its the perfect car/suv/wagon.

 

I think that competition will likely drive upgrades, and charging stations I see most often are Blink. The trend is on.