Picking up my New 2014 Prius Plug-In Advanced in 3 days

very!

 

It's not primarily my opinion - I'm telling you what is a near-consensus in the EV community. Toyota doesn't like EVs, just like most manufacturers. Their strategy for where to sell the PIP isn't an opinion, it's easily proven just by comparing the ZEV laws in states where they sell the PIP to those in states where they do not. Personally I'd love it if Toyota were to embrace the EV, but that just isn't happening. If it were, then at the very least the PIP would be a 50 state car

 

Surely if you know this much inside knowledge of Toyota you could be making a fortune day trading the stock.

 

If I could make a fortune on the stock market by reading EV forums daily, then there would be many more millionaires driving EVs. Why don't you try a little saturation reading at mynissanleaf.com, or the commercial EV webzines? You can make a fortune too!

 

Why would Toyota make an EV like Leaf that actually has higher emission than a regular Prius? That would be moving backward.

PiP is the cleanest a plugin can get, at the current grid mix.

There are EVs that are cleaner than PiP but they are either compact or sub-compact with limited range and long refuel time (vs gas).

 

The validity of that claim aside, there is no "the" grid mix. My grid power is 100% local hydro, so my Leaf really does have Zero Emissions. Our PIP does not.

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I am not aware of any states giving EV partial "credits" for Plug In Prius. Believe California requires 100% battery vehicle to get ZEV credits (eg; Toyota RAV4 EV as CA compliance car). I am also thinking that CA is the only state currently mandating EV sales by all car manufacturers wanting to do business in CA.

Why is Toyota selling PiP mainly in CARB states plus a few others? I do not know either but my guess is these initial PiP vehicles are CA-certified versions, saving Toyota expense of making a non-CARB version for non-CARB states. Also Li battery warranted for 150k miles in CARB states so that reduces risk for early buyers in CARB states - a defacto incentive.

Agree that Toyota has been quite clear about not supporting the BEV concept. I personally think that's because Toyota has established superiority in the hybrid HEV space.

 

The grid mix means it is weighted by the kWh generated. Hydro represents 6.8% of all US electricity generated.

From your local perspective, your Leaf is extremely clean. From national point of view (if Leaf consumes electricity evenly across the US), not so much. Emission is a global issue so, the bigger picture is important.

Using an EV in renewable dominant state is as important as NOT allowing in a coal intensive grid state. In another word, it loses the mass benefit.

A very clean mass-market vehicle is very difficult to make. There are a lot of variables to balance.

 

It appears that California also has a "partial ZEV, or PZEV class, and this is where the Prius PHEV earns Toyota credits without forcing them to build actual EVs (although they do have the RAV 4 EV). Similar rules presumably apply in the other "CARB" states. This was posted at the Leaf forum site:

"PZEVs come by way of California's Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, a vital portion of the state's low emission vehicle program dating back to 1990. Throughout history, CA has set a tight green benchmark for stringent emissions laws that have in turn led to tighter federal regulations. Vehicles are required to meet tight emission test requirements for volatile organic compounds (VOC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO). While it was thought that battery electric vehicles would be numerous on roads by now, problems from cost to range--and even marketing issues--led to a modification of the ZEV mandate that gave birth to the PZEV, the partial zero emissions vehicle which allows automakers to meet their quotas through partial zero credits."

They can use the PIP to meet these quotas through 2015, and for part of the quota after that. This tells me, once again, that Toyota is doing as little as they can without hurting their bottom line.

 

The nice thing about pure EVs is that you can recharge them from rooftop solar arrays, no matter where you are. (And a lot of Leaf owners are doing just that, as leased solar arrays make it possible to at least semi-directly use PV to recharge, and owned arrays make it possible to do it directly.) Environmentally conscious EV owners are also likely to provide a lot of support for "clean electricity" distribution initiatives that use wind and solar power from regional sources. So while almost all PIP owners still have to buy dirty, bloody gasoline, EV owners can help to change that mix of power in their own areas.

 

Yes, it is nice. Running my car solely on solar power was my childhood dream.

Range and refueling speed are still an issue as we are a single car family. PiP delivers the best of both HV and EV worlds. I am sure you got PiP for those longer drives.

There are crazy amount of gov incentives for battery and solar panel. In a sense it us good but then it is like picking winners and losers.

I am not a fan of using gas but I use it for what it is good at, at highest efficiency. PiP was designed to take advantage of it. Further justification is, US also produces about 1/3 oil we consumes.

If we need to add a second vehicle, it will likely be an EV so we are on the sane page.

 

I don't think Toyota needs PiP sales in CA to get PZEV credits because regular Prius is enough. California does provide powerful state incentives to PiP buyers: $1500 rebate and all-important free HOV lane access, which is better than a winning MegaMillions lottery ticket for some Californians.

 

amazing what we've turned mind machines new car thread into.

 

I think that they earn more credits per car for the PHEV than for the regular hybrid. The HOV incentive is also good for them, indirectly.