Toyota

When Toyota introduced the 2010 Prius years ago, the automaker offered an optional solar panel on the roof of the car. The idea to power your electric vehicle from direct sunlight is understandably appealing, but the system was actually only able to power the climate control inside the system and not the battery pack to power the vehicle.

While solar is great as a source of energy and something we follow diligently here, it requires a great deal of space to make it worthwhile for transportation applications.  Toyota has said that it didn’t connect the previous $2000 Prius Solar Panel option directly to the engine because it caused radio interference with the car’s stereo. In reality, not much power would have been gained. The previous panels were 50watts or about a 6th of a solid 3’x5′ solar panel.

Now the Japanese automaker is bringing back the feature in the new 2017 Prius Plug-In, now renamed the ‘Prius Prime’, and it will reportedly be able to charge your battery pack to contribute to the vehicle’s electric range. Looking at the size, I’d guess it is at least 3-5 times bigger/more powerful than the previous Kyocera solar panel but even then, will it have a meaningful impact on driving/range? 
Expand
Expanding
Close

I think we are witnessing the start of a new (but long overdue) trend this year. The few established automakers still pushing fuel cell hydrogen vehicles appear to be warming up to battery-powered electric vehicles instead. Honda, Toyota and Hyundai, arguably the automakers most stuck on hydrogen, all announced new electric vehicle programs in the past few weeks.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Ahead of the Beijing Auto Show this week, Toyota announced that it will create an electric plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the Corolla for the Chinese market. While the automaker’s announcement appears to limit the vehicle’s availability to China for now, it does open the door for a possible global launch of a PHEV version of Toyota’s flagship midsize sedan.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Although Toyota is betting big on hydrogen vehicles, the Japanese automaker seems to be slowly warming up to electric vehicles as an alternative to broaden its lineup of zero-emission cars. This week, the automaker unveiled a new electric vehicle concept in partnership with Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).

Unfortunately for EV enthusiast, it’s another ‘weird-mobile’ and it’s called the uBox.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Toyota debuted its next generation Prius plug-in hybrid, now called the ‘Prius Prime’ today at New York Auto Show. The vehicle is the second generation plug-in hybrid Prius and it’s built on the Japanese automaker’s fourth generation Prius platform unveiled last year.

The new version of Toyota’s flagship hybrid is expected to achieve 22 miles of range on a single charge and a 120+ MPGe rating. Those are company estimates and not verified by the EPA yet.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Toyota revealed details on some of the new technologies it will introduce in its fourth generation Prius. Most notably, the Japan-based automaker will offer two choices of battery packs with higher energy density for the 2016 Prius: lithium-ion or nickel-metal hybrid.
Expand
Expanding
Close

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=105&v=Oji9NIqIqac

I have to say, as an EV enthusiast, these new ads from Chevy leave an incredibly bad taste in my mouth. Yes, the Prius’s NiCad batteries are older technology –and frankly as a Prius Plug-in owner there are plenty of vectors for attack on its battery system – but the Prius STILL gets better mileage than the Volt once the battery is used up, and the Volt’s battery ain’t that big. If I were making the Volt ad and I felt the need to attach the Prius, I’d point out that it is almost impossible to drive electric only with it where the Volt only uses gas on long trips.

Chevrolet’s global chief marketing officer, Tim Mahoney, said those ads have been extremely effective in helping improve Chevrolet’s brand image. Mahoney said Chevrolet’s “shattering perceptions” ads have bumped consumers’ favorable opinion of the brand by 3 percent.

The Leaf ad traps the focus group between floors in dead elevators, leaving them stranded there to emphasize the frustration of being stuck, a major concern for drivers of battery powered cars such as the Leaf. The Prius attack ads points out the car’s engineering is yester-tech.

The Internet ads will be cut down and broadcast on TV, Mahoney said. Volt ads will stress three things: The car’s 53-mile all-electric range, its technology and a combined gasoline and electric driving range of more than 400 miles. Most drivers, Mahoney said, will go between 1,000 and 1,500 miles between tanks of gasoline.

“We’re going to go head-to-head with Leaf and Prius,” Mahoney said. “The ads allow Chevrolet to talk in one way and they allow Chevrolet’s personality to come through. We’re going to be taking more risks,” he said.

In the below commercial, Chevy compares the Leaf’s 80 miles (guess they didn’t hear about the 100+ mile version that will be available in many places before the 2016 Volt) to the Volt’s 400+ with gas. I get it – but why not play up the bits about being electric?
Expand
Expanding
Close

Toyota launched its fourth-generation Prius last night in Las Vegas. Prius sales peaked in 2010 and this is the first major redesign since the glory days of the hybrid. The 2016 model stray from the iconic “Prius look” which is now very recognizable after selling over 3.5 million vehicles, but the exterior design still has an unconventional feel to it, especially because of the front-fenders which are very similar to the Mirai’s, Toyota fuel cells vehicle.

They also lowered the hood and the car is now a little bigger; 2.4 inches longer, 0.6 inches wider and 0.8 inches lower.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Two pictures of the 2016 Toyota Prius leaked this weekend on the Malaysia Prius Club forum. The pictures appear to have been shot inside the cargo hold of a plane.

Fortunately and for the first time, the cars have no apparent camouflage on them, giving us a very good look at Toyota’s next generation Prius.
Expand
Expanding
Close

According to a new report from a German publication, Auto Motor und Sport, Mercedes will not use Tesla’s drivetrain for the next generation of electric B-Class. Mercedes will bring more development in-house to try to achieve a range of 500 km (311 miles). It’s not clear when the next generation is due.

Tesla Motors has a long-standing partnership with the German automaker. In 2009, Daimler, the company behind the Mercedes brand, acquired a ~10% stake in Tesla. Tesla started supplying electric drivetrains to Daimler for the Smart EV and then later on developed a new electric motor and battery pack for Mercedes’ B-Class which started deliveries late last year. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhMjRzvE1Ng]

You knew Fox News was going to stage a takedown of Tesla at one point or another. Here is Lauren Fix’s interview on the Tesla Fires (above).

‘Interviewer’: “…Something about Tesla Cars that cause them to blow up”?  Just … No

Fix: “supposedly a piece of metal that supposedly punctured the battery box” All facts. Seattle fire: Metal into the underside of the battery box at highway speeds. What would happen if it hit a gas tank?

Fix: “NHTSA didn’t investigate”. They did. They found no reason to push forward and the car acted like expected.

“After reviewing all available data, the NHTSA has not found evidence at this time that would indicate the recent battery fire involving a Tesla Model S was the result of a vehicle safety defect or noncompliance with federal safety standards,” the agency said in a statement.

Fix: “I assume they offered him a deal on a new car”. No. Published reports say the Seattle driver happily bought another one with the money he got from his insurance

Fix: “If this were Ford, GM, Toyota…[Congress] they would call them on the carpet and basically and draw and corner them” There are hundreds of vehicle fires every day. I don’t think that Congress acts on every one of them?

Fix “Something happened in a hit a wall but here wall on a regular combustion car your car is not likely to blow up” Actually the car did a lot more than bust through a wall. It was called an extreme accident where the vehicle travelling well over the speed limit experienced a violent crash with low wall after it jumped curb and went airborne. The driver walked away without any permanent injuries.

Fix: “There’s hundreds of people that complain; many many of these owners are happy because they’re environmentalists they want to be cool” There are quite a bit of owners who are speed freaks and who love havin a 7-seat sports car that is quiet and requires no maintenance.  Motor Trend and Consumer reports must be crazy.

Yes, it is a sloppy, stupid takedown but unfortunately there are a lot of ignorant and elderly people who watch Fox and actually consider it to be a source of information. The oil industry is a hundreds of billions of dollars per year industry. These attacks will only grow more prominent in the coming years.

Full Transcript and some more crazy from Lauren below:
Expand
Expanding
Close