TIL: Toyota is spelled with a "t" rather than "d" because with a "t" it has 8 strokes (in Japanese), which is a lucky number.
Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
171–180 of 264 posts
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing is that if Toyota wants to be a leader in this space, they should not wait for this to happen but be making it happen. The reality is that they have not been doing that. And others have. If they wanted to be a leader in this space, five years ago would have been late to start putting in place the strategy, infrastructure, supply chains, etc. you need to build EVs. They did not do much five years ago other t…
Going all in on EV's is also a very big gamble. Sure, there is probably a profitable segment in the market, but with so many other car companies going all-in, Toyota could be in a good position by having a wider line-up of products. There is something very strange about the herd mentality around EV's. As if we are going to fix the environment if only everybody gets an EV for ALL use cases.
Why is it a gamble when almost 100% percentage of the largest auto makers have gone all in? They will do all they can to make sure EVs do not fail, infrastructure availability does not fail, laws are made, etc because it is now in their best financial interest to do so, together.
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
i cant even imagine how hard it would be for an ICE manufacturer to pivot into EVs. Those decades of engine/transmission refinement expertise? out the window. Imagine trying to organize and pitch a new vehicle without including the powertrain people and, instead, a team with nothing on the road yet.
I think Toyota is in much better shape in this regard than you might expect. Most/all of their hybrid vehicles use an eCVT transmission to drive the front wheels that's radically different from a traditional transmission. And their AWD hybrid models provide the AWD via an electric motor on the rear axle (no connection to the ICE engine) that's essentially identical to the setup in electric cars.
Assumption that hybrids are essentially EVs glosses over all the fine details that make a good EV. All ICE engines are "essentially identical" too, but there's a world of difference between ICE manufacturers. VW Beetle has an engine in the rear, but it doesn't make it a Lambo.
Plug-in hybrids all use AC charging or at best equally slow DC charging. OTOH BEVs compete on maximizing the charging curve, which is something that has never been a consideration in PHEVs. This requires dealing with much higher voltages and stress on the battery.
Hybrids don't need active temperature management for their batteries, because they never push the batteries that hard, and there's always an ICE engine to generate heat if needed. OTOH thermal management and battery conditioning, and efficient A/C is an important complex piece of BEVs.
Hybrids don't need to maximize their efficiency, since their electric range isn't as important, and even a just-okay electric motor is going to improve efficiency of an ICE engine. OTOH in BEVs every last bit of efficiency matters, since that's a factor in range, weight, and cost. Toyota's bz4x efficiency looks poor compared to BEVs from VW and Hyundai, and they're all noticeably worse than Tesla's.
Batteries in hybrids are relatively small, so they can get away with worse energy density. You can't put 10 PHEV batteries together to make a good BEV.
And legacy automakers still treat software as a nuisance to outsource, instead of a critical component of an EV. I don't mean self-driving publicity stunts, but basics like route planning that includes appropriate charging stops. Software from legacy automakers treats chargers like gas stations, often without real-time speed and availability data. They will send you to some random hotel charger that takes 11 hours to charge, is customer-only and already taken, instead of a rapid 20-minute charger that is just a bit further away.
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of people who own plug-in hybrids don't really ever plug them in which makes them worse than gasoline cars or non-plugin hybrids because of added weight.
Do we actually have proof for this or is just FUD, to be frank? I heard the same thing but then after talking to some owners, sure, the ones that couldn't easily charge them did that, but everyone that could charge them, did, and liked it. The electric motor is zippy, the car is silent, the range is enough for the average commute. They generally like it and what you're saying sounds more like a early days myth. I cou…
No idea if that's just the FUD or not. Sounds like something that might happen.
https://uk.motor1.com/news/276595/uk-hybrids-never-plugged-i...
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#175Taking a small local car manufacturer and turning it into the one of the worlds biggest car makers, , overtaking all the US giants and creating the JIT process to revolutionise manufacturing is remarkable.
Toyota isn't just "one of the worlds biggest car makers" it is THE biggest car maker on the planet.
They sell 25% more cars than the Volkswagen group (second biggest car maker on the planet) which includes Volkswagen, SEAT, Skoda, Porsche, Bentley and Audi and 50% more than Stellantins (which includes Fiat, Citroen, Peaugeot, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Opel and another 6 manufacturers).
It's just impressive how many cars Toyota sells.
Toyota and Lexus also generally turn buyers into recurrent customers as few brands on this planet do.
If "no one got fired for buying Intel", I think it's fair to say that "no one got it wrong by buying a Toyota/Lexus". I just can't think any car manufacturer that gives you as much as Toyota for the price you pay.
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. The main reason I buy Apple laptops is the physical reliability... they absolutely make low end (feature wise) models that still have top notch physical quality and longevity, including historically making super bare bones school/education targeted models. I know it's a premium model, but my 2010 Macbook Pro is still going strong with zero repairs other than two battery replacements that took about 5 minu…
It is also nice how long Apple continues to release security updates for their phones, which I believe is longer than any Android phone manufacturer.
Yeah, they go quite a bit back when it comes to full iOS updates, and even further back when it comes to security updates.[0]
The oldest iPhone that supports the most recent full iOS version update (iOS 16) is iPhone 8, which was released in 2017. And they released a security update for iOS 12 in August of 2022 that supports iPhone 5s (released in 2013).
That would make it 5 years for full OS updates and 9 years for security updates.
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This will slowly change as more EVs are sold and the charging infrastructure improves. Yeah.. no. Especially not in old big towns around Europe where hundreds of thousands (even millions) of people live without underground garage and there's literally no place to install street side chargers on every corner.
How will we ever deliver 240VAC electricity to locations that are directly adjacent to urban city streets. Seems like an intractable problem. /s
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Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This will slowly change as more EVs are sold and the charging infrastructure improves. Yeah.. no. Especially not in old big towns around Europe where hundreds of thousands (even millions) of people live without underground garage and there's literally no place to install street side chargers on every corner.
But I thought the advantage of European towns was that you didn't need a vehicle because you could walk to everything you need?
I certainly do walk and cycle.
That doesn't mean millions of other don't and not everyone has workplace 5min away by foot
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This will slowly change as more EVs are sold and the charging infrastructure improves. Yeah.. no. Especially not in old big towns around Europe where hundreds of thousands (even millions) of people live without underground garage and there's literally no place to install street side chargers on every corner.
How much space do you think an EV charger takes? They are the size of parking meters. They are built into lamp posts.
And of course, electricity will come out of unicorn's farts straight into your car. You literally need to rework complete infrastructure to support EV cars. It also motivates car culture even further, while we should be working other way around
Re: Shoichiro Toyoda, who turned Toyota into global automaker, has died
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe so. He is almost revered, in Japan. I'm told he was laughed out of the US, which is why he set up shop in Japan.
Now you imagine, how good do your ideas have to be an American coming to Japan just after World War II, and all the industry leaders of somewhere that was famously insular go "yeah, actually, this is good, this is what we should do, let's get this guy to meet everyone"?
Japan already did that in the 19th century when they were shopping around for foreign experts in industry and the military for their modernization. Not a stretch to do it again considering people involved in that process were still alive.