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The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

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41–50 of 292 posts

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#41
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A regular EV also requires no special infrastructure. Just your regular house electrical system (e.g. 120v wall outlet in the US). Only on long trips do you need fast chargers or does range anxiety kick in. If you do a lot of long drives I can see that being a problem. But if not I'd be willing to bet you'd lose less time charging than taking your vehicle to the mechanic for maintenance and repairs. Because the EV, w…

Not really. Living in Switzerland, colleague has Model S, and over whole night plugged in his house he can charge only around 9km/h. That basically covers his commute but he can't build up charge for the weekend if he started week empty. Not even going into the fact that most folks here live in apartments and not standalone houses, and charging situation there is usually terrible and overhead of owning electric car i…

Is it that expensive to get an electric car charger installed?

I just got two installed for $800, and the charger itself is $420 each. Even if a circuit panel had to be upgraded and some wire needed to be run, surely it is only a couple thousand extra at most.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#42

Probably the most influential vehicle in the last century along the Model S.

Last sliding window century?

the definition of century would have have to include the release date of the prius and the model s, hope this helps

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A regular EV also requires no special infrastructure. Just your regular house electrical system (e.g. 120v wall outlet in the US). Only on long trips do you need fast chargers or does range anxiety kick in. If you do a lot of long drives I can see that being a problem. But if not I'd be willing to bet you'd lose less time charging than taking your vehicle to the mechanic for maintenance and repairs. Because the EV, w…

>> If you do a lot of long drives >> the EV, when built well Home charging at 120v for an EV is only practical for the most minimal & predictable use. And I'll add "as long as you don't want to sell it used..."

You’ll typically add 50 miles of range overnight, which is more than the average person drives in a day. That’s not minimal. Unpredictability is buffered by the large battery. You can drive 200 miles one day then slowly fill it back up. Fast chargers can be a backup for the occasional times it’s not enough.

Why would there be an issue with selling it used when doing this?

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#44
post #36

I sometimes chuckle that most of the cool Lexuses are now Priuses under the hood! But that’s a good thing. I own a Toyota Corolla hybrid myself, and hybrids are one of those things that I can say I’ve completely changed my mind about. I used to dislike the idea of hybrids, because I assumed that the overall system complexity must be higher than either an ICE, or an EV. And I’m a sucker for simple systems, so I though…

For the reason you stated in the last paragraph I eventually opted against getting a Hyundai Ioniq in favour of a Toyota.

The Hyundai felt like driving a regular automatic, so it would occasionally lunge awkwardly and spin the engine in situations where Toyotas switch to EV mode.

Sure it had better fuel economy, but I can't stand having a car not react immediately to my input or make noise when it shouldn't.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#45
post #36

I sometimes chuckle that most of the cool Lexuses are now Priuses under the hood! But that’s a good thing. I own a Toyota Corolla hybrid myself, and hybrids are one of those things that I can say I’ve completely changed my mind about. I used to dislike the idea of hybrids, because I assumed that the overall system complexity must be higher than either an ICE, or an EV. And I’m a sucker for simple systems, so I though…

Not a challenge, but a plea: where's your source(s) for this? I'm about where you were, but would love to know more about the internals so I can make an informed choice when my current (ICE) car dies.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#46
post #22
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My German EV was introduced a decade ago, and it’s still great! I think a better comparison is to the Italians. Stellantis bought up a bunch of iconic brands when they got Chrysler and then integrated a bunch of new technology from Fiat. Since then, they’ve focused on creature comforts and margin expansion, but neglected everything else. They recently realized their sales projections are headed for a cliff and uncere…

Yeah its a mixed bag in germany in my eyes. All of the big brands have a real electric platform minus BMW. 800V isnt pioneered with them either. VDA is pressuring for HVO100 bs. Mercedes just pulled back on the electric only strategy. I guess they figured that most of the added value is with the batteries and being deeply integrated there and thats not really their cup of tea, so far at least. There where Taycans for…

What’s wrong with BMW’s platform?

The technology (e.g. heat pump, carbon fiber/aluminum body), user interface and fuel economy (not range) of my old i3 are all competitive with the 2022-2024 EVs I’ve driven.

Unless they somehow regressed 10 years, the only obvious problem with the new BMW EVs is that none offer a third row.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#47
post #19

The new Prius is really good-looking (to my eye at least), especially in person: I don't think the photos (I've seen) do it justice. Fun comparisons to the car Burt Reynolds drove in Smokey and the Bandit: Compared to the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am: - The Prius is as fast 0-60 (~7 seconds) - The Prius has nearly the same top speed (~115 mph) - The Prius is 4x(!) as fuel-efficient (57mpg vs. 12-16mpg) - The Prius has all t…

I rode in one when I called an Uber once and was über amazed... it's so spacious too! Pics really don't do it justice

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#48
post #19

The new Prius is really good-looking (to my eye at least), especially in person: I don't think the photos (I've seen) do it justice. Fun comparisons to the car Burt Reynolds drove in Smokey and the Bandit: Compared to the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am: - The Prius is as fast 0-60 (~7 seconds) - The Prius has nearly the same top speed (~115 mph) - The Prius is 4x(!) as fuel-efficient (57mpg vs. 12-16mpg) - The Prius has all t…

The problems with the Prius are basically: - Terrible in snow and ice - No way to defrost your windshield, unless you're already driving - Poor rear window visibility If not for those things it would be great, but unfortunately they've made zero progress on fixing any of the core issues for the last 25 years. The new models definitely do look cooler, and I appreciate that they accelerate faster, but I personally care…

> Terrible in snow and ice

Are they worse than most front-drive cars? (And what about compared with a Trans Am?)

> No way to defrost your windshield, unless you're already driving

I've wondered about that. The Prius still gets its cabin heating from the ICE?

> Poor rear window visibility

Agree completely.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#49

I hated the original Prius. It had no right to call itself a "hybrid". It had one source of power: gasoline. This seriously confused the market and the press when the Volt -- a true Hybrid with electric and gas -- came out. I wish regulators defined the word "Hybrid" and limitied its use in marketing. Family Guy got the meaning of "Prius--and the type of self-righteous person who drove it--exactly right.

Let's pretend regenerative braking doesn't exist.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> If you do a lot of long drives >> the EV, when built well Home charging at 120v for an EV is only practical for the most minimal & predictable use. And I'll add "as long as you don't want to sell it used..."

You’ll typically add 50 miles of range overnight, which is more than the average person drives in a day. That’s not minimal. Unpredictability is buffered by the large battery. You can drive 200 miles one day then slowly fill it back up. Fast chargers can be a backup for the occasional times it’s not enough. Why would there be an issue with selling it used when doing this?

Nobody is interested in used EVs, therefore resale values are very low.
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