Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 292 posts

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#121

Post by DiggyJohnson »

dtgriscom wrote: post #45
jgilias wrote: 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.

Respectfully, why are you asking for sources on an already high effort subjective post instead of verifying the info yourself? Wikipedia is a great place to start with car spec stuff.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#122

Post by eurekin »

bloudermilk wrote: post #96
dtgriscom wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This video is my favorite on the topic: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O61WihMRdjM&pp=ygUKV2ViZXIgcmF...

This video cleared up my confusion and corrected my misconceptions, giving me enough knowledge to hold a one-hour discussion with an actual Toyota mechanic.

Highly recommended!

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#123

Post by jazzyjackson »

fortran77 wrote: post #59
philistine wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's pretend regenerative braking doesn't exist.

[flagged]

Negative ghostwriter, gasoline may be the only input, but stored inertia is energy too, and it's a hybrid because it has two kinds of motors that work in tandem to increase efficiency, who said hybrid meant two types of fuel?

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#124

Post by argulane »

Alex3917 wrote: post #39
gcanyon wrote: 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…

I own a 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid (similar drive train to Prius) and it defrost the window way faster than my previous Volkswagen Passat. Ice and snow handling has been pretty similar here in North Europe compared to my previous car, studded winter tires are the key. Visibility is also quite comprareble.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#125

Post by gWPVhyxPHqvk »

orev wrote: post #85
lotsofpulp wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Seems like you might have a case of SV myopia. The idea that $1640 plus “a few thousand extra” to be able to drive a very expensive vehicle would be not “that expensive” is pretty out of touch.

Not OP but my power company gave me $1500, I only had to pay like $300 in total. There's currently (or, was, as may be the case in a few days) a ton of credits/assistance.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#126

Post by fy20 »

sandoze wrote: post #108

I know all cars can’t be perfect but as a 2010 Prius owner (I probably shouldn’t complain given it’s 15 years old) it has had several well documented issues that never prompted a recall. I was hit with a bad oil gasket that causes the engine to burn oil. It’s so much work to replace their solution is to replace the entire engine. My solution is to keep putting oil in it. I was told by the dealer this is common over 7…

Another 2010 owner here. I'm at 280,000km, and other than burning some oil everything still works fine. Usually by this age cars here are pretty rusty, but so far my Prius has held up well. There's a few spots of surface rust in places, but nothing serious.

We had to replace the inverter a few years ago (apparently there was a software update to prevent this failure, but we didn't have it), but even when that broke the car was still driveable, just the ICE engine was running all the time.

The biggest issue I've had is with brakes. Three times now the rear pads have got rusty and I've had to replace both the pads and rotors. My theory is that as they are hardly used, they don't get hot enough to dry out any moisture. Last year I rebuild the rear calipers, so let's see if that fairs any better.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#128

Post by CharlieDigital »

tzs wrote: post #66
CharlieDigital wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kinda OK with them just dominating hybrids; especially plugins. I own a 2024 Prius Prime (PHEV) and the setup works great. No range anxiety, no special charging infra (I just plug in on a normal 120v overnight). I got the car in Feb 24 and maybe pumped gas a total of 8 times? If I didn't make two longer trips, it would have been 6. But also, the power output is pretty great and an upgrade over the hybrid only mod…

How well do Prius Primes (or other PHEVs) handle long periods where one's daily mileage is well under the EV mode range and one is able to charge at home every night? I think it has been 5+ years since I've driven more than 25 miles in a day and even longer since I was away from home overnight. I've read ICEs can have problems if you go too long without running them. Will the Prime's software automatically run the IC…

The engine still kicks on once in a while. Notably now in winter, it kicks on if I have multiple seat heaters and the steering wheel heater on. But my use case also has two days where it's over the battery range so I know it'll kick on.

You can manually control it if you want and I do it once in a while when I need more acceleration since max power is delivered with both drivetrains.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#129

Post by CharlieDigital »

arwhatever wrote: post #26
CharlieDigital wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kinda OK with them just dominating hybrids; especially plugins. I own a 2024 Prius Prime (PHEV) and the setup works great. No range anxiety, no special charging infra (I just plug in on a normal 120v overnight). I got the car in Feb 24 and maybe pumped gas a total of 8 times? If I didn't make two longer trips, it would have been 6. But also, the power output is pretty great and an upgrade over the hybrid only mod…

Also importantly, it’s now quite good-looking, too.

And as much power as an early 2000's V6 Maxima. Great daily driver; seats are just so-so though.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#130

Post by jgilias »

esalman wrote: post #119
jgilias wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it did take some time for me to get used to how a hybrid sounds. It’s fine when not driving aggressively. When you floor it though, it does feel weird when the engine jumps to the highest safe revs and stays there. That’s a small price to pay for reliability and smooth power delivery though.

Are you talking about how the CVT transmission sounds?

Not sure exactly what you mean. As in, hybrids don’t have a CVT transmission, one with belts and the thing that changes diameter to achieve variability. Haven’t had one, but heard only bad things about those.

But yes, in that the power transmission is variable (e-CVT, right?), and that sounds a bit weird. You’ve spent so much time hearing how the engine gets louder with acceleration that it feels weird when the engine behaves slightly differently.

But again, that doesn’t bother me enough to buy a less reliable system.

Post reply on HN