Comments on: Toyota takes baby steps to plug-in car

In the face of GM's swift timetable for the Chevy Volt, rival automaker says it has good reason to move more slowly on its own plug-in electric car.

[reidjazz]

Toyota: Baby steps to the plug-in car

Anyone know what the life of the batteries in these cars is? It would be a drag if the life of the batteries was only 1/2 the life of the car.

[open-mind]

Life Of The Batteries...

I think they want the batteries to last the "life of the car", which can mean different things to different people.

In the case of the Volt, you could probably assume several hundred thousand miles before the batteries may need to be replaced. And even then the car will still work, but its electric-only range may just be reduced. By the time that day arrives, the cost of lithium battery packs should be much lower than today.

[danielwsmithee]

Matter of Words

"Toyota is taking into account that not all consumers, despite vocal environmentalist groups, may be interested in a car that has to be re-charged daily"

They are right about one thing nobody is interested in a car you "HAVE TO" recharge everyday. They want a car that "CAN BE" recharged everyday. Nobody wants a purely electric vehicle they want a plug-in hybrid. Which means if your battery starts to get low your combustion engine kicks in. If you keep your batteries charged you use little to no gas.

[DoughboyNJ]

Scenario: Gas prices leap up for 6 mos...

...and millions of plug-hybrid owners decide to jack in every nite to avoid buying gas.

Plausible?

What happens to the electric grid? Do elec producers even have that much juice available to sell?

I think these decisions have to be thought through very carefully and things have to evolve in careful deliberate ways.

[theBike45]

Toyota is dysfunctional

I simply could not believe the remarks by the Toyota spkesman. You'd think he's been living on Mars the past year or so. His preposterously self serving and false statement about the need for safety indicates that either he's ignorant about
third generation lithium ion technology that GM and others are devloping, or, far more likely, is refucing to admit the obvius : Toyota doesn't HAVE any third generation li ion batteries and are stuck with their first and second generation
technology. He can't be so dumb as to not be aware of the spec of the upcoming Chevy VOLT and Opel Flextreme , both highly publicized and discussed serial plug-ins. We even know the capacities of the battery pack, its weight, its lifespan , the car's electric mileage, etc. This Toyota exec wants us to believe that they can't
type in www.gm-volt.com and find all that info (and more)? I wasn't born yesterday, Toyota, and the fact that Chinese automaker BYD is building an 08 plug-in for $19,000 with a 60 miles range while Toyota claims it's impossible for them to build one with a 20 mile range without addding $10,000 to the cost of a Prius hybrid, leads me to the inescapable conclusion that Toyota is now officially a dysfunctional organaization. They can't possibly be this stupid. He claims plug-ins won't be popular (because, he says, his wife wouldn't plug in her car) when surveys have shown that half the buying public are aware of plug-ins and half are interested in buying one. Apparently, Toyota execs make decisions about U.S. public demand by asking their wives (!!!!!!)

[bobcode]

GM volt doesn't exist

It's a propaganda car, whereas Toyota discusses the present. The Tesla is $100,000 and still not finalized. The Prius already costs $10,000 more than the average small car. GM discusses future battery tech when discussing the Volt.

[mstrclark]

Tested in spring 2008 Purchase in 2010

So no matter what the testing shows they are going to see them anyway. Even if they are a complete failure, poor quality, etc.

That's typical of Detroit manufactures.

[Ex-MislTech]

error in article

The bill would force automakers to either improve the mileage of trucks and sport utility vehicles and/or introduce more efficient cars in their lineup to bring down their overall fleet average.</i?

I think you mean bring "up" the average mpg.

[Ex-MislTech]

Future battery tech

Yeah they are betting the success based on EE stor.

Its not really a battery though, it is a nanotech
based Ultra-capacitor.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18086/page1/?a=f

[sanenazok]

By "they" you mean a zero-profit Canadian Car maker?

The only customer of EEStor is a company called ZENN which is controlled by the same people as EEStor and makes cars that go as "fast" as 25 mph:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZENN

Neither GM nor Toyota has any interest in EEStor

[Ex-MislTech]

Li-Ion vs. Nanotech Ultra-capacitor

Lithium Ion have a short lifespan, and their
performance drops as time adds up.

GM is betting on these guys being done in time,
and if it happens it could really help them
out of the bad spot they are in.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18086/page1/?a=f

[sanenazok]

One tiny problem...Eestor is all hype

Don't spread this garbage.

Even C|Net ran a story on EEStor hype. Before you spread this imaginary crap check out:
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13512_1-9771053-23.html?tag=bl

If the math doesn't make sense, the product doesn't work. No real company like GM believes EEStor and their imaginary products.