Toyota confirms plug-in hybrid development
Just plug-in your Prius?Toyota confirmed today that it is now working on plug-in hybrid vehicles. "We are doing consumer research right now as well as product development," Toyota North America President Jim Press told Reuters in an interview. Additionally, Mr. Press claimed that batteries are still the biggest obstacle to plug-in hybrid development and that Toyota would be willing to work with other automakers to develop such batteries. "We would be quite open to any kind of sharing," Press stated.
Is this a prelude to Hybrid X?
Labels: lithium battery, plug-in hybrid vehicles, toyota
posted by Dahcredyns at
10:05 AM
2 Comments:
aren't these guys ashame that calscars already have a plug in?
No. In terms of a mass-produced plug-in vehicle there are still issues to be resolved, especially in terms of cost and long-term reliability.
Hybrids aren't really very cost effective today, in terms of profit, for automakers. Plug-in hybrids are even less cost-effective, so how could they be ashamed?
Besides had Toyota not pushed the hybrid concept as hard as they have, there wouldn't even be a plug-in conversation ocurring today.
Quite simply, maintaining the sweet spot of lithium-ion batteries for 100,000 miles and/or 10 years, in every type of driving condition is something that has not been fully verified.
And I guarantee that when tens of thousands of plug-in hybrids are mass-produced, unintended and unplanned glitches will arise, just as the lithium glitches in computers and cell-phones.
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