Toyota Prius

Lithium revolution dependent upon Toyota and hybrid cars

Plug-in Prius too rationale for electrification hype

OPUD: Over-promising and under-delivering the battery-powered future

I find it terribly unsettling how often fans of electrification ridicule Toyota. They don’t even use lithium in their conventional hybrid cars, they claim. As if all the lithium powered mild hybrids, full hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars on the market today are dwarfing Toyota’s NiMH-powered sale’s advantage. In fact, if not for Toyota’s NiMH hybrids, there would have been far less cause for other automakers to try to leapfrog Toyota’s Prius with plug-ins like the Volt or the Leaf — which are more halo than sale’s products today.

Likewise, it is often claimed that Toyota’s upcoming plug-in hybrids don’t offer enough electric range, even though it’s beyond obvious that the key to plug-in success isn’t really about range today, it’s about cost.

Even more ironic, it seems quite obvious that the lithium revolution in the automotive space itself has become dependent upon Toyota, at least if it’s going to happen anytime soon. Read more…

Smart buy: Many hybrid cars are an Intellichoice

GM's eAssist makes sense according to Intellichoice

Toyota dominates list of 2012 Best Values

You know the line. Hybrids just don’t add up. The hybrid premium isn’t made up for decades, long after the car has expired. Blah, blah, blah. Yet, over and over numerous forms of analysis regarding such trivial issues as cost of ownership find a lot of hybrid cars do make sense, financial sense.

The Intellichoice Best Values in 2012, for instance, concluded that 5 of the best 24 values were hybrid-only vehicles. Read more…

Toyota’s great hybrid sale’s month foretells a cautionary tale

The larger V couldn't lift Prius sales much in January

A 20 percent improvement should feel better than this

One might assume that a 20 percent improvement in Toyota’s hybrid sales, led by an 8.6 percent gain in Prius sales, is a great hybrid sale’s story compared to last year. It certainly squashes the idea that hybrid sales are declining, especially considering that the Prius C and the plug-in Prius are still on deck for later this year. 2012 only gets better from here, at least in terms of Toyota’s hybrid cars.

But I still would have expected bigger numbers. Read more…

Forget Camry sales: Could the Prius be Toyota’s next Corolla?

The world's best selling car

Forget just US sales, let’s think worldwide

Before the end of this decade, Toyota believes the Prius family will outsell the Camry. Whatever. Why not shoot for the moon?

Within this decade, could a car like the Prius C help the family outsell the Corolla, and I mean in terms of total worldwide sales? Read more…

The “un-Prius-like” Toyota Prius C is sporty and fun to drive

The fun to drive "non-Prius-like" Toyota Prius

At least according to some early Prius C reviews

After more than 10 years on the market, hybrid cars have sadly achieved very little in terms of real world impact. At less than 3 percent marketshare of total US auto sales, hybrids are still just scratching the surface of change. Ultimately, prices have to come down.

That makes the sub-$19,000 smaller Toyota Prius C interesting, but now comes word that the Prius C isn’t even very Prius-like, except in terms of fuel economy. Instead, the new Prius C is “taut, sporty and, yes, even fun.”

Did someone just say Prius and fun? Read more…

Ford C-Max hybrid: Two hybrid steps forward, but one backward

C-Max: Two hybrid steps forward?

C-Max hybrid versus the Prius and the Ford Escape hybrid

For many years now, Ford has done quite a bit of hybrid talking, but Ford’s hybrid results have never matched up to the rhetoric. Even when the Ford Fusion hybrid topped Toyota Camry hybrid fuel economy, the buzz fell short. Not only did the Fusion hybrid cost a good chunk more for this extra fuel economy compared to the Camry hybrid, but real world testing often found little difference in fuel economy between these two hybrid rivals, making the extra costs even harder to swallow

And while Ford’s next big hybrid move, the C-Max, seems like a great hybrid step forward, the fact that Ford is discontinuing the Escape hybrid is a bit of, I hate to say it, a step backward. Read more…

Hybrid conundrum: Rare earth free but also cheaper?

A rare earth free electric motor

Rare earth free Toyota hybrids could be here in 2 years

I’ve been following the rare earth story now for a few years, since the resources are so valuable for the production of hybrid and plug-in cars. And it has always been clear that rare earth free hybrid cars are possible, but the real question has been the costs of rare earth free motors.

Thus, when reports hit the wire today that Toyota has developed a new technology to produce rare earth free hybrids, my interest was again piqued, but my focus was immediately magnified on costs. Read more…

10.8 years – Maybe the hybrid premium is an investment, not a cost

Prius provides real bang for the buck according to some studies.

At least for some hybrid cars

Americans are holding onto their cars longer, an average of 10.8 years, according to the latest data. That means old gas-guzzlers are becoming even bigger gas-guzzlers, not to mention more costly to fuel.

And maybe that means hybrid cars are a better deal than many might believe, and that the hybrid premium really is more of an investment rather than a cost. Read more…

Oddest, but coolest Toyota Prius accessory ever

Fuel efficient camping for 4.

Making the Prius even more versatile

OK. Toyota Prius haters are only going to shake their heads in total disbelief when I call the Camp Inn Relax Cabin the coolest Toyota Prius accessory ever. Then again, I’m a functionality person when it comes to transportation, and a 50 mpg camper that sleeps 4 is about as practical as it comes.

That and maybe the Relax Cabin brings back fond memories of my childhood and the many camping trips my parents used to take our family on during the summer. Read more…

2012 Hybrid cars: Has hybrid interest really declined?

The 2012 hybrid sales story is all about Toyota

Or was it all just about the Japanese supply disruption?

If you followed the hybrid headlines in 2011, you might believe the end must be near for hybrid cars, despite recent headlines — even from a major oil company — regarding the alleged massive upside potential of hybrids heading into the future.

Still, was hybrid interest really down in 2011? Or was the 2011 hybrid story one of shoddy journalism? More important, what story will 2012 hybrid cars sales tell? Read more…