Now that the news is out on the Toyota plugin there has been a flurry of interest. Of course, we realize than an 8 mile range NiMh car is only a starter, its the Li-ion battery that makes it a killer-app. Toyota has announced they are not ready for Li-ion yet. Let’s hope GM gets there first!
Here are some more detailed specs on the Toyota (from greencarcongress.com):
Toyota also mentioned that U.S. testing will take place at UC Berkeley and UC Irvine,with each campus getting one car.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 10:01 am and is filed under Competitors, General, PHEV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Jul 26th, 2007 (2:29 pm)This is strictly a “throw-something- together-and-call-it-a-plug-in” cobbled up affair. Notice that Toyota claims that it “needs feedback” as the reason for loudly announcing in many seperate countries. Question : why would you put on the streets a car that won’t resemble the car you are planning to build in terms of speed and recharge time and driving range? What else is there that distinguishes a plug-in from a gas version? Notice that GM didn’t need to “obtain public feedback” about a plug-in before designing and starting to build one.
Jul 30th, 2007 (6:53 pm)At least Toyota is showing they are aware and working on a PHEV. I’d love to double the NiMH pack on my 2005 Prius. I’d be glad to pay a premium. Only a full hybrid like toyota can beconme a PHEV.
Dec 27th, 2007 (7:57 am)[...] Toyota also reports they are nearly at the point where they could begin to mass produce lithium ion batteries. Paradoxically, just months ago they told us lithium-ion batteries were nowhere near ready for cars (see post). [...]