Unlike other traditional Plug-In style electric cars, the 2010 Prius PHV will only have a limited distance of 12 miles to run on battery alone.  After reaching a distance of 12 miles the plug-in battery is depleted and the Prius returns to standard hybrid mode.  The hybrid mode of this PHV is similar to that of what's found in existing model Toyota Prius's.

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Plug-In Prius At Frankfurt Auto Show

Contributing factors to the increase in demand would be the new Prius lower price.  No doubt this is in response to the Honda Insight being released to compete in the passenger car hybrid market.  Also, in response to slumping sales in Japan, Toyota has revamped the last generation Prius to help compete with the newer advanced base model.

Hopefully this increase in Prius production is a sign that world economies are starting to turn around.  I'd love to start reading some positive automotive news in the near future.

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Prius Hybrid In Demand

Toyota has been dominating the hybrid market with over 75% of the market share.  Furthermore they have been offering 6 differnet hybrid badged cars under Toyota and Lexus manufacturing, where other domestic manufacturers are simply trying to catch up.

Continually pushing the hybrid envelope, Toyota plans to offer a luxury edition Priusy hybrid in 2010.  No doubt, if anyone has any money left, greenies will be buying this luxury early adopted technology right off the manufacturing line.

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

1 Millionth Toyota Hybrid Sold

If you do mostly city driving a hybrid is a great choice as it gains electricity back with regenerative breaking. This means when you stop it uses generators to gain back energy as you stop. When you are not stopping and going like on the freeway you can see why Hybrids do not do well on freeways.On a freeway you might not like a Hybrid being they usually have like a 1.3 liter gas motor that will be powering you. They use a small motor so it does not burn much gas and at freeways speeds you wont have much passing power.

There is another way to get good fuel mileage and you wont have to worry about any of these set backs the hybrids have. What I am talking about is a diesel vehicle. Diesel engines are more efficient than gas engines but you don't usually see them in cars but in big trucks. In Europe diesel engines are very popular but in America they are not. As fuel prices go up they are starting to make more sense in the USA too.

One diesel car the Jetta Beetle can get 50 miles per gallon without any hybrid technology! The same goes for the other 2 models Jetta makes that runs on diesel. All 3 models get great fuel mileage and have none of the set backs a hybrid has. These are not the stinky diesels of the past but clean diesels of the future. One guy even did some minor modifications to a diesel beetle and he is getting a steady 70+ miles per gallon! He added a different spoiler and a free flow catalytic converter among other things and that was all it took.

A Jetta is also a good bit cheaper than a Hybrid and you never have to replace batteries. Honda may bring over a diesel in the near future, the Honda Civic Diesel! If you want good fuel mileage without hybrid set backs take a look into a diesel car. They might just save you a lot of money!

Diesel Jetta

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Skip A Hybrid

Testing Usable Life Span

There have been specific cases of electric cars like the Toyota Rav 4 EV reaching 100,00 miles on it's original battery with no significant loss of battery life.  The battery in question is the Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery, which is composed of cells, otherwise known commonly as the rechargable batteries you buy in the store.  In electric cars however instead of say a AAA or D battery, the NiMH battery in your electric car utilizes cells on a much larger scale.

Testing on the NiMH Electric Car battery life was done by the Southern California Edison, Electric Vehicle Technical Center(pdf).  They state that the likely hood of your typical electric car cell battery life to be anywhere in the 130,000 to 150,000 mile range.  Considering you don't have to perform regular maintenance like oil and air filter changes, over the life of the vehicle the cost of replacing the battery would be far under gas engine maintenance costs.

Cost Of Replacing Electric Car Batteries

The cost of replacing the battery in a Toyota Rav 4 EV, in the example above, may be the exception to the maintenance cost comparison rule.  Recent figures put the RAV 4 EV NiMH battery replacement cost at $14,000.  This would be for a custom pack that would provide 2000 usable cycles, compared to 1000, which translates into about 8 years of normal driving.  The NiMH for this particular vehicle seems high, but smaller vehicles like the new Toyota Prius have battery replacement costs of uner $3,000.

In closing, before jumping on the bandwagon and becoming an early adopter, check out what the replacement cost for the battery will be.  However, as years pass and electric cars become more popular, the price of these NiMH replacements will be dropping dramatically just like any technology that becomes old hat.

NiMH Battery

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Battery Life In Electric Cars

The vote was taken online and in the UK the Prius gets all kinds of rockstar lavish treatments.  For example, a Prius owner gets a break on their parking permits.  I'm sure this huge discount on a parking permit offsets the incredibly high price tag of early adoption.

Prius Win

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Toyota Prius The Greenest Award

• 34 MPG average for the Yaris 50 MPG average for the Prius that what I get in my 06 Prius
• 10,000 294 Gallons a year for the Yaris and 200 Gallons for the Prius = 1029 for the Yaris and $700 a year for the Prius a $329 savings a year
• 15,000 miles a year $1543.5 Yaris and $1050 for Prius saving $496.50 a year with the Prius
• 20,000 miles a year 588 Gallons a year $2058 Yaris and 400 Gallons a year $1400 Prius $658 savings a year

So lets look at 5 years at 20,000 miles a year $3280 in total savings 10 years $6560 but what if gas raises 50 cents a year your gas cost would rise about 100 each year. 5 years would become 4280 and 10 years would become $11,060 in the case you would save a few thousand so buying a Prius is only a good deal if gas prices continue to rise and you drive $20,000 miles a year

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Is A Prius Or Yaris Going To Cost Me More In The Long Run

The new batteries will be made with nickel-metal hybride packs.  Everyone is still waiting around on the Lithium Ion on battery pack with plug-in capabilities.

Toyota Prius

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

New Prius, With New Batteries

Toyota is obviously hoping this new hybrid car will sell as well as the Prius.  A press release in May announced that Toyota sold over 1 million Prius hybrid cars world wide.

As part of its high-priority environment-management policies, Toyota has made a concerted effort to promote and popularize hybrid technology, chiefly through the Prius. And as hybrid technology can be applied to a wide range of vehicles, Toyota aims to sell 1 million or more hybrid vehicles annually as early as possible in the 2010s.

Toyota Prius

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Toyota Announces Massive Hybrid Production

"It's more of a symbolic gesture," said the person, who asked not to be identified because he was not allowed to speak publicly. "It's very difficult to power much more than that with solar energy."

It's a novel move to add the solar panels to the Toyota hybrid, but it really doesn't accomplish a whole lot.  Unfortunately, according to industry experts, technology has not come far enough to do a whole lot with solar energy.  The surface area required to produce significant energy is not condusive to cars and trucks yet, and it's barely suitable for homes.

Original automotive content: Automotive Blog

Toyota Prius Sporting Solar Panels