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This is great news to the extent that it includes tech for fully electric vehicles (as opposed to "electrified", a red flag word that includes hybrids as if the
by natch 8y ago
This is great news to the extent that it includes tech for fully electric vehicles (as opposed to "electrified", a red flag word that includes hybrids as if they were on the same footing as electric cars).
The "green" halo bestowed on hybrids is really no longer justified. They still burn gasoline, pollute almost as much as any other car, and have ultra complex maintenance like any ICE car.
I hope this isn't just a feint to encourage competitors to get mired in hybrid tech... although in that case the silver lining would be Toyota trying to take a leading position in fully electric.
Regardless of any possible cynical interpretations, it does seem like a hugely positive move overall. Since renewables are now price competitive with dirty options like coal, more and more of the grid will flip over to clean energy, so all-electric vehicles are going to have a huge impact on cutting CO2 emissions.
- clouddrover 8y ago> The "green" halo bestowed on hybrids is really no longer justified. They still burn gasoline, pollute almost as much as any other car The Toyota Prius does better than many other cars in environmental impact: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117018_2018-toyota-prius-prime-tesla-model-3-take-awards-for-lowest-environmental-and-social-impact https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117018_2018-toyota-pri... > and have ultra complex maintenance like any ICE car. The Toyota Prius is reckoned to be one of the cheapest cars to own and maintain: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/02/most-and-least-expensive-cars-to-own/index.htm https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/02/most-and-le... https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/the-most-and-least-expensive-cars-to-maintain-by-maddy-martin https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/the-most-and-least-expe... The maintenance and reliability just doesn't seem to be a problem with the Prius.
- webninja 8y ago> Hybrids ... pollute almost as much as any other car. That’s just factually and obviously untrue. You can tell by looking at the MPG figure. Any vehicle that burns more gallons of gas per mile proportionally farts out more emissions per mile. My 2013 Toyota Camry hybrid is 6 years old now, gets 38-41mpg, and I have never charged it. It is a rock solid vehicle and I have never had to perform maintenance on any of the hybrid parts. They just work. Toyota has a reputation for producing low maintenance vehicles using last year’s technology. If the battery eventually wears out later on and I don’t fix it, it’ll get less MPG and be more like every other carbon farting car on the road. Believe it or not, the car produces more electricity from regenerative braking than it uses up so the battery is usually mostly full all the time. The bottle-neck is in the electric motor’s low top-speed. It switches from electric to gas if you ever go over 40mph and back to electric if you go under 40mph. There isn’t a big need to be so cynical with hybrids. They’re quite amazing and incredible to watch and use.