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Imagine if Toyota would've just made a simple, but nicely build electric car 3-5 years ago. Pretty foolish mistake.
by ChatGTP 3y ago
Imagine if Toyota would've just made a simple, but nicely build electric car 3-5 years ago. Pretty foolish mistake.
- anonporridge 3y agoBut hydrogen cars are the future! /s
- _hypx 3y agoHydrogen cars are the future. This is just another fad green movement in the car industry.
- umeshunni 3y agoThey had a 10 year head start on EVs (well, Hybrids), with the Prius and blew it. Worse: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/07/toyota-bet-wrong-on-evs-so-now-its-lobbying-to-slow-the-transition/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/07/toyota-bet-wrong-on-evs...
- adgjlsfhk1 3y agothe Prius prime is a legitimately pretty great hybrid, but it took them a shocking long time to get there.
- borissk 3y agoA hybrid car is a very complicated machine - more so than an EV, a turbo petrol or a diesel.
- toast0 3y agoTurbos aren't very simple. The 'toyota synergy' style hybrid transaxle is a whole lot less complicated than most transaxles too. ICE cars already had an electric starter motor, so it's just adding a second electric motor and some batteries and a charging circuit. The benefits are clear. Immense range, lower fuel consumption, longer maintenance intervals vs an ICE only, etc.
- nikau 3y agoturbos are cheap and reliable, its very rare to see blown turbos on maintained non-modified cars with the exception of BMW putting them in the valley of the V8 engine and other idiotic designs. Most turbo failures are from not doing oil changes on time or crappy modified ECU tunes.
- adgjlsfhk1 3y agoright, but so are batteries and electric motors. hybrids give you a modest engine simplification and better efficiency at the cost of a second simpler type of engine.
- nimish 3y agoICE engines are incredible feats of engineering. Meanwhile, you need 2, maybe 3 parts to make an electric motor. They are dead simple. Even the control is just an inverter drive. A turbo has about as many parts as the entire electric drivetrain. There's just a lot less to go wrong and you don't need lubrication or maintenance for solid-state non-moving parts.
- nikau 3y agoI think maybe you are understating the complexity as "just an inverter drive" - highlighted by the fact so many telsas have had drive unit replacements.
- Sohcahtoa82 3y agoThe Prius has been around for over 20 years. They've had PLENTY of time to figure out how to make it not suck.
- fomine3 3y agoIt's advantage for Toyota. They really should pushed PHEVs earlier like 2015, before Tesla M3 was sold.
- _hypx 3y agoThe ability to go fast does not make it a good cars. In fact, this is mistake that many US carmakers made. As Toyota focused on reliability, their faster competitors ultimately ended up being abandoned since nothing turns away customers like a dead car.
- shusaku 3y agoHow much does this really matter? I feel like Tesla is strong in the market because they figured out how to market an EV as a sports car. Toyota was never going to do that.
- nradov 3y agoWhy not? Toyota sells sports cars.
- Hamuko 3y agoToyota's sports cars actually show pretty well at how adverse they are to making them. The Supra has a BMW engine, a BMW gearbox and a BMW interior with a BMW infotainment system, while the Toyota 86 is a joint project between Toyota and Subaru, with a Subaru engine and built in Subaru's plant.
- Phrodo_00 3y agoWhat about the Corolla GR and Yaris GR, though?
- Hamuko 3y agoThey’re definitely Toyota cars but not really sports cars. They’re just hot versions of the Corolla and Yaris, which are definitely not sports cars. Unless we also define the Tesla Model S Plaid, BMW M3 and the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG as sports cars.
- Phrodo_00 3y agoThe Yaris GR is not a hot version of the Yaris. It's designed as a homologation special with a new chasis (there's no regular 3 door Yaris) and engine. Calling it a hot yaris is a bit like calling the Renault 5 Turbo a hot Renault 5. The Corolla is closer to a hot Corolla as it uses the same chasis.
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- topkai22 3y agoEven worse is they had multiple generations of a RAV4 EV, which they stopped manufacturing in 2014. They made it along side Tesla in the same plant that now makes Model Ys. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV
- MH15 3y agoFunny that now they have the Rav4 Prime, which by some metrics is a top contender in the plugin-hybrid space.
- Shekelphile 3y agoPrius prime and rav4 prime are a thing.
- dzhiurgis 3y agoYou can compare Tesla to Hyundai. I was leaning towards Hyundai or a Kia last month, mainly because of Tesla stigma here. After comparing price (Hyundai/Kia 10% more) and features (lol) Tesla is easily a winner. Sure it's not for everyone, but driving traditional car feels weird now. Car without an app or phone key just feels unbelievable.
- _hypx 3y agoBecause there is very little point in making a battery powered car. Toyota was told the same thing but with diesel cars. In reality, all those went too far with diesel cars made a mistake. The story will repeat itself with battery cars.
- hnav 3y agobut Toyota sells more cars in a year than Tesla has in the past decade? And no, if they made an EV it probably wouldn't be selling like hotcakes, because an EV is largely an irrational choice for most people (looking at you, guys chilling in your cars on top of the Target in Laurel Heights in SF, waiting for that 80% in 30 minutes) and Toyota isn't good at making something super desirable. All that aside, most workhorses running around today, shuttling passengers and food delivery seem to be old, clapped out Priuses. Can't argue with 45mpg and ultra low running costs, barring the occasional stolen catalytic converter.
- ChatGTP 3y agoToyota sells more cars in a year than Tesla has in the past decade? Well they'd just be even more dominate if they sold a fully EV corolla without all the "tech" BS every Tesla comes with.