Toyota notices electric car bandwagon, jumps on
One of the last electric car hold-outs has announced they will finally be jumping on the zero-emission bandwagon. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe let slip today in Tokyo future plans for just such a vehicle. Skimping on the details he said only that they would be mass produced and go on sale sometime in the early "2010s." Geez dude, throw a dog a bone, would you? Luckily Toyota Executive Vice-President Masatami Takimoto was able to offer more plot clues. "We consider electric vehicles as one of the candidates for sustainable mobility, [but] for the time being the most realistic approach is to use the electric vehicle for short-distance travel," He maintains that, given the limitations of modern battery technology, the next Toyota EV would be a small commuter type vehicle. Hopefully, it will bigger than their previous small electric car of that type, the eCom. We also hope they aim for more range than the 120 miles their RAV4EV got with NiMH batteries, although that range was certainly plenty for a lot of drivers.
[Source: Bloomberg / Business Week]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 10:39PM (8/29/2008)
It's really good news to hear this from the world's largest automaker, but still, these car companies are reinforcing the same old idea: only practical for "short" distances and commuters.
If they design a car around this premise, how do you think the car will turn out? Not good! People will pay more if it is a good product. That's what BMW is doing with the MINI.
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gorr 7:04PM (8/29/2008)
I don't trust them, they jumped in the electric car market in the 1990's with their rav4 and now they say that they will do a new electric car??? They already have an electric car that work fine so they can begin with this one. They are petrol resellers like the rest of the car manufacturers and they obey to international banks and others law making entities and have put down the majority of their customers. The president of this small compagny said one and a half year ago that he will build a car that can run from new york to los angeles while cleaning the air, he was telling the truth abouth hydrogen and since then he have eaten his own words to keep his little job.
It's one of the most slave compagny there is on the planet. All their designs are just copied from german and american compagnies. They entered formula one almost 10 years ago with the biggest annual budget and they never win any events, LOL.
They don't really sale cars, they sale security that's why their formula one car don't move forward. They entered the credit and leasing methods at the same time then GM too, years ago and now they are rule by them so they cannot decide anything important except changing the colors of their models each year.
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TX CHL Instructor 9:28PM (8/29/2008)
Would appear that gorr has a thing for hydrogen and against Toyota. Well, I have a thing (several, actually) against hydrogen and for Toyota.
Toyota manages to get more horsepower and better gas mileage out of their 4-cylinder engine than Ford gets out of their smallest 6. And the Toyota is a better vehicle in other ways, too. It's better designed, and more durable, and consequently, has better resale value than the comparable Ford. I have driven both, and currently have a Toyota Tacoma with the small 4.
Toyota also has established that they can go from drawing board to showroom in about half the time it takes an American car company, so I would be more inclined to believe that they will deliver an EV than I would be inclined to believe that GM will even be in business after 2012.
As for slave-driving, I suspect that is cultural confusion. They certainly aren't crippled by unions the way US auto companies are. As for their RAV4 EV with NiMH batteries, they were forced to pull that by the folks with the patents on that format of NiMH battery.
Now for hydrogen: It does not "clean the air" in any meaningful sense. If you track the whole path from well to wheel, it is the most expensive, and DIRTIEST fuel alternative currently available, with more CO2 generated than the use of gasoline would make.
Hydrogen: The perfect fuel for people who can freely spend other peoples' money. While pretending to be 'green', no less.
There are already at least three alternative fuels superior to hydrogen, and even if hydrogen technology improves, so will the alternatives.
All of which is sort of academic, because the most important thing we can do about energy right now is use much less of it, without even worrying about the source. One of the beneficial fallouts of the recent surge in gasoline prices was that people managed to 'discover' un-needed travel, and cut a lot of it out. Economics has a way of modifying peoples' behavior far more efficiently than government fiat.
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JamesWB 8:03AM (8/30/2008)
The 4cyl ranger gets better mpg than the 4cyl tacoma by the way.
But you're spot on about the hydrogen hoax.
Andy 9:59PM (8/29/2008)
I didn't know Toyota made lots of money selling gas ? .... They have shareholders and other stakeholder interests to answer to. They have a huge capital investment in ICE drivetrain technology.
Even if they do believe all Electric is the next big wave. They have an incentive to optimise their ROI by preserving the life of their current manufacturing base.
Take everything they say with a big pinch of salt. I'm sure they have a continguency strategy to fast ramp electrics if/when oil goes to $200+ a barrel.
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Paul Berg 2:05AM (8/30/2008)
We ARE going in the right direction at least. Less oil, less ethanol, moore of clean energy that is not harmful to human, animal or nature !
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Mike*ekiM 9:40AM (8/30/2008)
Science Fiction Plot Coming True
World Finds a Methane BOMB in the Arctic with a Carbon Fuse. Will we continue to burn gas and SET OFF THAT BOMB?
Not with the Republican Energy plan just to Drill Oil. It's nice to see Toyota moving in the right direction, but, an obituary saying "Well, they started in the right direction". isn't going to be enough.
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big james 10:08AM (8/30/2008)
I still want a car that has a 400 mile range, but 120 miles would still take me to work and back on no gas for a week.
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Stan Wellaway 7:21PM (8/30/2008)
Excellent news. The list of carmakers intending to produce electric cars gets longer. Toyota join Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Renault, Subaru, BMW, Nissan, Peugeot-Citroen, Audi, Chrysler, etc
Forget hydrogen. The hydrogen highway is a cul-de-sac. It's going nowhere. As soon as affordable practical battery powered cars hit the showrooms, hydrogen will be dead in the water. Funding will cease.
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Chris 4:05PM (9/01/2008)
TX HHL Instructor said, "the most important thing we can do about energy right now is use much less of it, without even worrying about the source"
That is a great line. Well said !
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John 7:58AM (9/02/2008)
Toyota is a company that talks at both side of it's mouth. Why people think they are such a great company is beyond me.Just because they come out with the Prius does not make them the technological leader. Today, GM is now awake and they will bury Toyota with technology. Toyota laugh at GM's Volt at first and now are racing to come out with an electric car. We'll see who comes out first and with a superior electric car. i predict Toyota's undeserved glory days will come to an end.
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