il3ana: Toyota Prius

Showing posts with label Toyota Prius. Show all posts

Toyota Sports Up Prius with new PLUS Package from TRD

At last year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, Toyota displayed a lightly modified version of the Prius Hybrid to inaugurate its new line of accessories under the PLUS moniker.

Now it’s time for the Japanese automaker to release the production version of its modestly sported up Prius with the commercial launch of the PLUS Performance Package that will be available for order in July in limited numbers.

The package features styling and performance upgrades, and is optionally available on all Prius models with pricing set at $3,699 for the Prius Two, Three, and Four trim levels and $2,999 for the Prius Five.

I can’t remember if there were self-driving cars in the third Terminator movie, though frankly I can’t remember anything other than that red leather and vinyl outfit Kristanna Loken was wearing. What were we talking about? Oh, yes, the robocarpocalypse.

With the passing of Assembly Bill 511 in the Nevada Senate, the U.S. Department of Transport will now have to draw up rules governing autonomous vehicles on the state’s roads.

Internet-giant Google has just adopted the largest workplace charging installation for electric vehicles in the U.S. with the completion of 70 “ChargePoint” stations at its Mountain View, California headquarters.

The new charging infrastructure will support both employee-owned EVs and “GFleet” plug-in vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF. And there are 250 more charging stations on the way, with the goal of making Google’s HQ parking facilities 5% EV-ready.

As part of last year’s Toyota Design Internship, industrial designer Eric Leong produced this interesting take on the fourth-generation Toyota Prius for the year 2015.

By acknowledging that wind resistance is one of the key factors in improving vehicle economy, Leong’s Prius III hybrid is extremely slippery. Described by the designer as moving, “through [the wind], not into it”, this design study channels air over its surface through a series of vanes.

The newest Toyota recall affects approximately 106,000 Prius hybrids globally built from 2001 to 2003 for a fault with the electric power steering system. The Japanese automaker said the voluntary action affects around 52,000 Prius models sold in the United States.

“If the steering wheel is repeatedly and strongly turned to the full-lock position, there is a possibility the nuts securing the pinion shaft in the steering gear box assembly may become loose,” Toyota said in a statement. The company added that if the owner leaves the condition uncorrected, over time they will gradually notice significant increased steering effort when making a left turn.

The all-new Prius V five-seater minivan isn’t due to arrive in U.S. showrooms until this fall, yet Toyota is already looking into the development of a larger model capable of seating seven passengers as well as carrying their luggage, according to Bob Carter, Toyota Division general manager. The larger Prius won’t be based on the Japanese market Prius Alpha nor the European specification Prius+, both of which pack a retractable third row of seats into the Prius V’s cargo area.

Internet and software bigwig Google has begun lobbying the state of Nevada to legalize driverless cars. The move comes on the heels of some very promising results in California, where Google had mapped out the terrain and sent a couple of its autonomous Toyota Priuses (Prii? Priora?) on an epic jaunt from Mountain View to Santa Monica.

The California-based company is keen to point out the claimed benefits of self-driving cars over their human-driven counterparts including better safety, improved fuel efficient and greater environmental friendliness.

In preparation for the 2012 market launch of its new Prius Plug-in hybrid (PHV), Toyota's U.S. division announced the introduction of a new online order system that will kick off later this year.

Customers who are interested in the Prius Plug-in hybrid are invited to register on Toyota's website in order to have first access to the online order system when it becomes available later in the year. Appropriately, the first phase of the online order program, called Priority Registration, will launch on Earth Day, April 22, 2011.

Sebastian Thrun, leader of Google's driverless car project, talked about the technology of self-driven cars at TED Talks, claiming it could save one million lives each year if it would replace human driving.

Google's test cars have so far covered over 140,000 miles (225,300 km) in all types of driving conditions without a single fault. “People didn't even notice” Google's cars were not driven by humans, said Thrun, who lost his best friend to a car accident when he was 18. The Stanford professor of computer science said that moment made him decide dedicating his life to saving one million people every year.

The Toyota Prius, a car that is often credited for bringing hybrid-electric technology to the masses, has managed to rack up its one-millionth sale in the USA. The announcement comes shortly after Toyota achieved two more milestones that started with global Prius sales topping the two million mark in October 2010 and overall global Toyota hybrid sales passing three million last month.

Apart from the humorous articles and the plethora of eBay finds we come up with, Carscoop’s bread and butter is automotive news straight from the manufacturer. And as such, we read a lot of press releases. In all the ones I’ve read, General Motors refuses to call the Chevrolet Volt a hybrid. It’s a range extended electric vehicle.

I speculate that it might have something to do with hybrids being uncool (so sayeth GM CEO Dan Akerson) or to avoid comparisons with that other hybrid. You know, the one made by the world’s other biggest car manufacturer.

So let’s hear the cases for and against:

Yes, GM should call the Volt a hybrid and here’s why:

A hybrid, by definition, is a vehicle that has two or more powerplants. In most cases, one is an electric motor and the other is a gasoline engine. There’s no requirement that these run in tandem, or be connected to one another in any way. More than one powerplant and you have a hybrid. And let’s face it: GM isn’t trying to lure buyers away from the Nissan Leaf or the Mitsubishi iMiev; their target is and always has been the Toyota Prius. And what’s the Prius, children? “A hybrid!” In a dumbed down worldview, nobody wanted to buy a Saturn Green Line so this was Option B. The Volt looks like a hybrid, is mechanically like a hybrid and was designed to compete with hybrids. For this, the Volt is one and the same.

No, GM should call the Volt a range extended electric vehicle and here’s why:

The Prius uses its electric motor at low speeds, when idling and when overtaking. The rest of the time it’s running on its gasoline engine alone. On the other hand, the Volt engages its gasoline engine only when its electric motor has run out of juice. Like a WWII submarine limping home on its diesel engines after its batteries have run dry. So if anything, the Volt is like a Nissan Leaf with the added security of a gasoline engine making sure you don’t end up on the hard shoulder, waiting for the AAA man to come along with a very long extension cord. For this, the Volt is a range extended electric vehicle.

So where do you stand? Do you buy GM’s marketing buzz or do you side with the cynics? Cast your vote and leave us a comment.

By Tristan Hankins

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What should GM call the Chevrolet Volt?

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EV Owners in California to Feel the Shock of Higher Electricity Rates

Woe betide the electric car. Outpaced by their petrol-powered cousins in the 1900s, saddled with heavy and potentially dangerous batteries in the 1970s and crushed in the name of the Almighty Dollar in the 1990s, it’s been a rough road from there to here.

And now, on the dawn of a new age where electric cars seem poised to take their rightful place alongside gasoline cars, the electricity companies are about to throw a wrench into the works. If you live in California and intend to buy a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius or Chevrolet Volt or an all-electric Nissan Leaf, you could be in for a...shock.

If the energy giants have their way, the Chevy Cobalt, which would have to rate on my list as one of the least desirable cars built by GM, is more economical to own or operate than any of the above. The reason?

Essentially, The California government has approved its energy providers to impose higher rates on customers who exceed, “typical household levels” of energy use all in the name of conservation. So if, for example, you spend eight hours a night recharging your electric car, you’ll find yourself classed as one of these excess customers.

Wham, bam, the electricity companies charge you more than Mr. Joe Public next door who drives a Toyota Sienna and still has to pay for the good oil. And contrary to what you may of heard, it doesn’t matter if you recharge your car at night when the rates are lower; you’re still gonna take a hit to your hip pocket.

And it’s not like the California legislature is rushing to correct this oversight.

Wally Tyner, the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics, said that to make the Volt more economical than the Prius or the Cobalt, oil prices would have rise to between $171 and $254 per barrel, depending on which electricity pricing system is being used. Californians for example, pay an average of 14.42 cents per kilowatt hour, which is about 35 percent higher than the national average.

"People who view the Volt as green will pay $10,000 more over the lifetime of the car because it's green," Tyner said. "Most consumers will look at the numbers and won't pay that."

So until you’ve taken a pen and paper and worked out the real cost of owning an EV in California, maybe keep that Geo Metro for a while longer.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Purdue University

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Toyota Prius blossoms into...Chrysler 300 with Custom Makeover

From our 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon "Strange But True" files comes this custom creation of what appears to be a second generation (judging by the interior door panels) Toyota Prius hybrid wearing a...Chrysler 300 front end. The show car also features sliding rear doors, lowered suspension, larger five-spoke alloy wheels, Chrysler 300-style tail lights and a high-end audio-visual system that replaces the rear seats. More pictures after the break.

Photos: Phil Alex / Carscoop

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VIDEO: 2012 Toyota Prius V Minivan Presentation and Driving Footage

In a move that was more expected than surprising given the success of the Prius over the years, Toyota launched the first addition to the Prius family, the V-branded minivan, and announced an upcoming compact hatchback, previewed by the Prius C concept study, at the 2011 Detroit Motor Show. The two models will join the regular Prius hatchback and its forthcoming plug-in version in the North American market.

The production Prius V seen in the videos after the jump, is a practical five-seat minivan based off the hatchback version of Toyota's popular hybrid model. It uses the same 1.8-litre petrol engine and Hybrid Synergy Drive tech offering 50% more luggage space than its smaller counterpart, while returning an estimated 42 mpg city, 38 mpg highway and 40 mpg combined. The Prius V will go on sale in North America in late summer 2011 as a 2012 model year.

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VIDEO: 2012 Toyota Prius V Minivan Presentation and Driving Footage

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Toyota Prius C Hybrid Concept will Spawn a Production Model in 2012

Along with the new Prius V minivan, the Detroit Show also welcomed the world premiere of the Prius C Concept, which will provide the inspiration for the next Prius Family member that Toyota plans to launch in the first half of next year.

The Japanese automaker said that the production version of the Prius C will be smaller, more affordable and with even greater fuel efficiency than the regular Prius. According to Toyota's claims, the Prius C will deliver the highest mpg of any available hybrid model without a plug in North America.

"The Prius c Concept, with c representing a “city”-centric vehicle, will appeal to young singles and couples who want an eco-sensitive, high-mileage, fun-to-drive Prius," Toyota said in a statement.

The Japanese company did not provide any other details on its entry-level Prius concept.

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