After several years of promising news from Dyson, the UK company best known for its vacuums is cutting electric cars from its plans. Porsche and Boeing are among the companies working together on a personal aircraft. A Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid will bow at LA next month and arrive sometime next year. And Toyota’s radical remake of the Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car is a stunner. This and more, today at Green Car Reports.
Toyota has revealed the next-generation version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car, in concept form. And at first glimpse, the 2021 Toyota Mirai couldn’t be a more radical turnaround. What was a gawky green machine is now a sexy sport sedan, flaunting a tech that Toyota still sees as a big part of the future.
The future that looks increasingly likely of including short-distance mobility options that take off and land like drones. But not all of these vehicles might be shared air taxis. Porsche and Boeing are together helping develop what looks a little more alluring: an all-electric VTOL craft geared at premium personal transportation.
There will be a plug-in version of the 2021 Toyota RAV4 hybrid, the carmaker has confirmed—although there are plenty of details yet to be confirmed, like its battery size, electric range, and whether it can match or top the RAV4 Hybrid’s 40-mpg EPA combined rating. And we don’t yet know if it’s officially the RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid or the RAV4 Prime. That’s all to come—likely except for the mileage and range—at this model’s LA auto show reveal in November.
Dyson has completely canceled its electric car, based on a decision coming from the company’s board. Due as soon as 2021, it had been widely anticipated as a potential game-changer with a solid-state battery pack, new motor tech, and a newfound attention to lightweighting. The company says that it will keep working on some of the technology pieces, though.
And if some days it doesn’t seem like every segment of American motorists are on board with electric and electrified powertrains as the future, consider this: Even NASCAR is planning to go hybrid—potentially as soon as 2022.
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