Plugs and Cars

JULY 20, 2009

Toyota has a go-slow policy on plug-in electrics. Despite having produced the RAV4 EV - the most useful, robust, and long-lived electric car - Toyota wants to milk its non-grid connected hybrid technology as long as possible before moving on to the next big thing. Toyota should stop whining and delaying. Source: Leader-Post ].

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Plug-in Toyota Plug Volt 100

Plugs and Cars

DECEMBER 22, 2008

22 -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Toyota will display a concept EV! My six year old Toyota RAV4 EV electric car continues to perform flawlessly and gaslessly. My six year old Toyota RAV4 EV electric car continues to perform flawlessly and gaslessly. Toyota could provide global leadership today with plug-in cars.

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Toyota Concept 2009 Plug-in 100

Plugs and Cars

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Much has been made of late of Toyota and other automakers claims they will commercialize hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2015. But Toyota's announcement itself should sow seeds of doubt. Toyota aims to chop the present-day cost of fuel cell vehicles by 90%. Tags: fuel cell vehicle toyota. I don't think so. In 5 years.

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Toyota Fuel Seattle 2001 100

Plugs and Cars

JANUARY 30, 2008

As Toyota gets headlines for suggesting it will offer a few fleets a few plug-in hybrids in 3 or 4 years, it does what it can to take the myth-busting RAV4 EV out of private hands. Most people have been so pleased with their electric Toyota that they choose to buy the car outright. But Toyota refused. You'd be wrong.

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Toyota San Francisco Dealers Plug-in 100

Plugs and Cars

DECEMBER 23, 2008

A bit more information today on Toyota's small EV. Tags: jana hartline toyota battery electric car. The message, from spokeswoman Jana Hartline, is don't expect more information. There will be no press conference devoted to the vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show, where it will simply be displayed.

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Toyota Concept Detroit Auto 100

Plugs and Cars

JANUARY 6, 2008

Why not pick on Toyota for a while." I've got no problem picking on Toyota, too. Toyota continues to use the Prius to cover a multitude of sins. But unlike GM, Toyota hasn't promised a plug in car. An anonymous commenter on my previous blogpost asks, "GM has alway said that the battery might not be ready.

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Plugs and Cars

OCTOBER 22, 2007

Popular Mechanics got a look and briefing on Toyota's own plug-in Prius. Well, surprise, surprise: "Toyota has the knowledge and experience with nickel metal hydride. I hope someone tells Mr Asakura about the NiMH batteries Toyota used in the RAV4 EV. Toyota • Moving Backward? Well, let's just say catching up with itself.

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Nickel Metal Hydride Plug-in Toyota Plug 100

Plugs and Cars

JUNE 21, 2007

Rainforest Action Network is prodding Toyota to add plugs to their hybrids. Of course, Toyota could do it today with larger NiMH battery packs. I'd wager there is more than one plug-in Prius hidden away at Toyota's skunkworks in Japan. I'd wager there is more than one plug-in Prius hidden away at Toyota's skunkworks in Japan.

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Toyota NiMH Plug-in Google 100

Plugs and Cars

JANUARY 3, 2007

Toyota released (and EVworld.com reprints ) President Watanabe's New Year's letter to employees. If Toyota really intends to roll out "environmentally considerate vehicles that are suited to the infrastructure of each region and meet the needs of customers," plug-in Toyotas should be coming to America.

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Toyota Brazil Plug-in Plug 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 21, 2007

A month or so ago word was Toyota was postponing the new generation Lithium Prius. That seemed to be a hint that Toyota wasn't moving too quickly on plug-ins. Now, however, we continue to see more information on Toyota's own prototype plug-in Lithium Prius. Toyota says plug-in hybrids offer the best of both kinds of vehicles."

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Plug-in Toyota Plug Hybrid 100

Plugs and Cars

OCTOBER 6, 2007

Toyota, in Open Road Blog , the official Blog of Toyota responding to NY Times Columnist Thomas Friedman's Et Tu, Toyota? In a business where product plans are set six, eight and even 10 years in advance, 2022 is closer than it would appear." - Irv Miller, V.P.,

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Toyota Grid Connect Connected 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 19, 2007

Green Car Congress reports Toyota to Obtain Permission for Public Road Test for Plug-in Prius in Japan. Tags: plug-in prius toyota.

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Plug-in Toyota Plug Prius 100

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

This year Toyota makes its SUVs and trucks even larger. Toyota increasingly devotes precious energy contained in hybrid batteries charged with expensive gasoline to higher power output rather than efficiency. Toyota's own "Question of the Month" in the Hybrid Synergy View Newsletter , asked. What do people actually want?

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Plug-in Toyota Hybrid Plug 100

Plugs and Cars

APRIL 24, 2011

A story on Toyota's announcement that an ordering system for the plug-in prius will be coming later this year prompted me to check out the site. It's not even Toyota's first plug-in prius. And GM has extended the electric range expectation for a plug-in hybrid before Toyota's even in the game. Ask Felix Kramer of CalCars.

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Prius Plug-in Plug EV1 220

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 7, 2007

The 24 NiMH batteries in my Toyota RAV4 EV take the car 120 miles without gasoline. Toyota could deliver a plug-in hybrid highlander, get 20 miles all-electric and 75 mpg using NiMH today! Tags: highlander hybrid electric cars plug-in hybrid fuel cell toyota Lithium NiMH. Would a Lithium-ion battery be better?

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Highlander NiMH Toyota Hybrid 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 25, 2007

From today's NY Times Toyota to Test Plug-In Hybrid, Rivaling G.M. Tags: a123systems Plug-in Hybrids toyota. It want CARB to authorize aftermarket conversions of hybrids with its Lithium batteries.

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Nickel Metal Hydride Plug-in Conversion NiMH 100

Plugs and Cars

MARCH 2, 2007

Reuters reports on an interview with Toyota North American President Jim Press that Toyota Motor Corp. Echoing its American counterparts Ford and GM, Toyota bemoans the unavailability of batteries which will take their plug-ins half as far as their own electric cars could manage just 5 years ago. Prove me wrong, Jim.

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Plug-in Toyota Plug Hybrid 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 25, 2007

Toyota's plug-in Prius comes out of the closet. No translation needed. Take a look.

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Nickel Metal Hydride Prius Plug-in Plug 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 26, 2010

The recent Toyota-Tesla announcement regarding a new generation of RAV4 EVs has sparked interest in the originals, here, in the San Francisco Chronicle. Tags: tesla electric RAV4 RAV4 EV toyota.

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San Francisco Toyota Tesla Electric 100

Plugs and Cars

MAY 17, 2009

You can smell the PHEV procrastination. Asked by the reporter when the plug-in Prius on display will be available in Norway, he replies: "This is the first demonstration program. We have a small number of vehicles in Paris, France and in the UK and we're involved in gathering some data to understand how consumers actually use these vehicles.We

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PHEV Prius Toyota Plug-in 100

Plugs and Cars

MAY 21, 2010

"In an interview with The Chronicle, Musk said the new alliance would produce a joint Toyota-Tesla car that would be a Toyota vehicle powered by a Tesla drive-train, hitting the market before the Model S. The companies also plan to develop other electric vehicles together, he said." Source: San Francisco Chronicle ].

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San Francisco Toyota Tesla Electric Vehicles 100

Plugs and Cars

APRIL 7, 2008

one time Toyota was content to let the Prius subliminally lower consumers' green expectations from electric cars to hybrids which use gasoline-generated electricity to raise efficiency. Instead of actually manufacturing and marketing the greenest vehicles Toyota has already proven they could produce.

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Lexus Toyota Prius Gasoline-Electric 100

Plugs and Cars

MAY 12, 2009

Tom Hanks' letter to the editor of the New Yorker about his electric car, a Toyota RAV4 EV. Instead, I found what was purported to be the very last electric car available for sale in the state of California—a Toyota EV. Tags: toyota rav4 ev battery electric car tom hanks. RE: THE ROAD AHEAD A letter in response to Peter J.

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Electric Cars EV1 Los Angeles Cars 124

Plugs and Cars

JANUARY 11, 2010

Toyota titillates with its plug-in Prius test program (600 vehicles worldwide over the next few years) as well as an all-electric 50-mile range "small, urban commuter BEV" and a plug-in hybrid concept small car. Tags: BMW GM RAV4 EV e-tron Bob Lutz fuel cell vehicle toyota audi. No word on when.

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Detroit Mini E Audi BMW 100

Plugs and Cars

JANUARY 25, 2010

But I do know, interestingly and perhaps relevantly, that the electric car that has probably driven more miles than any other model, the Toyota RAV4 EV, does not have batteries with an active system. At least with NiMH, Toyota's passive system worked out better in the real world. A fan circulates air.

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Nissan NiMH GM Volt 124

Plugs and Cars

OCTOBER 27, 2007

Required reading: Bill Moore's EVWorld review and Martin Zimmerman's LA Times piece about their test drives of the Toyota Plug-in Prius and the hydrogen fuel cell Highlander FCHV. And these advocates have successfully prodded Toyota to dangle a concept PHEV before our eyes. Toyota ought to be pleased with the tone of both stories.

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Plug-in Plug Prius Highlander 100

Plugs and Cars

OCTOBER 24, 2007

Toyota and GM are continuing down their differing hybrid paths. Honda, the quintessential internal combustion company, is lobbing criticism at hybrids, a market Toyota exploited better than Honda. Tags: joseph white honda nissan GM electric car Takeo Fukui plug-in hybrid tokyo motor show toyota. Hybrid or All-Electric?

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Honda Nissan Toyota GM 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 22, 2008

Tags: solar power miles o'brien toyota rav4 ev ev1 cnn solar PV solar electricity energy efficiency solar battery electric car.

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EV1 Solar Toyota Miles 100

Plugs and Cars

DECEMBER 20, 2006

You see Phelan was in North Carolina recently to test drive the new Toyota Tundra. one of the ever-larger vehicles that has catapulted Toyota's profitability. As Toyota planned it, we see Prius, they sell Tundra. Toyota's motivation is understandable. 15 miles per gallon, thank you very much. But that's another story.

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Tundra Toyota North Carolina Iraq 100

Plugs and Cars

FEBRUARY 23, 2007

Toyota's Prius, the best-known and best-selling gas-electric car in the United States, drops from a 60 mpg rating under the current system to 48 miles per gallon in the city under the 2008 testing procedure -- a 20 percent decline Its highway mileage rating falls about 12 percent, to 45 mpg. Tags: mpg toyota prius plug-in hybrid.

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Prius 2008 Plug-in Plug 100

Plugs and Cars

OCTOBER 4, 2007

Let's face it, even the perceived eco-leaders such as Toyota oppose higher CAFE standards here as they push high-profit, low-mileage Tundras and Sequoias. Read Thomas Friedman's Oct 3rd column in the NY Times Et Tu, Toyota? Toyota wants to keep its green halo and beat G.M. Don't take my word for it.

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Tundra Toyota Legal Nissan 100

Plugs and Cars

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Tags: tesla saab 9-3 ePower RAV4 EV toyota infiniti battery electric car.

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Infinity 2013 Electric Electrical 100

Plugs and Cars

JULY 14, 2007

Toyota comes in for a smackdown by Lawrence Ulrich ( Conspicuous Consumption With Green Illusions ) on it's high class hybrids. So it is a photo of the Tesla Roadster that graces this article despite its message that electrics remain not ready for prime time because GM and Toyota say so. Just because they say so.

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LS 600H Hydrogen Nickel Metal Hydride Green 100

Plugs and Cars

JUNE 5, 2011

As interesting for what it says about Toyota. Fehrenbacher had thought components sales might provide a backstop until the Model S appears, but points to the recent S-1 filing. Tesla doesn’t have any signed agreements for powertrain component sales after 2011." There's no evidence yet of a deal beyond 2011 regarding the heralded, new RAV4 EV.

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Tesla BYD 2011 Mercedes 100

Plugs and Cars

AUGUST 18, 2007

Toyota’s first Plug-in Prius to Use NiMH Toyota is postponing its Lithium Priuses and rolling out a few NiMH plug-in Priuses for testing purposes. Perhaps Toyota’s battery division is having problems. Perhaps Toyota, as hybrid leader, doesn’t want to get too far out front.

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NiMH Google Prius EPRI 100

Plugs and Cars

DECEMBER 15, 2008

Toyota reports a tiny percentage of replacements - 350 packs out of hundreds of thousands of 2nd generation Priuses. There's good news in Jim Motavalli's Greentech report in the NY Times about NiMH batteries in hybrids. The batteries have gotten cheaper, and they have proven robust and long-lived.

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Hybrid NiMH Batteries Battery 100

Plugs and Cars

MARCH 4, 2009

Toyota down 37%. General Motors Corp, which is racing to complete a restructuring plan this month to keep it from bankruptcy, led the sinking industry lower with a 53 percent drop in sales. The results mark the 16th consecutive monthly drop in auto sales. Ford down 48%. Chrysler down 44%. Honda down 38%. Nissan down 38%.

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