Conveniently there assists to be new battery technologies in the next few years.
Toyota is also about to go heavy into EV, and with it a trusted customer base.
I would’ve bought electric except that most of them have taken Tesla’s example and decided that electric has to also mean “screens and weird design decisions everywhere”. I could deal with that, all things being equal, but the price premium just pushes the decision over the line. I might’ve also made the leap to Tesla since it’s competitive on price now but I’m not in an area where service would be convenient (even if good/fast)
The only thing comparable is the few years there was an Acura MDX Hybrid and it was more of a performance hybrid like Infiniti liked to do.
Teslas are def interesting, Model 3’a seems to have an advantage over model Y for efficiency. I have a few friends focused on the 2016-17 Model S/X with unlimited supercharging and the new driving computer. The S/X seem to run forever once any issues are ironed out.
Topping up charge every night and not spending time at a gas station is a little appealing especially for any places with inclement weather. More awake time to live.
And given recent behaviour, no interest in making stock available to the north american market. Despite still being heavily advertised, there are no dealers in my province that will even take a pre-order at this point.
There might be some Lexus options in hybrid or PHEV. Lexus have been long in the tooth for a while on several models.
I wonder if Toyotas new battery tech might just pop into the prime to be more efficient and longer mileage in the future.
With my ICE I've been told to start the engine and drive away gently.
Test-driving the 50e I noticed it was in electric mode until the ramp and as I floored it the ICE kicked in and immediately went to high RPM.
To this date I have not seen an explanation as to why this does not harm the engine, and yet it harms MY engine when I immediately minimize the distance between the gas pedal and the floorboard.
It's not that they have an electric oil pump that kicks in _BEFORE_ the engine revs.
And hand-wavy gestures like 'oh they're built' for it don't explain HOW they fixed it.
What's the fix? Different tolerances? Different material that doesn't wear? Thicker material so it can wear more before problems appear (what about tolerances then?).
My understanding is engines should be modified or able to work like this. Not sure if each make does it a bit different but a part of me wonders if it has something to do with the engine stopped feature when parked at a redlinght
I had been under the impression that Toyota's leadership was (IMO rightly) highly skeptical of the EV market. Source?
Seems recent: https://news.google.com/search?q=toyota+making+big+move+into...
Mazda’s got some nice PHEV options too.