Goodbye, Prius? Japanese carmakers drop battery electric-car development

The Washington Times ^ | February 4, 2013 | Cheryl K. Chumley

[jazusamo]

Japan is backtracking on battery electric-car development, as even Nissan’s vice chairman, the so-called “father of the Prius,” announced plans to copy Toyota and pursue fuel-cell cars that convert hydrogen to electricity.

“Because of its shortcomings — driving range, cost and recharging time — the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars,” said Nissan’s vice chairman, Takeshi Uchiyamada,..

[jazusamo]

Looks like Japanese auto companies have seen the light, wonder if Government Motors and Obama will follow?

[Red Badger]

Hell no, they’ll double down now that they have the market all to themselves!.........

[hoosierham]

if socialists admitted to reality they would not be socialists.

[illiac]

Captain obvious alert!

[Beagle8U]

$40k for an exploding golf cart, what’s not to like?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Time for the Skeeter to double down.

[cuban leaf]

Someone posted this question here a few years ago:

Who buys a used hybrid?

[jiggyboy]

There’s still the inevitable corporate embarrassment of untold millions of Priuses needing new $10K+ battery packs a few years down the road. There will be more of those things littering the highways than beer cans at some point.

[Iron Munro]

“Because of its shortcomings — driving range, cost and recharging time — the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars

A fact which every halfway knowledgeable person knew without having to invest several hundred billion dollars to experiment.

[Revolting cat!]

“Because of its shortcomings — driving range, cost and recharging time —

Not to speak of:

[the OlLine Rebel]

Not so PC in Japan. No American would give up on it or they’d be pilloried by all our fools.

[Army Air Corps]

Auto Ping.

[jazusamo]

Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

[AppyPappy]

The new electric cars are more modular.

And remember, locomotives use electric motors to drive themselves. The diesel just charges them.

[jiggyboy]

Whoops, it’s more like three thousand bucks or less.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1078138_toyota-hybrid-battery-replacement-cost-guide

[Jagman]

Explain how the vice-chairman of Nissan can be the father of Toyota’s Prius? Great reporting.

[Zhang Fei]

Whoops, it’s more like three thousand bucks or less.

They say that the original batteries on a Prius should work for hundreds of thousands of miles. That's probably Toyota-specific perfectionism at work, though. I wouldn't be quite as confident about the batteries in a Chevy Volt.

[Covenantor]

...untold millions of Priuses....

Well, actually, the total production as of Oct 2012 was 2.8 million surprisingly.

[jazusamo]

Exactly, it looks like reporting on cars is not Cheryl’s thing.

[green iguana]

Nissan, Toyota, what’s the difference?

As you’ve likely guessed, he’s Toyota’s vice-chair, not Nissan’s.

[khenrich]

Explain how the vice-chairman of Nissan can be the father of Toyota’s Prius? Great reporting.

And Honda is doing very well with their prototype fuel cell car in California

[Fred911]

Its amazing to me that people are confusing “all electric” cars to Hybrid cars. A Hybrid Prius has a gasoline motor and an electric motor that alternate depending on demand....it is not an all electric car. Toyota has no plans of dropping the Prius (which is selling very well).

I drive a Prius-C and an Audi Q5. I like them both....but I am averaging 47 miles per gallon in my little Prius, and that makes me very happy.

[reg45]

I did!

[al baby]

Sandra Fluke?

[cuban leaf]

I did!

---

How was its resale value?

[reg45]

Follow? General Motors demonstrated a fuel cell vehicle in 1966.

[shove_it]

Erectlic lide no good, Yankee. Get a crue...

http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-natural-gas/

[printhead]

IIRC, the diesel drives a generator which in turn drives an a.c. motor. The reason being that at low rpm’s an electric motor produces much more torque.

[brownsfan]

“Its amazing to me that people are confusing “all electric” cars to Hybrid cars. A Hybrid Prius has a gasoline motor and an electric motor that alternate depending on demand....it is not an all electric car. Toyota has no plans of dropping the Prius (which is selling very well).

I drive a Prius-C and an Audi Q5. I like them both....but I am averaging 47 miles per gallon in my little Prius, and that makes me very happy.”

Even the Volt isn’t all electric. It has a gasoline motor. It’s a hybrid that relies more on it’s electrical side.

My reservations about hybrids are:

Cost of battery replacement.
Initial high cost vs. gas savings over the life of the vehicle. (ROI).
Environmental and energy costs of producing the battery packs.

[jazusamo]

Yep, I wish I owned the one that was made, it’d be quite a collectors item:)

[reg45]

I’m still driving it. I bought a used 2007 Honda Accord Hybrid in 2009. Still less than 70K miles on it.

[Paradox]

What idiot wrote this article and headline? Its not about the Prius or other hybrids, it about all electric cars. Also, the “grandfather of the Prius” does not work for Nissan, sheesh.

[cuban leaf]

I mean, did you get a good deal?

[roadcat]

A fact which every halfway knowledgeable person knew without having to invest several hundred billion dollars to experiment.

A pompous brother-in-law of mine, bet me $100 in 2009 that gasoline powered cars would disappear in five years, and that most cars would be electric powered. One more year, and I collect on the bet! Of course, he's a liberal asshat so he'll just lie to squirm out of paying. He's an idiot, and proves your point (not even halfway knowledgeable). He invested heavily in solar panels among other green things and lost big, which makes me smirk at him.

[saleman]

Toyota doesn’t make a pure electric vehicle like the Nissan Leaf. A hybrid is not the same vehicle as a pure electric. There is no “lack of range” for a Prius. It has a gas engine as well as an electric motor

[pfflier]

Years ago our school was given a grant ($12,000 plus local business donations) to convert a conventional car to an electric (battery) powered pure electric car. We used a lead acid battery set (96V) and a 100VDC motor.

The thing was an eye opener:

On the plus side it had acceleration like a scalded cat. It also had a pretty high peak speed for dashes.

On the negative side, we added nearly 1,000 pounds to the curb weight because of the battery set.

It had a max range of about 12 miles then took 20 hours to recharge.

The 96 VDC systems were prone to failure with lots of thermal problems.

Environmentally, it was a disaster. We had to constantly dispose of the lead acid batteries IAW EPA regulations. The energy to charge the battery still derived directly from commercial power so we used fossil fuels, nuclear power and LNG generated electricity

Early on, we saw that a hybrid system or fuel cell system was going to be much more feasible, reliable and economical.

The distressing part, to me, was that we told our sponsors (DOE, DOT and EPA) of these innovations and the shortcomings of a pure battery drive and they refused to allow us to improve any technology as we learned, at risk losing the grant money.

After three years, I pulled the plug on our project. It was going nowhere in terms of technology beyond being a large equivalent to an RC car.

Seeing the way the government still throws money into the battery powered car pit, I see nothing has really changed. I'm glad the manufacturers are exercising their right to opt out of this lunacy. They have to deal with reality to stay in business.

[tomkat]

             

[freepertoo]

I hear a lot of people downing the Prius, but I love mine. I have a horrendous commute — it was, at one point, six hours a day on the road (necessity — had to travel where the work was). My Prius has been a real life saver in the gas department. I really like my car. $10,000 battery down the road? I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now, it’s making it possible for me to get to work.

[reg45]

On the 2007 Accord, Honda’s hybrid system is a dissapointment when compared with Toyota or Ford. The new system on the 2013 Honda’s is much better. Unfortunately, their new plug-in Accord Hybrid - the car that the Volt wanted to be - is only available currently in California and New York.

[Paradox]

If you have a lot of stop and go driving to do, then it might make economic sense. At this point, most of my driving is highway miles, so I am looking there (diesel is great on the highway). Not sure which way I will go. I'd only buy if it makes economic sense. I think the good news for Hybrid owners in the future is that since they are selling so well, the economies of scale should bring the estimated price of replacement batteries considerably.

[hattend]

Only thing I don’t like about Priuses (Pri’i?) is they can sneak up on you. I worked in a loading area for a hardware store and they used to drive up behind me while I was loading another car and I’d almost trip over them when I turned around.

I’d buy a Prius and I’m no tree hugger by any stretch of the imagination.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

SIR!

$40k for an exploding golf cart, what’s not to like?

Perhaps the quote of the century.

[ataDude]

What? A range of 35 miles is not good enough? Geez. /s

[ROCKLOBSTER]

It has a gasoline motor.

No no no no no.

It has a gasoline engine and an electric motor.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

If you have a lot of stop and go driving to do, then it might make economic sense. At this point, most of my driving is highway miles, so I am looking there (diesel is great on the highway).

Sounds like you need a hybrid diesel. (VW?)

[DakotaNative]

As I write this there are great advances being made in combustion engine and hybrid auto technology that will set new standards for efficiency, power and carbon emissions. Visit www.rtugroup.com and take a look at the pseudo adiabatic engine technology they have developed. In a nutshell they cut the heat of an engine in half, greatly increased its power and torque, while doubling fuel efficiency and cutting carbon emissions in half. I personally know the patent holder of this technology and he developed it in his shop against all odds. Furthermore, this company has produced a generator powered van and class 8 tractor that gets 6 to 8 times greater fuel efficiency than its diesel powered counterpart. These vehicles are powered by a generator and uses capacitors instead of batteries and has an combustion engine back up. Today in Europe and Japan there is a great deal of interest in this technology. In the US there is very little interest and much opposition. I suspect the European and Japanese interest is tied to the high cost of oil in those areas as well as the EU’s stringent emission standards which are due to go live in the next year or two. Regardless, this is great stuff and I have seen the technology up close and personal in multiple platforms. A technological leap forward is heading our way and it will change the economy and the way we live.

[Revolting cat!]

This (foolish) move by the Japanese screams 0pportunity with a big '0'. LOet us hope that Government Motors picks it up and runs with it to corner the vast battery operated automobile market!

[roadcat]

Color me skeptical. If, as you say, great advances are being made, we’re not seeing it here in the U.S. We’re getting scammed left and right by promises that don’t pan out, and ripped off by government subsidies to companies, stolen from our taxes, that end up benefitting foreign nations.

So if the advances happen, more power to you (her-hee). But let’s be fair, and acknowledge the efficiency and worth of gasoline - a proven technology. It’s been unfairly dinged left and right (mostly from the left).

[roadcat]

Color me skeptical. If, as you say, great advances are being made, we’re not seeing it here in the U.S. We’re getting scammed left and right by promises that don’t pan out, and ripped off by government subsidies to companies, stolen from our taxes, that end up benefitting foreign nations.

So if the advances happen, more power to you (hee-hee). But let’s be fair, and acknowledge the efficiency and worth of gasoline - a proven technology. It’s been unfairly dinged left and right (mostly from the left).

[reg45]

Hybrid diesel - It worked for the U-boat.