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.