xcel
09-01-2008, 01:25 AM
Toyota is getting back in the electric vehicle game. (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2008/08/plug-in-hybrid.html)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2009_Toyota_iQ.jpgMartin Zimmerman - LA Times - Aug. 29, 2008
Europeans receive the iQ with better than Prius FE from a 1.0L conventionally powered engine.
We know about the PHEV but could an Americanized iQ BEV be the car we are really waiting for? -- Ed.
The Japanese automaker said this week it intends to develop a small all-electric car for sale early in the next decade. The announcement by President Katsuaki Watanabe is the first indication that Toyota plans to revisit an area of automotive technology that it dabbled in a few years back in the Golden State.
During California’s abortive effort to encourage development of electric cars, Toyota leased electric versions of its RAV-4 sport utility vehicle. Some of those are still on the road, and some electric-vehicle advocates have been grousing that Toyota, the industry leader in sales of fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrids, should resurrect its earlier electric-only efforts.
Other big automakers, such as Nissan and Mitsubishi, have also announced plans for electric vehicles. And several smaller companies, such as Bay Area-based Tesla Motors, are also developing electric cars or light trucks.
Toyota didn’t release any details of what its proposed electric car will look like or how much it will cost. But spokesman John Hanson said they will be sold to the general public.
That is decidedly not the case with Toyota’s highly anticipated plug-in hybrid, which operates like a gas-electric hybrid but also has a short electric-only range and more powerful batteries that can be recharged overnight through a household outlet… http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2008/08/plug-in-hybrid.html
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2009_Toyota_iQ.jpgMartin Zimmerman - LA Times - Aug. 29, 2008
Europeans receive the iQ with better than Prius FE from a 1.0L conventionally powered engine.
We know about the PHEV but could an Americanized iQ BEV be the car we are really waiting for? -- Ed.
The Japanese automaker said this week it intends to develop a small all-electric car for sale early in the next decade. The announcement by President Katsuaki Watanabe is the first indication that Toyota plans to revisit an area of automotive technology that it dabbled in a few years back in the Golden State.
During California’s abortive effort to encourage development of electric cars, Toyota leased electric versions of its RAV-4 sport utility vehicle. Some of those are still on the road, and some electric-vehicle advocates have been grousing that Toyota, the industry leader in sales of fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrids, should resurrect its earlier electric-only efforts.
Other big automakers, such as Nissan and Mitsubishi, have also announced plans for electric vehicles. And several smaller companies, such as Bay Area-based Tesla Motors, are also developing electric cars or light trucks.
Toyota didn’t release any details of what its proposed electric car will look like or how much it will cost. But spokesman John Hanson said they will be sold to the general public.
That is decidedly not the case with Toyota’s highly anticipated plug-in hybrid, which operates like a gas-electric hybrid but also has a short electric-only range and more powerful batteries that can be recharged overnight through a household outlet… http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2008/08/plug-in-hybrid.html