Toyota Uncertain of Consumer Demand for Plug-Ins

 Bloomberg. Toyota Motor is uncertain of US consumer demand for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and says that extensive tests are needed to determine demand before it offers PHEVs for the US market.

“There is a consumer market at some price-point for plug- ins,” Bill Reinert, national manager for advanced vehicle technology at Toyota’s U.S. unit, said in an interview yesterday. “We just don’t yet know the size of that market.”

Toyota’s caution reveals a difference in approach between the Japanese automaker, which has sold more than 800,000 Prius hybrids globally since 1997, and General Motors Corp., which wants to build as many of 60,000 Volt plug-in electric cars in the model’s first year, people with knowledge of GM’s plans said earlier this week.

GM also says that it is moving forward with plans to develop a plug-in version of its upcoming two-mode Saturn VUE Green Line.

Toyota plans road tests later this year of modified Priuses with rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries that allow about eight miles of all-electric range.

“I know there’s a lot of enthusiasm right now about plug-ins,” Reinert said in the interview. “I’m a little cautious about how much of that ends up as real consumer behavior.”

[source: Green Car Congress]

More on Toyota's Prius plug-in delays

Toyota downplays value of plug-in cars

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

TRAVERSE CITY -- Plug-in electric cars aren't likely the panacea they're being made out to be by a public eager for alternatives to the traditional gasoline engine, a Toyota Motor Co. engineer said on Friday.

A number of serious hurdles stand between current technology and the reality of getting plug-ins on the road, Justin Ward, an engineer with Toyota's Advanced Technology Vehicles, said to an industry gathering at the annual Management Briefing Seminars. Even if the vehicles do make it to market, he said, data shows a battery-powered plug-in may be no more efficient in reducing carbon dioxide emissions than the gas-electric hybrids on the road today.

Ward's comments come amid reports that Toyota is delaying its next-generation electric car because of safety concerns, which Toyota didn't confirm. And they stood in contrast to one of General Motors Corp.'s biggest mantras of late: that plug-ins are coming soon and the vehicles will significantly reduce auto-related pollution and U.S. fuel consumption.

"Everyone wants these benefits now. But as with any type of prototype activity, there are challenges and the challenges are real," Ward said.

GM and Toyota are racing to be first to market with a vehicle that would use a powerful lithium-ion battery. Both companies are focusing on a number of different options, which include plug-in cars that can recharge batteries via a wall outlet and hybrids that mate battery power and gasoline engine.

Need to Plug In your Car?

If you happen to drive a plug-in electric vehicle (EV) or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), check out this website to see where you can charge it while on the go.

One of the concerns with plug-in hybrids is the lack of proper basic infrastructure - just where are we supposed to plug-in?

--- Oren

ForbesAutos.com on Plug-in Hybrids

ForbesAutos.com published a very interesting article about the future of plug-in hybrids.

Here is a snippet from the article, asking all the right questions:

"If more than half of U.S. motorists switched to plug-in hybrid vehicles, the country’s greenhouse gas emissions would plummet by the middle of this century, according to a July 19 study from the Electric Power Research Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Several automakers are gearing up to their part, but major obstacles remain.

Could the power grid handle such a widespread switch to vehicles that guzzle from electric sockets instead of gas pumps? Opinions differ.

And are millions of consumers willing to plug their cars into a wall outlet just like they would a toaster? Not quite yet, industry insiders say."

Personally, I can't wait to get my hand on a plug-in Prius. Only two minor problems - I don't have a garage at home, and no access to a plug while parked at work...

--- Oren

Plugin hybrid TV ad by a power company

AutoblogGreen wrote about the Plugin hybrid vehicle trials the power company Edison International plans with Ford. Seems Edison likes plugin hybrids so much they are singing their praises in TV ads. Here is a synopsis of an ad they ran on CNN's Larry King Live.

The commercial has Earth rolling by big text; Renewables, Clean Coal and Plug-In Hybrids. There is a white background and boxes with video like a lady in a pink blouse plugging in a car. Throughout there is a voice over that says "Small planet. Big challenges and a future that rests on our thinking about energy in new and better ways. Like the wider use of cost effective renewables. Clean coal technologies to transform a plentiful American resource into a greener energy source and plugin hybrid electric vehicles working as powerful engines for change. All aimed at making the electricity we use more cost efficient and environmentally sound. Edison International. Life powered by Edison."

This is probably the first time plugin hybrids have turned up in a commercial for a power company. It's great to see them high on the list of solutions. Plugin hybrids have the potential to be a great contributor to a cleaner energy future and it's about time someone said it.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]