hybrid taco?

I know Im in the minority here but I really think the taco's would do so much better with a small electric motor (maybe out of the prius for little r&d aka less cost) that just helps accelerate up to say 30 mph and fill in that loss of power down low on the 3rd gen v6 engine. It would add regenerative breaking causing an increase in fuel efficiency especially in mountainous areas. And it would help you breaks last longer and cooler. It would even help when off road by giving a way to help slow you down slowly without locking up the tires. Thoughts?

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.au...h-can-gm-amazon-reportedly-invest-rivian/amp/

 

Yeah i saw that but I wouldn't buy a fully electric truck to go off road. Lets just say if you are in a remote area, it would take a little while for them to charge on solar panels or something like that. This is coming from a tesla owner...

 

If the Tacoma was a prius and not a truck... yes what you are saying would make sense.

Since its a BOF truck and needs to perform like a truck at full payload and towing capacity it makes little sense to remotely consider an electric truck of any kind at this point.

Hybrids do not make sense given the weight of the Tacoma. The battery wouldn’t ever kick in so you’d be running nearly all on the engine and thus only put a $10,000 hydrid battery in a tacoma and made it even heavier which just lowers MPGs. Youd go backwards not achieve much.

 

Well and... what if that magnesium battery goes up?
Threat of ignition while off roading is real. Electric batteries are much more dangerous.

 

I'm not saying to make it ever run fully on electric alone. I'm just suggesting a power adder. The gas motor would never shut off. It would just be to add torque that it's missing below 3000 rpm.

 

Take a look at one of the latest Sweers interviews....

Ram already cracked open the market, so Toyota <maybe> won't get blasted as making a prius truck.

 

The battery would be pretty small so it wouldn't have to be under the truck. You could easily put them under the back seats or behind the back seats. If they get damaged there you'll have bigger problems.

 

You have a link? I actually got the idea from what Ram is doing and thought that it would work wonders with my 3rd gen that has no power down low...

 

http://www.thedrive.com/news/26443/heres-why-the-next-gen-toyota-tundra-and-tacoma-might-go-hybrid

Nothing too specific... mostly an acknowledgment that the hybrid tech, oriented towards performance, can make some serious moves lol

 

As someone who owned a Prius for many years, and in fact our son still drives it, I think a decent hybrid powertrain could add a lot. Even if the battery were downsized for cost/weight/space savings, a setup that’s a bit more aggressive than what Ram seems to have could benefit the 3.5’s low-end throttle response. And, with stop start and engine shutdown on deceleration, plus regen braking, I think real world mpg would greatly improve. I live in a hilly area, and the Prius seemed like it would quickly recover of mpg lost going uphill, when you started going downhill. The Tacoma, far less, even if I keep it in 6th going downhill and use the brakes not gears to control downhill speed. Note that everyone here likes to bash Priuses, but Toyota offers hybrid on Avalon, Highlander, RAV4 etc, not to mention BMW, Porsche etc. It will happen and naturally aspirated hybrids seem more durable than smaller turbo 4’s.

 

Even a boost based hybrid system, like whats used in F1 would yield huge performance boosts without a huge hit to <cruising> fuel economy.

But based on the quote about Ford, maybe Toyota won't be running boost.

 

I mean, we all know that electric is going to kill everything in the next X years. The only rational debate is the value of X. Show me a 4wd truck with super-torquey electric motors, and a battery that will send me 600 miles in any direction, and then the only question is... how fast can I get financing?

 

Call me ignorant, but I don't want anything to do with an electric or hybrid truck.

I see no advantage to switch.

 

This is my opinion on a hybrid truck...

 

check this out...
range of 250 to 400 miles depending on the battery pack
11,000-pound maximum towing capacity and a zero-to-60-mph time of less than three seconds.
Once Tesla comes out with their truck it'll have that 600 miles range you want.
I just don't think it's practical yet. I mean I have dream to drive to the arctic circle from California through Alaska in my taco and that would be almost if not completely impossible in a fully electric truck...

 

There is literally no disadvantage to a hybrid assuming they keep a v6 and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Looking at the Prius shouldn't be do big of a premium over equivalent gas cars.

 

As long as theres none of that hydrogen voodoo in the next taco lol

 

I have couple of friends that had owned Tesla's. One of them the battery gave up in the course of five years. A new battery was about $12k to $15k due to some issues on top of other repairs etc. So, what you have saved thru the course of all those years, eventually you will still spend it in repairs and normal maintenance(?)

 

I'm not saying it'll save much money which. I was simply suggesting an electric motor to add torque down low where I think the 3rd gen could use some.
Btw the battery is covered for 8 years or 125k miles by Tesla so tell them to look into that!