Toyota CEO steps down

Although "lithium" batteries are used everywhere there are distinct different chemistries and construction methods that dramatically change the lifespan.

Your MTB like uses a lithium polymer battery that although lite and has great charge and discharge rates is also one with the lowest lifespans. LifePo4 cells on the other hand have a completely different lifespan.

On top of that batteries themselves can be high quality or cheap.

And on top of that HOW you charge them can dramatically change lifespan.

....and overall implementation can affect lifespan (aka air cooled Nissan Leaf batteries)


There is no perfect solution and just like GM vs Ford vs Dodge vs Nissan vs Toyota can have poor transmissions or engines or electronics, so can EVs. The upside is there are far LESS components that contribute to failure

Batteries most likely won't need replacement.
Tax rebates were to drive a market so that it could be minimally viable, that is (or nearly is) here now. It's really just to kick start a global supply chain and start driving costs down so that they can compete against entrenched items

 

Current EV tech is NOT going to EVER be the solution. The filth associated with mining the minerals is only tolerated in third world nations, because it is so devastating. There is an absolute limit to those resources making the current battery tech supply very short. Tragically fanatics think anything is better than ICE but they're wrong. Our electrical grid cannot sustain the additional power draw that would be needed to even convert 50% of the vehicles, and wind and solar are ridiculously inefficient and unreliable that it is funny that anyone would take them serious beyond individual personal use. But hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how naive it is!

 

... and speaking of fanatics....

 

So unreliable and inefficient and yet they account for 12% of the utility scale power production in the US. No need to bother with facts though.

EVs are by no means perfect or a golden bullet to save the entire world from something but they are a better option than ICE for a lot of uses.

 

I think the "experts" believe that solar and wind use is nearing the limit since it takes 1000's of acres to get a viable quantity for commercial use, so I suppose we could cover all our National parks and the entirety of our coastal waters with wind turbines, wouldn't that be beautiful...The few large scale solar fields and wind turbine farms I've seen are hideous, lowers property values, become a bird kill ozone, not to mention the devastation the first time a forest fire burns these solar panels and releases deadly toxic smoke. Yeah, we're headed from bad to worse, all in the false premise we're "saving the planet". Hah! Sorry I don't intend to offend anyone just so much misinformation out there.

 

The experts do not believe that though so we are doing ok still.

There are so many options for solar alone that haven’t been exploited that can provide hugely beneficial clean power. In CA there are large sections of open air canals and aqueducts being covered with solar panels. This is a threefold solution - produces electricity, reduces water loss through evaporation and keeps the penal cooler resulting in higher efficiency. All built in space that is otherwise unusable in most cases. There’s obvious limitations to solar (low sun yield northern areas) but it’s is a very usable power generation source in much of our country and the world.

 

Are you in the power creation and distribution industry? I know "experts" Company owners and Former Presidents of major power companies that provide resources to small populations like Los Angeles, CA in fact and believe me whatever crazy "news" article you are reading is not telling you the truth, funny though because there are a lot of "so called" experts that have never even worked in the power industry writing about how it should be not how it is. There's rolling blackouts because of political mandates. Federal resources use current traditional tech NOT solar and wind (with few pet project exceptions) because they know it is the best choice. They like to clear their conscience by forcing everyone else to use these inefficient technologies. It's not even close to being viable without huge subsidies, that's why the "Inflation Reduction Act" has 140 billion for EV rebates. Think about it. The head of Toyota is stepping down because he knows being forced into this new political mandate is not the right answer and doesn't want to be a part of it and I don't blame him.

 

The filth associated with mining is terrible, it is however still LESS filth than is associated with the oil industry.

The oil industry already uses those minerals from third world countries, has for decades, and is not in any way moving away from them. EVs however ARE moving away from them.

Yes, there is a limit to those resources, there is also a limit to oil. EV resources however are not burned away and are being recycled today, unlike oil.

The electric grid argument is control through fear mongering. If EVERY vehicle was electric we would need less than a 50% increase in power output, and that is something that we have over 30 years to work on. As it stands today the difference between peak and off-peak demand is enough to power 100% of cars being electric. Obviously you cannot only ever charge electric cars during off-peak, but that's where we have 30 years to grow the grid alongside the growth of electric cars.

The rolling blackouts are happening NOW, BEFORE electric cars. So the solution is to do nothing and bitch that EVs will make it worse? If anything EV adoption will FORCE improvements to the grid, that improve it for EVERYONE, something that clearly death and loss of business today isn't forcing.

Toyota dropped billions in the wrong direction and now are facing the consequences. They are not your friend, they wanted hydrogen because they spent billions trying to go that direction but went the wrong way and now are trying to force the market to follow.

 

You dudes really trying to save the planet here?

 

You’re reading what you want, not what I’m typing. I never said that solar or wind are the only future solutions or that we need to do away with all coal and natural gas plants. Fossil fueled power plants and vehicles will be in use for the foreseeable future, probably still in use after we are dead. There is still a need to continue to develop and use cleaner power generation and vehicles at the same time though.

 

Not this guy. I’ve spent way too much time on two strokes, big diesels, catless beaters and burning straight jet fuel into the atmosphere to ever make up for any of that.

 

There is no "clean" source for large scale power generation (outside of current nuclear energy) in existence so yeah there's that.

 

you forgot "the noise from wind turbines will give you cancer"

 

Definitely NOT the "save the planet" kinda guy myself.

 

If you want to save the planet buy a bicycle.

That doesn't change the fact that EVs have LESS of an impact.

There are however methods that have LESS impact.

 

I only read through the first 4 pages of this thread so if this has been answered, so be it. Will peeps want to buy a used 10-year-old EV if the replacement battery is costing upwards of 10K...? How does the market adjust to that. Will someone pay me market value for a Ford 150 EV, knowing they will need to put a new battery in it shortly? I know battery tech is screaming along but still.....they ain't cheap.

 

if you are considering nuclear to be clean , I raise you hydroelectric

 

Yeah, my vote is to let the skinny jeans generation figure it out. Pass the buck; it's the American way!

Carry on.

 

I wonder if it'll be more like phones, where nobody buys used and the batteries are recycled

 

I look at it like preventative maintenance on a truck. Sure it will run for 150k miles on the original spark plugs but it works better and more efficiently if you replace them. Same concept for power generation sources. What we have now and in the past works but we can still make it work better with some time and money put into it.