Over 1/2 of Toyotas to be EV's by 2025 . My 16 Tacoma will only be 9 .

This scares me a bit. We've seen many examples of how Tesla, a tech company, doesn't understand fully the complexity of automobile manufacturing.

I'm sure, with the electric motor, they'll have plenty of towing torque. But what about all the other features you need to tow safely such as properly tuned suspension, adequate brakes, towing aware stability control, body/frame strength and rigidity, etc...?

 

Going too need a lot of Amps for towing... Only batteries I've seen with this type of capacity is an electric forklift, and those batteries are MASSIVE

 

Have you seen the acceleration of the Tesla Model 3 with the performance package? I don't know how many amps it has but I know its heavy as hell and accelerates to 60 in less than 3 seconds. But, yeah, towing will require a ton of amps...

 

The whole electric fad just scares me, living in the arctic. Batteries do not do well in the cold. My ex wife has a uncle with a Prius, has to kick someone out of their garage to park it inside every time he visits in the winter. Apparently he didn't one time and left it outside for 2 days at 40 something below zero and the batteries got toasted. To much running in the background and no charging combined with temps left him with one or two dead cells in his batteries.

Of course nobody designs things for the arctic or sub arctic, we just get stuck dealing with them after america regulates that we have to have them. Just like DEF on diesel trucks.

 

Lol let me say a few things:
1. The US was projected to hit peak oil in 1969.
2. The globe was projected to hit peak oil in 2010.
3. We were warned of global cooling in the 1970's.
4. We were warned of global warming in 1990's.
5. The stupid food pyramid never stays the same.
6. Eggs were bad for you, eggs were good for you, now they are unsure.

Point is, predictions into the future are about as accurate as my magic 8 ball.
Take it with a grain of salt.
The only ones who know the future are the ones steering the present. You know who they are.
G

 

No thanks. Make a hydrogen fuel cell version and I'd buy one if there was no petrol alternative.

 

My wife averages high miles for her job and thus puts mileage pretty far up in her criteria. She wants a bigger vehicle with higher ground clearance for her job, so we test drove a hybrid rav recently. It is pretty f'n sick, changed my view on hybrids and it is certainly leading the race to be next in our driveway (currently drives a 12' honda fit and the hyb rav4 uses less fuel and is a measurably larger vehicle). All I can say is that Toyota with their prius experience, MFG capability and the engineering power that they have are going to make a better than average product.
Will there be errors and corrections along the way? yeah they still do that with gas engines afterall but they make vehicles with better integrity than most brands. There are still gen 1 priuses on the road in my area.

Another thing that drives the direction consumer vehicles future in the US is the CAFE standards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy
I don't remember the details, but it even drove companies that are selling more fleet vehicles than consumer vehicles (Ram) to separate from the bigger corporate entity to keep a different regulatory class. Afterall RAM is selling a towing capacity not an MPG... this also is the answer the the question "Why isnt ____ available with a small V8 and/or Diesel"

 

When I purchased my new Tacoma in May, my salesperson told me the nextgen Sequoia will only be hybrid and the Tundra will have a hybrid option.

It's coming, and I don't want it

 

You made me think of this clip from the early 1970's, they always manage to keep people stirred up.

 

I wonder if there will be a battery equivalent of a spare gas can. Depending on where you go in Alaska you need spare fuel because there are no gas stations, and many communities are "off grid". Wonder what the solution to that will be with a electric vehicle.

 

This is exactly why EVs suck. Horrible range, especially in cold weather. I used to be in the EV industry. Hyped up garbage for yuppies and trustafarians.

Hydrogen fuel cell makes a lot more sense. But none of them will ever be truly "green" 'cause 100% renewable energy is total BS. Keeps the grants and subsidies flowing, though.

 

I imagine trying to defrost the windows and heating the cabin to make the occupants comfortable probably sucks quite a bit of juice from the batteries.

 

Never even thought of that. I used to have a old international that had no heat. At 40 below I would be bundled in arctic gear and scraping the inside of the windshield to keep it clear because my breath would freeze on the glass & I couldn't see to drive. Something tells me EV owners are not going to be happy doing the same in this day and age.

 

It was Nikola Tesla, Edison just had deep pockets.

 

I thought Tesla was AC power and Edison was DC power. Aren't EV run off DC like a regular vehicle?

 

Back in my old Air Cooled VW days I used to hack into the heater channels under the back seat and wire in squirrel cage fans, turned them from having terrible heat to nice and toasty.

 

Heat is a welcome byproduct of inefficiency.

 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cold-weather-saps-electric-car-batteries-2019-02-07

Basically it says expect a 29% decrease in range when using heater in cold weather. That doesn't even include use of defroster or heated seats. Have to climb any passes? Good luck with that.

Yeah, EV tech has a long way to go still.

 

Points understood . I was just paraphrasing the Toyota article about how Toyota has sped up their plans for EV's .
It really does not matter to me as much as it will to someone in their 20's or 30's , but they won't want any old people who eat meat and canned soups , shoot guns and go fishing living on Mars with them anyway . he he he .
Then again I wonder what types of fish there could be in the underground lakes of Mars ?

 

That article says a 41% decrease when using the heater unless I read it incorrectly, that is a massive drop in range.