On 11-09-30 10:39 AM, OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson wrote:
> From Jed:
Toyota announced a plug-in previous hybrid car will be available nationwide
starting January 1, 2012. The base price is around $32,000. Battery range is
"greater than" 20 km.
I assume you meant to say "Prius" whereas Dragon interpreted your
dictation as "previous".
Somehow a $32k price tag along with a whopping 20 km max range does
not strike me as terribly impressive. Am I missing something vital
here?
Yes. It's a hybrid, which means its max range is actually more like 400
or 500 miles. If you want to bop over to the next city on the weekend,
you can use the car for that, no prob, and it'll get typical Prius gas
mileage on the trip.
Its max range on *batteries* *only* is 20 km, which is enough for most
commuters to get to work, where they can plug in again, and then get
home on the charge they got during the day, without using a drop of
gas. So you would only need to buy gas for those weekend excursions.
If you don't do a lot of short-hop driving, you probably won't be
interested in that car. But if you do, it could be a win. I think
there are enough people who commute less than 20 km round trip (or less
than 40 km round trip to a company with outdoor outlets) that Toyota'll
find a healthy market for it.
I agree, though, a longer batteries-only range would make it interesting
to a lot more people.
