OMG Toyota want the price of fuel to rise.

[DEVVIL]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4249096/Call-for-higher-petrol-prices

[DEVVIL]

Toyota want the price of fuel to rise so they can sell us more cheap to run cars.Drop dead Toyota....
Mr Alistair Davis wants family's to suffer so he can up his market share....:facepalm:

[MisterD]

Toyota want the price of fuel to rise so they can sell us more cheap to run cars.Drop dead Toyota....

Cheap to run but, crucially, expensive to build and to buy. So let's keep the focus on "green" being all about CO2 and ignore all those tricky problems with the nasty chemicals needed to make all those Prius batteries...never mind end-of-life recycling either.

Wankers.

[Scuba_Steve]

What a moron...

"The single most effective way to deal to this issue would be to raise petrol prices via introduction of a carbon tax, he said.
"That'd permanently shift us to a better emissions rate overall, because it would encourage us to shift to smaller cars," Mr Davis said."

... Ummm I can remember when petrol was 86c & people only had to complain about $0.0x rises, now we're at $1.8x & get to complain about $0.4c rises yet I don't see any less cars on the road, or any mass migration to smaller engine ones... Am I wrong???

[Rogue Rider]

I want my bike to run on air so all the oil companies can go get naffed!!!!!!

Oil companied hold the economy and world to ransom! This must stop.... Freeeeeeedom!:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm::facepa lm::facepalm:

[onearmedbandit]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4249096/Call-for-higher-petrol-prices

Wow did that come from Toyota Head office In Nagoya? Or was it just the ramblings of the CEO of Toyota in NZ. Because there is a little difference...

[bogan]

Wow did that come from Toyota Head office In Nagoya? Or was it just the ramblings of the CEO of Toyota in NZ. Because there is a little difference...

:lol: yeh, just a tad. Spose he reckons that people who now have no money due to high fuel prices (and the flow on effects from higher transportation costs) will be able to somehow spend (whats a prius worth these days 40k?) heaps on a new car. To me it sounds like there would just be a heap more taking the bus!

[imdying]

Alistair Davis is a cock. I wonder who's problem it is dumping all the shitty Prius batteries from all the taxis? I'm betting not Toyotas.

Companies that only pretend to be green can fuck off.

[DEVVIL]

:lol: yeh, just a tad. Spose he reckons that people who now have no money due to high fuel prices (and the flow on effects from higher transportation costs) will be able to somehow spend (whats a prius worth these days 40k?) heaps on a new car. To me it sounds like there would just be a heap more taking the bus!
55K for a second hand one
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Cars/Toyota/Prius/auction-278227243.htm
And they call it green. So how do they dump the battery's?

[onearmedbandit]

55K for a second hand one
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Cars/Toyota/Prius/auction-278227243.htm
And they call it green. So how do they dump the battery's?

Yup if you want the top of the range Prius, one year old with 3,000km. Decent examples start from $15k.

[onearmedbandit]

And while I'm not a fan of the Prius, do you really think a company the size of Toyota hasn't already considered what to do with the batteries?

A quick google search returned fears of them being dumped in the ocean etc, but if you look past the scaremongering you'll find Toyota was already considering the effects of the batteries.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/toyota-prius-battery-recycling-plan-8360.html

[MisterD]

And while I'm not a fan of the Prius, do you really think a company the size of Toyota hasn't already considered what to do with the batteries?

That's not the point. The point is that considered as a whole-life thing, the Prius is not "green". If you really want to be green, buy a small modern petrol car and drive like a nanna.

[onearmedbandit]

That's not the point. The point is that considered as a whole-life thing, the Prius is not "green". If you really want to be green, buy a small modern petrol car and drive like a nanna.

Not the point. Of course not, I never said the Prius was green. Add to that the article quoted didn't mention the Prius either.

[imdying]

The figures seem good, but apparently the 5% that can't be recycled is because it's super nasty shite.

[bogan]

That's not the point. The point is that considered as a whole-life thing, the Prius is not "green". If you really want to be green, buy a small modern petrol car and drive like a nanna.

agree on the nana bit, but make sure its a second hand car, there is a theory that the petrol used in the lifetime of a car is still less than the manufacturing energy cost to make it, so old ones ftw!

[onearmedbandit]

In my opinion Toyota never made the Prius to change the environment. No, what they did was take the technology and put it into a distinct body shape. That way they have cornered a segment of the market, those that want to make a statement, not a difference.

Toyota at the end of the day is just a very well run, well thought out company.

[Cayman911]

screw the prius. will be a thing of the past. an insignificant pimple on some hippie's arse.

Wait till the Chevrolet Volt hits our shores! i would say its better than the prius. but that is so obvious it dosnt need saying. 1.5L/100km in city everyday driving? ina car that isnt made out to look shit just because its good on gas? yes please!

[rachprice]

I love that he uses greenhouse emissions and our international obligations as reason why!
And climate change
Oh god...

[gammaguy]

Cheap to run but, crucially, expensive to build and to buy. So let's keep the focus on "green" being all about CO2 and ignore all those tricky problems with the nasty chemicals needed to make all those Prius batteries...never mind end-of-life recycling either.

Wankers.

it takes more energy to make a new car,than it does to keep an old one serviced and maintained for twenty years.

Still,thats not so good for business is it?

[onearmedbandit]

screw the prius. will be a thing of the past. an insignificant pimple on some hippie's arse.

Wait till the Chevrolet Volt hits our shores! i would say its better than the prius. but that is so obvious it dosnt need saying. 1.5L/100km in city everyday driving? ina car that isnt made out to look shit just because its good on gas? yes please!

The volt has it's own issues. GM directly stated initially that in no way would the petrol motor be connected to the driving wheels, rather to be used to recharge the batteries. Now they have admitted it only has a 40m range on the electric engine, and that the petrol motor is used to help drive the front wheels. Independent testers have seen nothing anywhere remotely like the consumption figures GM have claimed. It still is an advance over the Prius, but as Chuck D said, 'don't believe the hype'.

[Cayman911]

The volt has it's own issues. GM directly stated initially that in no way would the petrol motor be connected to the driving wheels, rather to be used to recharge the batteries. Now they have admitted it only has a 40m range on the electric engine, and that the petrol motor is used to help drive the front wheels. Independent testers have seen nothing anywhere remotely like the consumption figures GM have claimed. It still is an advance over the Prius, but as Chuck D said, 'don't believe the hype'.

GM estimated 1L/100km, independant test found for everyday driving in the city it used 1.8, and lesser on highways or if not gassed hard. thats not that big of a deal to me. still wins over any bike or car. GM have done right

http://www.worldcarfans.com/110101128938/chevrolet-volt-in-depth
http://www.worldcarfans.com/110101529025/chevy-volt-gets-127-mpg-in-independent-test

read that, The engine will power the car over 70MPH. which is once again the average speed a normal person will go. also it will kick in when it needs the power, like over a hill or something , and you can drive electric only for 80KM. which is more than the daily commute of the normal everyday person.

0-60 mph in "less than nine seconds" and hit a top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h).

that is also amazing.
this car is win. also from chevy so thats more of a win too. probably the reason it dosnt look crap.

[bogan]

the EV1 was where it was at, 70mile range, 0-60 in 8 secs, 80mph electronically limited top speed, and made 14 fucking years ago, how far have we come since then :facepalm:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

they also did shit with electric/petrol hybrids like the volt.

[Swoop]

The prius dosen't even meet the criteria on China's "environmentally OK" list of cars. The petrol engine is too big!:killingme

[Banditbandit]

What a moron...

"The single most effective way to deal to this issue would be to raise petrol prices via introduction of a carbon tax, he said.
"That'd permanently shift us to a better emissions rate overall, because it would encourage us to shift to smaller cars," Mr Davis said."

... Ummm I can remember when petrol was 86c & people only had to complain about $0.0x rises, now we're at $1.8x & get to complain about $0.4c rises yet I don't see any less cars on the road, or any mass migration to smaller engine ones... Am I wrong???

Some of us rememebr when petrol was 0.48 cents a GALLON (and beer was 0.49 cents a jug) .. and some fo the ancient members would rememebr it even cheaper ..

[EJK]

In Egypt, petrol price is about $0.60 a litre (90 Octane).

I shit you not.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL0691663220080506

P.S. Read the linked article (it's back in 2008) however I find it quite ironic to our current situation, i.e. In UK's point of view.

[Suntoucher]

I want my bike to run on air so all the oil companies can go get naffed!!!!!!

Oil companied hold the economy and world to ransom! This must stop.... Freeeeeeedom!:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm::facepa lm::facepalm:

Tata Motors has the compressed air car for you(google it, it's like $5000 for a brand new, full size car that runs on air, crap range but goes 100)

Would be faster to fill than an electric car too(unless it's the hyper compressed air that diving tanks need, in which case it's expensive and far to fill up)

[DEVVIL]

Tata Motors has the compressed air car for you(google it, it's like $5000 for a brand new, full size car that runs on air, crap range but goes 100)

Would be faster to fill than an electric car too(unless it's the hyper compressed air that diving tanks need, in which case it's expensive and far to fill up)
http://www.tatamotors.com/our_world/press_releases.php?ID=281&action=Pull:woohoo:

[onearmedbandit]

Tata Motors has the compressed air car for you(google it, it's like $5000 for a brand new, full size car that runs on air, crap range but goes 100)

Would be faster to fill than an electric car too(unless it's the hyper compressed air that diving tanks need, in which case it's expensive and far to fill up)

I did a quick google but found nothing suggesting they were actually on the market yet. Lots of reports from 3yrs ago of them being on the verge of production, admissions from the company in December 2009 that they were having difficulties getting into production due to range issues and engine temp problems, reports that they will be coming to the US in 2010, and one suggesting we might see them next year.

I'm happy to be proven wrong though.

[spacemonkey]

Alistair Davis is a cock. I wonder who's problem it is dumping all the shitty Prius batteries from all the taxis? I'm betting not Toyotas.

Companies that only pretend to be green can fuck off.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/should_we_be_wo_1.php
Would you like to make sure of your facts? :)


"Toyota's own tests have run batteries for the equivalent of 150,000 miles with no discernible degradation, and the company expects them to last the useful life of the car."
Plus

Toyota has a comprehensive battery recycling program in place and has been recycling nickel-metal hydride batteries since the RAV4 Electric Vehicle was introduced in 1998. Every part of the battery, from the precious metals to the plastic, plates, steel case and the wiring, is recycled. To ensure that batteries come back to Toyota, each battery has a phone number on it to call for recycling information and dealers are paid a $200 "bounty" for each battery.

:facepalm:

[rwh]

In my opinion Toyota never made the Prius to change the environment. No, what they did was take the technology and put it into a distinct body shape. That way they have cornered a segment of the market, those that want to make a statement, not a difference.

Toyota at the end of the day is just a very well run, well thought out company.

Additionally, by selling a bunch to those with lots of money and a statement to make, it gives them a test vehicle and funding for their electric/hybrid vehicle research. Fine by me. I wouldn't expect something as early as the Prius to be wonderful, but you've got to start somewhere.

Richard

[onearmedbandit]

Additionally, by selling a bunch to those with lots of money and a statement to make, it gives them a test vehicle and funding for their electric/hybrid vehicle research. Fine by me. I wouldn't expect something as early as the Prius to be wonderful, but you've got to start somewhere.

Richard

Exactly. Toyota didn't get to where they are by not being smart.

[Shadows]

It might look like a pretty crazy statement for a representative of a car company to make when they don't even have a half decent alternative on the market yet.

But imagine what people would say if he said that after they do.

[Argyle]

When I left back home the fuel price was NZ$2.40 per liter and the VOLVOS were still going strong on the roads, known to consume allot of petrol.. Ethanol is introduced in Sweden, available in most petrol stations but it did not hit the market as good as it was hoped, due to cheap diesel engines came with environmental partical filters and got government subsidy..

On the contrary there's no big ute or v8 culture in Sweden, just too expensive to own one..

[Indiana_Jones]

Toyota want the price of fuel to rise so they can sell us more cheap to run cars.Drop dead Toyota....
Mr Alistair Davis wants family's to suffer so he can up his market share....:facepalm:

I miss BMC

-Indy

[spacemonkey]

I don't... at least Toyota's engineers can build a car with at least some degree of reliability and crash safety!

[Indiana_Jones]

I don't... at least Toyota's engineers can build a car with at least some degree of reliability and crash safety!

My Landcrab always started after I replaced her tired old battery, granted she liked to drip a little oil.

I'd like a Princess when I think about it, such a cool car :D

-Indy

[onearmedbandit]

It might look like a pretty crazy statement for a representative of a car company to make when they don't even have a half decent alternative on the market yet.

But imagine what people would say if he said that after they do.

He wasn't referring to hybrids in the article though, rather smaller displacement more fuel economic vehicles. Which Toyota have plenty of.

[Indiana_Jones]

Let's save the planet!

http://www.motorbase.com/uploads/ccfs/2008/07/25/fs_0105617001216651124.jpg

-Indy

[davereid]

Tata Motors has the compressed air car for you(google it, it's like $5000 for a brand new, full size car that runs on air, crap range but goes 100) Would be faster to fill than an electric car too(unless it's the hyper compressed air that diving tanks need, in which case it's expensive and far to fill up)


The problem with compressed air engines is the same as the Chevy Volts main problem.

Which is, that it is not using a primary energy source, it is rather storing and using energy created somewhere else.

So for your chevy volt to be charged, a power station was required.

Exactly the same for your compressed air car. A power station makes electricity, which runs the compressor at the filling station which fills the compressed air tank up.

Except that Boyles law tells us that compressing the air will create heat. Thats energy lost, that we had to provide from the power station.

So all these technologies are useless unless you have plentiful and green electricity. At the moment the world does not.

[spacemonkey]

I disagree with you on that one, national grid scale electrical generation used even at it's worst is still vastly more efficient than the average internal combustion engine in power to emissions ratio, so much so that your still better off with the air or electric cars.

[Banditbandit]

I don't... at least Toyota's engineers can build a car with at least some degree of reliability and crash safety!

Yeah .. what he said. I spent many ights in the 1970s keeping BMC cars on the road ... never want to do that again ...

[Banditbandit]

I'd like a Princess when I think about it, such a cool car :D

-Indy

The 1940s to 1960s Princess ? Yeah that was cool ...

The upgraded 1800 in the late 1970s ? A typical piece of British vehicle junk ... one of the reasons the industry collapsed ...

[mashman]

From what i've seen, NZ has seasonal shortages of electricity anyway, especially in the winter. I can see the addition of a few thousand electric cars really taking the strain off the grid :shutup:

[spacemonkey]

More seasonal media panic/media hype than a shortage IMO

[Swoop]

From what i've seen, NZ has seasonal shortages of electricity anyway, especially in the winter. I can see the addition of a few thousand electric cars really taking the strain off the grid :shutup:
Like a few years back when the South Island hydro lakes were extremely low.
They'll just start up the coal fired power stations again.
Electric cars powered by coal...:killingme

[Taz]

We should have a couple of Nuclear power stations. Problem solved.

[spacemonkey]

Eeeexcept for the nuclear waste disposal.........

[Indiana_Jones]

The upgraded 1800 in the late 1970s ? A typical piece of British vehicle junk ... one of the reasons the industry collapsed ...

LIES!

:shutup:

It's just a cool as the TR7!

And on topic, cars could run on farts for all I care.

-Indy

[davereid]

I disagree with you on that one, national grid scale electrical generation used even at it's worst is still vastly more efficient than the average internal combustion engine in power to emissions ratio, so much so that your still better off with the air or electric cars.

I hear this from time to time from "greens"

Depending on where you are in the world, they are wrong, very wrong, or very very very wrong.

Even in good old clean NZ we meet peak demand with coal fired stations, or even better, jet engines. Jet engines of course are not more efficient than internal combustion engines. Cos they are internal combustion engines.

If you add more demand with your battery car, where do you think the power will come from?

Ahh yes, you will fill our coastline with tidal generators, waste our hydro water providing spinning reserve for your noisy, inefficient and energy negative wind machines, cry "damn the dam" when we try to build more hydro and then bleat when pensioners can't afford a heat pump.

[Suntoucher]

The problem with compressed air engines is the same as the Chevy Volts main problem.

Which is, that it is not using a primary energy source, it is rather storing and using energy created somewhere else.

So for your chevy volt to be charged, a power station was required.

Exactly the same for your compressed air car. A power station makes electricity, which runs the compressor at the filling station which fills the compressed air tank up.

Except that Boyles law tells us that compressing the air will create heat. Thats energy lost, that we had to provide from the power station.

So all these technologies are useless unless you have plentiful and green electricity. At the moment the world does not.

Yup, never said anything about it being green, efficient or environmentally friendly. Just cheap for the end user and quick to fill.

[neels]

Toyota need to sell more cars, to pay to fix the latest batch of wonky ones they've sold, gotta scare some sales up somehow

Linky (http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=121425&fm=psp,nwl)

And I agree that the Prius is a crock of shit, you get better fuel economy from a turbo diesel at 1/3 of the manufacturing carbon footprint.