OMG Toyota want the price of fuel to rise.

[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/11010112...-volt-in-depth
http://www.worldcarfans.com/11010152...dependent-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
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!

[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!

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/...81&action=Pull

[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...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.

[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