Here is a link to an article on the front page of the Times. the gist of the article is that Toyota made a presentation at a conference in New York in which they said that the added weight and complexity will reduce milage for those that regularly drive beyond the plug in range: Toyota: Plug-in Hybrids Will Have Limited Appeal - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com It includes a nice pic of a Blizzard Pearl 2010. Roy
I'm inclined to agree that plug-ins have a limited market in the near term, but I think it looks a lot better in the longer term. I'd buy one right now if our household power were from a renewable source. Unfortunately, we get our power from IREA, which swears up and down that dinosaurs still roam the earth making hydrocarbons, and will defend its coal-fired power plant investments to the death or bankruptcy.
Prius has linited appeal to, and it was very limited in the early days of Prius. Build it and converts will come.
I guess we'll be finding out how 'obsolete' the Prius is becoming (according to some) .... based on sales of the 2010. I really don't think it will fade away. I like my car a lot and the new one is much better.
This may seem like nitpicking, but .... what happens on a plug-in hybrid when one rarely uses gas in the tank? Don't you end up with some pretty stale gasoline after a while? Or do you end up using fuel stabilizer? Or, I suppose plug-in folks end up using gas anyway for the freeway, high-load conditions.
