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Prius: "Well kids, your mother and I need to talk to you…"
Toyota's fuel-thrifty Prius family may decrease as the automaker ponders strategy

Toyota axes Scion

Toyota Gives Scion Brand the Axe

2MTs:

France to pave 1000km of roads with solar panels : TreeHugger

After Years Of Passive Aggressive Contempt, German Companies Now Trying To Take Credit For Tesla's Success −...

The January Dashboard is available: January 2016 Dashboard

But due to an unfortunate hardware failure (cooling fan wore out,) the summaries will take a couple of days. It also gives me time to rework the spreadsheet:

	Model	16_01	15_12	15_11	15_10
1	Prius Liftback	6333	10153	8287	9611
2	Ram Pickup Diesel	3193	4531	3848	4283
3	RAV4	1973	1430	64
4	Prius c	1763	2861	2601	3373
5	Fusion Hybrid	1373	1960	1388	2050
6	Model S	1300		3100	2100
7	Camry Hybrid	1256	1861	1964	2545
8	Prius v (lowercase v)	1205	2040	1643	2128
9	Volt	996	2114	1980	2035
10	Sonata	964	1138	931	1342
11	RX 400 / 450 h	790	1493	958	514
12	Leaf	755	1347	1054	1238
13	C-Max Hybrid	637	837	815	912
14	CT200h	622	1464	984	1077
15	ES Hybrid	622	1443	833	895
16	Avalon Hybrid	583	933	798	993
17	Fusion Energi	581	1058	944	849
18	MKZ	491	867	676	646
19	Optima Hybrid	469	870	844	1262
20	Model X	400	177	15	10
21	Highlander Hybrid	375	516	318	375
22	Range Rover	366	387	283
23	C-Max Energi	350	579	639	695...

Bob Wilson

**Mod Note - 3 threads about this all merged into this one, the first one posted **



Should I sell my c now?

Source: Kia's Telluride Concept Merges Great Looks With New-Age Horseshit


Jason Torchinsky is rapidly becoming my favorite auto-reporter. He had the good sense to record on cell-phone video, a maximum acceleration test of the 2016 Prius at the November 8 event. A brilliant hack, it remains one of the earliest, 3d party, hard data points we've gotten about the 2016 Prius.

Bob Wilson

Pretty interesting, and not surprising to most folks on this site that hybrids will save on gas and need less repairs than most gas only cars.

Now I wonder if they'll also use plug-in hybrids to lower costs even further.

Hybrid Police Cars Replacing Crown Vics: No Longer An Anomaly

Neat!

On this week's show:

• Douchebag is douchey
  First used Tesla Model X offered with an $80k markup
• This just reeks of pump and dump to me
  EV automaker Mullen Tech makes 2 new hires | Autoremarketing
  and their main site:
  Mullen Technologies, Inc.
• Why does every FCV cost $500 a month?
  Honda Clarity proves hydrogen future always costs $500/month
• Trouble in Apple car paradise
  Apple car 'Project Titan' faces team hiring freeze
• Chief of Titan leaving Apple
  Charged EVs | Apple...

Part of Ward's Automotive, these folks in the past tried to push "clean diesels" over hybrids and plug-ins. But VW shut that down. Now these hybrid skeptics seem to have 'gotten religion' which is why this podcast / video is important:



Sorry, no transcript. It starts out slow but as they talk, you can see the cogs in their minds turning to a new paradyne. For example, the 'no car days' because of NOx finally made them realize there is a harm to not only diesel but conventional cars too. Towards the end, they also realized the importance of the Pacifica, the first North American, hybrid miniVan.

Bob Wilson

In the news, regarding lithium-ion battery performance in the cold, quickly heating them:

Battery for electric cars self-heats when it's freezing - Futurity

The VW saga continues… California rejects proposed “solution” http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101854_california-rejects-vw-diesel-fix-plan-gaps-lacks-detail?fbfanpage Honda and GM to fuel cell plants http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101933_honda-gm-to-build-factory-for-fuel-cell-production-by-2025 An unanswerable but very important question, why is oil so cheap? http://ourfiniteworld.com/2016/01/19/why-oil-under-30-per-barrel-is-a-major-problem/

Read more about this episode on WhatDrives.Us

A silver lining in every dark cloud?

Story is short and please listen to the very end for the hybrid part:
Truck Sale Profits Help Automakers Develop Future Technologies : NPR

Edit: transcript has been posted

There's some stir in the news on this. Just one link, there's quite a few.

Cobalt mined with child labour used by Apple, Samsung, Sony & others, Amnesty International says - Business - CBC News

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I need to share the new Toyota Prius ad that is embarrassingly Japanese... Toyota humanized each parts of new Prius into anime girls. Cannot believe Toyota did this.



http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1601/18/news124.html

Ever burnt a piece of steel wool? And more slowly, rusting, oxidation, is a slow variation of the same process. Here's a CBC Quirks and Quarks podcast on using iron as alternate fuel:

Alternative Energy Enters the Iron Age - Home | Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald | CBC Radio

Our man, Mark, talks to Chevy about the Bolt battery.

Read more about this episode on WhatDrives.Us

This week we dedicate the entire show to a discussion about the Detroit Auto Show, more formally known as the North American International Auto Show or NAIAS. Detroit is the big one and that's why we were very happy when one of our own, Mark Coughlan, could attend and give us a view from inside the first press day. We talk about the Chevy Bolt, Tesla, the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan, and much more. Join us for a solid hour of new cars, concept cars, things that make sense and things that don't.

Read more about this episode on WhatDrives.Us

Ouch, this isn't boding too well for the Mirai. Thoughts on this?

Toyota To Select Dealers: Stop Delivering The Mirai, There Is No Where To Refuel - Inside EVs

Lentz Tells Some Dealers Don’t Deliver Mirai | Alternative (EVs, HEVs, FCVs) content from WardsAuto

Carlos Ghosn: Fiat Taking Risky Stand On EVs, Fight Is On Against Chevy Bolt - Inside EVs
Looks like its 60kwh just like the bolt. I think this spells slow sales for the leaf, even at 30kwh, people are going to wait for the IDS concept.

An Exclusive Look Behind the Scenes of a Record-Setting Cross-Country Tesla Drive - The Drive

With Video - showing a significant part completed on auto pilot as driver watches cat videos on the web
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