Featured Threads Archive

The good news is that it's in Maine The bad news is that it's it in Maine, as they have an anti-mining law.
Staggering $1.5 billion lithium deposit discovered near Newry; excavating it poses a challenge (msn.com)

Toyota to Collaborate with Redwood Materials on a Sustainable, Closed-Loop Electrified Vehicle Battery Ecosystem - Toyota USA Newsroom

Toyota is promoting a closed loop system with their new TBMNC (Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina) manufacturing plant so even the anode and cathode materials are recoverable from spend battery cells.

Smart considering most of the materials are expensive and some are even ethically challenging. I’d wager that most new batteries will be manufactured with increasing amounts of recycled materials. Redwood Materials recycles about 6 GWh of spent battery cells annually.


iPad ? Pro

So $38K for 226 mile range top of the line Leaf
$51k for BZ4x. I know one is a mid sized SUB and one is a hatchback…. So depending on creature comforts and cargo area….oh and the leaf is Not off road. BZ4x is….. $12k price difference will go a long way….. towards a model Y 7 passenger for the wife…. what do you all think?

Toyota Statement on Customer Tax Credits for Battery Electric Vehicles - Toyota USA Newsroom

Nothing else needs to be said.

In an effort reminiscent of the best of the Dust-To-Dust gang, author Ronald Stein talks about why electric vehicles are too filthy for any self respecting person to drive. He makes some good points, even if you should disagree with his conclusions.

And from the depths of the Toyota Europe Design Development center (in Nice, France no less) comes a 4runner/FJ Cruiser inspired small SUV style EV. Looks kind of practical to boot.

Toyota wins 2022 Car Design Award for Concept Vehicles with Compact Cruiser EV

Won the Car Design Award for Concept Vehicles, but did it win any consideration from upper brass?

Announcement from The white house - They want to build out half a million public car charging stations.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/09/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-proposes-new-standards-for-national-electric-vehicle-charging-network/

https://electrek.co/2022/06/06/qiantu-k20-two-seat-electric-car/


A couple of things

A: That 300 mile range might be NEDC which is really optimistic (think pre-2006 EPA).
B: It's pronouced "Chi-Anne Tu". I know we tend to have issues with Q and Z sounding Chinese words. (which Google Translate says it means "Future")

Just when you thought it was safe to look at Toyota news without hydrogen headlines comes this:

Toyota and Woven Planet Have Developed a New Portable Hydrogen Cartridge Prototype | Corporate | Global Newsroom | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website

They are making a portable 5 kg container for storing hydrogen, like a gas can. Fear not they still haven’t solved the CSD (compression/storage/dispensing at the point-of-sale) costs/complexity issues so hydrogen will still be a niche fuel.

Cool idea though. Imagine throwing one of these in your Mirai for emergency fuel. Or for an emergency generator source as well as maybe even a heat source. I’m sure they are trying to make hydrogen a (more) popular fuel for everything.


iPad ? Pro

Toyota Releases Storage Battery System for Residential Use Based on Electrified Vehicle Battery Technology | Corporate | Global Newsroom | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website

Toyota has introduced the O-Uchi Kyuden System, home battery storage system.

Summary:

Capacity: 8.7 kWh
Output: 5.5 kW

Weird they are now competing for their own batteries for cars. Really weird that pack is almost equal to the Prius Prime.

Edited to fix the output power from their text. They fixed it in Specifications.

iPad ? Pro

Fire jokes aside, I like the pricing.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/2023-chevy-bolt-is-now-the-cheapest-ev-with-26595-base-price

The Detroit Free Press quoted Ford CEO Farley as saying future electric vehicle sales would be 100% online.

That sounds like a pretty big shot against their dealer network.

But what about test drives?

The freep link is paywalled, but here's a tweet.

Man these sales releases are getting worse and worse; they're so brief. Like they're trying to hide something.


Anyway, 30% of Toyota May sales in Canada are hybrids or PHEVs.

In Back to the Future taught us anything, it was the incredible energy carried by a lightning bolt. However, when lightning hits a car in the real world, you don't time travel from 1955 to 1985. Instead, the immense amount of electricity fries your vehicle's electronics. For an example, watch this video.
Video Captures Moment A Toyota Prius Is Struck By Lightning

Nissan Sakura Is a Cute $14,000 Electric Runabout for Japan

From the article.

"After 21 years and four generations, the Toyota Prius hybrid hatchback has been axed from Australian showrooms.

Drive understands no new examples will be imported, and fewer than 10 remain in the national dealer network.

Toyota did not provide a reason for the decision, however poor sales appears to have forced its hand."


Source
Toyota Prius axed in Australia after 21 years - Drive

Lexus engineering boss: 800-volt system done, electric is the future

This recent 4 min video indicates 5th generation Prius with either traditional hybrid and/or hydrogen. I'm unable to tell from listening around the 1 min mark several times. Also, I'm not sure this will be for the USA/Canada market.

Wolfspeed opens world’s largest 200mm Silicon Carbide fab - Green Car Congress

They even had a Lucid EV be the ribbon cutter. So not all is bad news on chip front.


iPad ? Pro

As part of the new federal budget, Canada has extended/adjusted the federal Incentive for Zero Emissions Vehicles. The amount have not changed ($5,000 for EVs, and $2,500 for PHEV with lesser EV capability), however the rules of how they qualify have changed a bit.

In summary, now they will measure based on All Electric Range (>50km) rather than battery size (>15kWh) as it was previously, to determine whether the vehicle is entitled to the full or partial incentive. As a result, this upgraded the incentive for a couple existing PHEV SUVs. As always, provincial incentives layer on top of this, if available.

https://tc.canada.ca/en/road-transportation/innovative-technologies/zero-emission-vehicles/list-eligible-vehicles-under-izev-program

Some potential good news could be that although the current Prius Prime is rated in Canada for...