So...now we finally know what the 2010 Prius looks like, and it comes with a few other choice bits of information. While Toyota wasn't planning to release the final design of the car until the Detroit Auto Show, the pictures leaked last week and were Today confirmed to be pictures of the final design.
The car looks very much like the current Prius, just a little higher in the nose and with less slope on the hood and roof. But the lack of departure isn't much of a surprise. The Prius owns the green idea in America, and Toyota has no interest in confusing that with a radical design change. Of course, with a LOT of new green cars coming onto the road, many of them looking strikingly like the Prius, Toyota might have a bit of a battle holding onto their green mindshare.
Other news includes the possibility of a solar option for the Prius. Toyota has been considering this for ages, but I think panels have finally gotten cheap and durable enough for Toyota to be ready to pull this off. The panels would be built into the roof of the vehicle and send a constant charge into the batteries to increase mileage and charge batteries with the car was parked.
The plug-in option for the Prius looks to still be a ways off, with only 100 planned for production before 2010.
Of course, there might be a lot of secrets in store at the Detroit show, and, of course, higher resolution shots of the car. EcoGeek will, of course, be there to hear what Toyota has to say about the future of the Prius.
Via AutoBlogGreen and Engadget
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written by vito grisanti, October 20, 2008
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written by Karkus, October 20, 2008
It's interesting that the new Insight will look almost identical.
The last I read about the solar panels was that it was to power a fan that would operate when the car is parked in the sun, to keep the car from getting too hot (and thereby reducing the need for AC when you get in).
Solar panels wouln't do much for actually powering the car, even if they covered the entire roof and hood.
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written by Karkus, October 20, 2008
www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/products.shtml
The cost is reasonable ($2-4k after tax incentives?) for the benefit, although it does take away a chunk of storage space, and those lead acid batteries must weight at least a few hundred pounds, taking away a chunk of the energy savings.
However, their 20 mile range seems rather optimistic (as do their assumptions about charging, which would require that it's always summer and you live in Arizona). The Prius has a 1.3 kWhr battery pack, which gets you about 1-2 miles of EV driving (yes, I've confirmed this by running out of gas a couple of times). So let's say 4 miles optimistically with a full battery pack that is allowed to totally discharge.)
The Solar Prius has a 3kWhr pack, which would the give you 4miles*3kWhr/1.3kWhr = 9.2 miles at best.
Still, this seems like a more economical upgrade than the PHEV conversions that cost about 5-10 times as much as this solar conversion.
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written by HankM, October 20, 2008
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written by Al the Eco-Learner, October 20, 2008
The comment by Karkus, above, also suggest the Prius' eco-friendly performance is actually rubbish. So I'll be sticking to buying turbo-diesel cars that can give excellent performance and economy - if driven in the right way! >:( >:(
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written by HankM, October 21, 2008
I can tell you first hand that the Prius averages 50-55 mpg in non-ideal conditions (it's *not* flat here or warm all year round).
Also watch out for these "independent auto analysis groups" - I recall one, which claims that a Hummer is more eco-friendly and economical than a Prius over it's lifetime.
Most of the time these are Prius/hybrid haters or people with an interest in you buying oil based products...
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written by sick of trolls, October 21, 2008
I dont see how marketing a car that gets great gas mileage is a con job, as far as the cars carbon footprint- it may be larger than most vehicles due to its extra batteries- but numerous studies have put a cars total life cycle carbon footprint ratio as ~20% manufacture/ 80% fueling and lubricating. With the Prius using much less fuel than most cars out there- it quickly makes up for the environmental impact of the extra (recylable) batteries. Its not a perfect vehicle-but its better than most.
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written by Karkus, October 21, 2008
The CNW "study" has been WIDELY discredited, as it had many obviously biased assumptions to make the Prius look bad. Like the ridiculously low 100000 mile lifetime of the car, and their "claim" that hybrid used car values are very low, when in fact their resale values are some of the highest in the industry! (Even CNW has revised some of their original assumptions, although they are still way off).
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written by wedding dresses, October 13, 2009
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