Posted on 12/07/2023 7:45:05 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The battle between electric vehicles and hybrids has taken a new turn reportedly, with Elon Musk of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) advocating for an electric future, while Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) revives its focus on hybrids.
Musk, aiming to surpass Toyota as the top automaker by 2030, faces a challenge as U.S. EV sales growth slows and hybrids gain new popularity, according to a news report by The Wall Street Journal.
This shift has been attributed to the recent success of Toyota and Lexus in the hybrid market.
"The buzz of electrification in the industry has somewhat mainstreamed hybrids," David Christ, the head of the Toyota brand in North America, said during an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "It's really had an awakening."
Hybrids offer a cost-effective alternative to all-electric vehicles, providing the benefits of electrification without the need for charging infrastructure. Toyota, a pioneer in hybrid technology with the release of its Prius sedan more than 20 years ago, is witnessing a resurgence in hybrid sales, countering the previous year's slump and challenging the narrative that EVs are the sole future of transportation.
Despite Tesla's notable 26% increase in all-electric vehicle sales, according to data firm Motor Intelligence, Toyota's broad range of electrified options, including hybrids, has seen a 20% increase in deliveries this year.
Toyota's strategy, which includes both hybrids and EVs, responds to diverse consumer needs, a viewpoint initially resisted by investors but is now gaining recognition
Toyota's commitment to this approach is exemplified by its announcement that the next-generation Toyota Camry in the U.S. will be exclusively hybrid.
This decision follows customer preferences, with hybrids often outselling their internal combustion counterparts in recent years. Toyota's ability to improve the cost and performance of hybrids has made them an increasingly attractive option for consumers.
Hybrids make so much more sense. You’ve got the gasoline engine for quick refueling and long-distance trips. You’ve got the electric motors for in-town driving where low pollution and quietness are important. You’ve got regenerative braking capturing kinetic energy in town for high fuel economy in frequent stop and go driving regimes. And finally you’ve got the gasoline engine to power the car and recharge the batteries when they are exhausted.
I find it ironic that the hybrid cars use a fossil fuel engine to backup the electric motor plant, just like you need fossil fuel engines to backup wind and solar when they don’t work. Everything depends on fossil fuel engine backup!
My thoughts exactly. Well stated.
Even though we like our EV enough to do most of our driving (26K miles in the past 12 months), I wouldn't have gotten one unless I was married and needed two cars anyway so that the 2nd car (a pickup) can be ICE for the times an EV won't do. Even if someone is in a similar situation as me, a hybrid would be better than an EV unless you drive it at least 16K or so miles per year (EV's are cheaper to drive per mile than hybrids, but hybrids are cheap enough to so that you the threshold for miles driven to be worth the EV is a bit high.) Those numbers are based on my Alabama gasoline and power prices.
Even with all of that working in my favor I was thiiisssss close to replacing my wife's old ICE car with a hybrid instead of an EV.
A Toyota hybrid cost much less, is more reliable, is easier to get parts for, can function when there is an electrical blackout, and gets excellent mileage.
When Tesla gets something in the $25K range (still too much for any vehicle short of a big rig or F1 car in my chap-ass opinion) I might give a fig.
I’d have to agree. And now that the early adopters have had their say, I expect BEV sales to taper off, in the coming recession especially. Hybrids seem to have proven themselves for a fairly sizable market. EVs seem like they’re primarily good for an urban niche only, as the size and cost of the infrastructure build-out needed for the net zero fantasy begins to sink in.
We recently rented a Toyota Sienna hybrid for a vacation. It got 36MPG.
Unfortunately, hybrids do not last as long as ICE cars and cost more to maintain, so the logical tack is to lease.
+1 for hybrids over EVs. Right now the Camry LE Hybrid is priced around $30K, and the higher end XLE Hybrid is priced at $34K.
In other news Car & Driver did a road test of a non-hybrid 2024 Camry SE 4-cyl. They got 45mpg on the highway, and I believe their highway test involves driving around 75mph. IMO the regular ICE 4-cyl Camry is the real bargain.
Two power sources take a lot more engineering and a many more points of failure It sounds good but it does mean more and unnecessary expense. Ice cars are very reliable and would be even more so without massive list of Government regulations from bumper to bumper.
Tesla owns the EV market.
Toyota owns the Hybrid market.
All others are just wana-be.
This EV push is going to destroy what little remains of Detroit.
I am hearing stories of lots of white collar layoffs in Detroit.
Except ICE engines are more efficient and dependable. If you believe the Climate Scam then hybrids make sense.
ICE cars are freedom machines. All others are restrictions on personal liberty to varying degrees. Rational, freedom loving people drive ICE vehicles.
My 2021 bottom of the line Corolla gets 26. Predicated reliability is extremely high. Boring car, but $23K out the door new, does the job.
I call her “TWMBC” The World’s Most Boring Car”, but in a Good Way; having had higher performance big blocks and German cars, reliability is the ultimate feature, at least for me.
I saw somewhere that Ford cut their ICE engineering team. Then the EV’s sales completely collapsed. Now they are scrambling.
“...as the size and cost of the infrastructure build-out needed for the net zero fantasy begins to sink in.”
One thing that is always ignored is the cost of totally replacing the secondary electrical distribution system to support EVs. Your neighborhood transformer serves about ten houses. It was designed for an era with far lower average household electrical loads. The system can handle all the electronics, computers, phones, tablets, appliances, etc because those are small loads. But it cannot handle very many EV chargers. The typical existing distribution system can handle only FOUR EVs being charged at night.
So the charger infrastructure is the first major limit. The “green” power generation system is the second limit. And the secondary distribution system is a third limit.
I agree that hauling around all that weight of an ICE, electric motors, a heavier power transmission and distribution system, and batteries doesn’t seem to make much sense on paper.
But if we have to appease the insane green zealots and government kooks, then hybrid make a lot more sense that all EV. It’s a compromise with the tyrannical dictators.
I really didn’t think the Toyota hybrid drivetrain would pan out when it was first introduced for the reasons you listed. But it’s been a huge success.
For the foreseeable future, both are correct.
UAW plagued GM, Ford and Stellates are doomed to reduced market share.
Us gas only drivers rooting for the hybrid Toyota Prius to save our gasoline supply from being taken off the market.
Go Toyota Prius.
That’s what we did. We replaced both cars with new ICE cars that we intend to keep, think Cuba
Well and succinctly stated.
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