Toyota to Sell Plug-In Hybrid in 2011

Toyota Motor said Monday that it planned a widespread release of its plug-in hybrid car in 2011 as the company scrambled to gain the upper hand in an increasingly crowded battle over next-generation “green” technology.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, dominates the current generation of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, but it has refrained from rushing lower-emission cars like the plug-in hybrid to market. Instead, Toyota has focused on plans to introduce regular hybrid technology to all its models by 2020.

But Toyota’s rivals are surging ahead. General Motors plans to build as many as 60,000 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids a year, starting in late 2010.

Other automakers, including Ford and Volkswagen, have announced their own plug-in models, and Nissan plans to mass-produce a fully electric car in 2010. Toyota is now increasing its pace. “Several tens of thousands” of the plug-in version of its Prius hybrid will go on sale in 2011, the automaker said Monday. A small number of the plug-in models will be available for lease later this month as planned, but those will be limited to government and corporate clients in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s executive vice president, said in Tokyo that the company was waiting until 2011 to begin sales so it could hear feedback from users during the leasing period. The plug-ins would carry an “affordable” price tag, he said, without giving an estimate. Prices for a regular Prius hybrid with no plug-in function start at $22,400 in the United States.

Either way, people in liberal college towns and on the coasts seeking to assuage their green guilt will rush into these vehicles. . . further reducing the demand for gas and oil. The result will likely be what always follows a drop in demand for an infrastructure-intensive commodity; a sharp reduction in price as facility owners scramble to keep their share of whatever market remains.

In other words, I expect the price of electricity, natural gas and coal to go up while oil and gasoline fall.

I’m keeping my Suburban.

A recently built McDonald’s in the area has at least one parking space for plug-in cars, complete w/ an outlet.

It also has LED lighting and ‘light tubes’ to capture ambient light.

I suspect there will be those power co. gizmos that will kill power to the garage outlet during peak daytime hours.
The little boxes that shut off your home AC during peak demand.

"We’re going to have to burn ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF COAL to juice up all of those ELECTRIC cars. "

Well, obamalamadingdong has already stated that under his plan "..energy rates will necessarily double.", so the question is, IF we are stupid enough to buy one of these oversized golf carts, can we even afford to recharge them?

I'm thinking there will be a lot of opportunities to make some money, like, I think I'll buy me a large truck with a huge generator on the back, and just cruise the interstates in the mornings recharging stalled motorists' batteries for $100 bucks a pop. I mean, what the heck, they can afford it, they're going to save plenty of money on oil then, right?

I can hear the call ins now, "Yeah, boss...I'm going to be about an hour late this morning, my batteries are dead again. Must be a cell, but there are so many I don't know which one."

Jumper Cables will cease to exist because no one is going to discharge their own $1,000 batteries to charge you up, even if that would work...which I don't think it will. You'll be standing beside your new toy on the expresway hold up a sign that says, "But...but...but...I'm GREEN."

There will be radio station contests, giving away "1-hour Free Charge Time if you can name the song we just played.".

Dozens of people hanging around "charging station waiting rooms" for hours at a time, reading 2-year-old Better Homes and Gardens and watching Oprah on a B&W TV in the lobby for a few hours while they get their "Volts" re-juiced. The soda machine is all "sold out" and the scattered newspaper sections are last Thursday's.

Oh, it's going to be a sweet Utopia these libs are carving out for us, they'll drive by in their gas guzzling limos and gaze upon how the rest of us live, quietly shake their heads and go "tsk,tsk,tsk".

Yeah, obamalamadingdong said he was going to "fundamentally change" America...looks like he's headed that way.

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