Toyota already said it was around the corner in 2017[0]. Now it's 2023 and it's still around the corner. I'll believe it when I see it.
[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bertelschmitt/2017/07/25/ultraf...
[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bertelschmitt/2017/07/25/ultraf...
Well, it's six years now, but that doesn't seem that much of a delay?
https://youtu.be/xvacBzZtYag?t=1m3s
There's just too much Bannon-esque "flooding the zone" these days...
And now, we wait for the entirely justified downvotes (though, this thread being so AG-ED* at this point, more likely I'm just talking to myself. Again...)
Getting an EV with 200 miles that effectively is 120 is a joke. I couldn't even drive to and from work comfortably with that.
For most people who commute that far, their "choice" is not being able to afford rent anywhere closer where it's sufficiently safe and schools are sufficiently good.
It's also a catch-22 because even if those people could live closer to work, they would then need to park on the street, which would make the range just as -- if not more -- important.
I’m sorry to tell you, only crazy outliers commute 100+ miles roundtrip to work (feel free to prove me wrong with real data) so current gen EVs are just fine in range for mainstream[1]. Just as some people NEED a snowplow attachment on their car because they live on a 5 mile driveway in the mountains, or NEED a v12 engine to pull a 20 ton RV, you will always have special needs with that commute.
But!! As far as Americans tending to absolutely obsess about range you’re right. Even dozens of non-outliers I’ve heard worrying themselves sick about “what if they do that road-trip they’ve been meaning to do.” And in a country where suburbanites buy $90,000 pickups and never even get the bed dirty with any kind of cargo, people will be buying vehicles with odd priorities in mind like the once-yearly road-trip.
[1] they’re not fine in infrastructure though since owning one without at least some home garage charger is certainly worse, and tens of millions of Americans live in apartments with garages and carports not even remotely equipped for even a handful of residents to electrify, and others just have to find a spot on the street. This is the thing really capping adoption today.
And yet in lots of places we are 30% of total market and its growing.
Mileage isn't actually that important because most people don't actually need it very much.
Yes, if Tesla had some uber mileage car that would be nice, but that's not actually where the main market competition and limits are.
All other times the car is sitting and charging while I'm doing non-driving things anyway.
I wish this was a stupid meme, but apparently this is more reality than meme.
[1]: https://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=22960448&cid=6...
If Tesla can work that way, why can't Toyota?
I was looking at plug-in hybrids and ran across a reference to people having to wait 2 years for a RAV4 Prime.
One of those "corners" that are more like a telephone pole that we keep going around.