Toyota unveils plug-in hybrid, to test on roads

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 05 Dec 2007, 10:21

kenneal wrote:A large ego should attract a very high tax. Hundreds of pounds are not enough

May I gently tease and suggest that men with expensive wives should be taxed also?

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 05 Dec 2007, 10:32

Your being naive.

Fiat Doblo 1.3 TD 85bhp Family

7 seats,
Luggage capacity (rear seats up): 750 litres
Luggage capacity (rear seats folded): 3,000 litres
Kerb weight: 1,220kg ? 1,400kg
Maximum braked trailer weight: 1,100kg

51 mpg (UK).

Not quite as good off road and a lower towing limit, but more than double
the MPG.

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 05 Dec 2007, 10:40

clv101 wrote:
We're saved!! 2008 Green Car of the Year. Meet the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, it gets a whole 21mpg (US).

I know you're taking the mickey a little but to the yanks this is a real step forward. The yanks absolutely don't want to give up their huge cars.
If they can hold onto their big cars they will, so for them, they want to believe the hype.

Personally speaking I don't think they're too far away in all honesty.
If the new batteries were improved by a factor of say 2-4 times with regards to energy density and halved in price then I don't see any reason why the yanks can't have their big trucks in a plug-in hybrid format.

They have a lot more spare off-peak capacity in their grid than we do and they have tons more land on which to put windmills. Not to mention a gazillion years worth of coal which is what they are most likely to use to fuel the power stations for these things.

Over here I think we have our heads stuck in the sand because we have diesels and diesels compare favourably to non-plug-in hybrids so why would anybody right now bother with a hybrid over here.

This may be our achilles heel and the irony is while we can feel smug right now we might be eating humble pie in a decade when the profligate yanks are still running around in their massive trucks and we have no vehicles to speak of due to there being no north sea oil and nobody will sell us any due to declining export supplies, a failing electrical grid and freezing our bums off in the winter due to the russians denying us oil.