CNN

 

Trying...to...resist...must...not...type...oh forget it.

Brilliant. Toyota will have it in 2.

Sigh. "Yes. Sure." is what you say when someone asks if you want whip on your latte, not what you say when asked if you intend to alter the strategic direction of the car company you run.

In other words, if the technology does not fall out of the sky into my outstretched awaiting arms don't blame me if we don't actaully make any.

Which is another way of saying that this will not happen on my watch so whatever happens will be the next CEO's fault.

Has anyone seen American innovation anywhere? We seemed to have misplaced it.

 

American innovation was most recently sighted when Dick Cheney claimed he didn't have to follow the President's executive order on releasing information from the VP's office because the VP, as everyone knows, is an employee of the legislative branch (via his Pres-of-the-Senate duties) rather than of the executive branch, and thus is not subject to executive orders.

Now *that's* innovation.


--doug

 

I don't know, I think Ford delivering plug-in Escapes by the end of this year, even in low quantities, is pretty encouraging. IMHO, it is more a question of cost than technology.

 

I missed that part - I hope he's right. I do actually hope for the best, even if I am a bit pessimistic.

 

I've even read (either in the same article or related article) that SCE will put 20 of those PHEV FEH in normal everyday user's hands, to get normal everyday data...esp for those who have the special EV electrical metering...yes, SCE have special meter for EV charging...which gives you cheaper rates than normal.

"Bryson said So Cal Ed will make it a "real world" test by giving the Escapes to 20 consumers who have electric "smart meters" to monitor power used to charge the SUVs"


How do I sign up for that special meter?

 

LOL.

Especially when Ford says 5-10 years and I see plug-in Priuses in SoCal right now. Oh look, there goes one driving down Crescent Heights right now.

They're going to innovate something that already exists?

 

Steve,

Is Toyota making those plug in Priuses?

 

No... and actually Toyota is stressed out about what the conversions might due to their liability in crash situations (they've argued to congress in the context of plug-in legislation that any strict liability that they'd normally incur should be borne by the companies doing the modifications.)

But that's not the point. The point is that people with far less resources than Toyota or Ford are making hybrid plug-ins a reality NOW.

The reason Toyota didn't do this in the first place is because when hybrids first came out, the question everyone who didn't know about them wanted to ask had to do with plugging them in. Toyota had done the consumer research to determine that the idea of plugging a car in was an impediment to getting people to accept them. How we wound up where we're at now is understandable.

But to talk about releasing a plug-in as an "innovation" is ludicrous, and that was the only point of what I was saying.

 

Don't forget that Volvo was working on a PHEV when Ford bought them in 1998. Ford promptly scrapped all development on it. And its not just Ford. Its ALL of them, Toyota included. It is really frustrating to have to listen to all of the excuses about why we have to wait ANY length of time for them from any manufacturer. They have the technology. THEY CAN BUILD PHEVs NOW!!