Extra range on demand - swappable packs? Rental credits?

[MrH]

So the answer is facebook groups?

[Morris Minor]

?! Hybrids, especially Priuses, were mocked endlessly by the Limbaugh set as effete liberullll fashion accessories. The second gen Prius was one of the best cars ever built, with sky high build quality and the lowest cost of ownership of any car on sale at the time. But everybody just made fun of its fans and derided the cars as tools of virtue signaling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecnS1Ygf0o0

That was such a good episode. Thaaankks!

[CaminoRacer]

Rush has been dead for a few years now   Where are you actually finding and talking with these conservatives?

That's the era they are talking about, doesn't matter if he's dead now.

[Morris Minor]

I had a Gen 3 Prius at one stage. Bought it used. It needed some love: main issue issue oddly enough was that the cabin air filter was completely clogged. But it turned out to be BY FAR the best commuter vehicle I've ever had. Perfect for suburbs-to-city & back driving.

[GoCougs]

Exactly. The Volt was an excellent car, but the right wing freaked out and called it an "Obama car" (even though development was started in 2006) and the oil companies slagged it every chance they got in the media. And now those same people are crying that a PHEV like that would be the ideal car and EVs are the new bogeyman.

The Volt was an excellent car, but nobody bought it because it was a Chevy (just as nobody bought the first gen Ford Fusion hybrid (which was just as good as the Toyota hybrids since it used the same hybrid tech)), not because of some sort of smear campaign.

To an extent the same happened to the Bolt. The Bolt beat the Model 3 to market, was ~20% less expensive, was vastly better built and was a match in range (to the base Model 3) yet at best sold only in token amounts. It's done better since and otherwise thus far has shirked the Volt curse, but still, if WtP bought on quality and value, the Bolt would be selling 10x that of the Model 3. But we don't because the whole hybrid/EV/PHEV/whatever is emotional and social, not factual, for most buyers.

[r0tor]

If you got a new Prius Prime and commuted 20 miles roundtrip for the life of the car, you would basically never burn any gas. The fuel bill would disappear. Charging 12kWh is a dollar where I live.

You would only burn ~0.3 gallons in that trip in a normal Prius.  So basically a zero net gain.

[Laconian]

I agree that compared to the vanilla Prius the economic case is weaker, but a breakeven point does exist. The cost per mile of the Prius hybrid is 7.4 cents (@ $4.50/gal). The cost per mile of the '23 Prius Prime is 4.9 cents (@ $0.13/kWh - almost the same as gas!). The marginal difference given these assumptions is 2.5c/gal / 40% reduced energy costs. Assuming that the Prime is being driven on battery as much as possible, the breakeven for a +$2k premium is 80k miles. At 3k, it's 120k miles. Of course the picture gets better if gas costs more.

Even if the breakeven point isn't fully realized, the owners will enjoy a big boost in refinement, quietness, and performance thanks to the beefy electric drivetrain, available at a pretty modest price premium. People shell out more money for lesser performance modifications on their cars all the time.

[Laconian]

The Volt was an excellent car, but nobody bought it because it was a Chevy (just as nobody bought the first gen Ford Fusion hybrid (which was just as good as the Toyota hybrids since it used the same hybrid tech)), not because of some sort of smear campaign.

To an extent the same happened to the Bolt. The Bolt beat the Model 3 to market, was ~20% less expensive, was vastly better built and was a match in range (to the base Model 3) yet at best sold only in token amounts. It's done better since and otherwise thus far has shirked the Volt curse, but still, if WtP bought on quality and value, the Bolt would be selling 10x that of the Model 3. But we don't because the whole hybrid/EV/PHEV/whatever is emotional and social, not factual, for most buyers.

Actually every Bolt is spoken for. The waiting list for it, especially the Bolt EUV, is quite long. The waitlist is about two to three months. I think it's just that Chevrolet can't produce their car in the same quantities that Tesla can.

[AutobahnSHO]

Actually every Bolt is spoken for. The waiting list for it, especially the Bolt EUV, is quite long. The waitlist is about two to three months. I think it's just that Chevrolet can't produce their car in the same quantities that Tesla can.

They "Could" build many more electric cars- but they (and other manufacturers) are putting effort into the biggest profit makers.

[CaminoRacer]

They "Could" build many more electric cars- but they (and other manufacturers) are putting effort into the biggest profit makers.

Also I think they were prioritizing Ultium batteries and upcoming vehicles instead of the Bolt, which will be dead after ~2025. They haven't increased production capacity much.

[Morris Minor]

I think they want to prioritize the bigger higher margin models to fund rolling out the mid-market everyman models. They've got to get the margins.

[GoCougs]

Actually every Bolt is spoken for. The waiting list for it, especially the Bolt EUV, is quite long. The waitlist is about two to three months. I think it's just that Chevrolet can't produce their car in the same quantities that Tesla can.

Now, only some 6 years later, but when the Bolt debuted it was less than a dead cat bounce as WtP were awaiting the years-delayed Model 3 (which debuted ~6 months after the Bolt).

[Laconian]

I think it's more about the EUV hitting all the high notes for American tastes.