
Toyota's anti-EV ads aren't just deceptive, they also push science illiteracy - evo_9
https://electrek.co/2019/06/18/toyota-push-science-illiteracy-deceptive-anti-ev-ads/
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Someone1234
This is not a good article.

\- It does not contain the actual ad (only quotes: “self-charging” “hybrid
electric Corolla”). Unless the article it links contains the ad, in which case
why is this a duplicate of that article?

\- Most of it is just attacking hybrids and talking about why EV is superior
(which isn't relevant to Toyota's ad, the supposed topic of the article).
Spending half the article reminding us that a gas hybrid electric uses gas
isn't constructive/informative/helpful.

\- Continues this trend of using the Prius's sales figures to show EV's
superiority. While ignoring that Toyota themselves expanded hybrids to well
beyond the Prius product line: Hybrid Rav4, Hybrid Highlander, Hybrid Corolla,
Hybrid Camry, Hybrid Avalon, Hybrid Mirai. None of which are a "Prius." It
also ignores that the car industry has also adopted hybrid technology,
providing much greater competition in the space (and the shift from small
vehicles like the Prius to SUVs, which are also now available as hybrids, even
up to Hybrid Minivans and soon Trucks).

\- Toyota has been pushing hybrid vehicles longer and further than anyone
else. These vehicles have had a positive environmental impact (higher MpG,
lower emissions, etc). This results in lower gas consumption.

"electrek" has always been an unapologetic Tesla advertising/propaganda wing.
I don't know why people post it here. The actual quality of writing, research,
and journalistic integrity remains extremely low.

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celerrimus
True. This article is pure BS. Even in US where only 18% of electric energy is
renewable (plus some from nuclear energy), emissions results from EV are not
so impressive.

In average country, new generation of hybrid cars from Toyota may be much more
effective in terms of CO2 and other harmful emissions, compared to pure
electric vehicles.

And all inconveniences of EVs, like lack of charging stations, limited range,
long charging time, are basically gone.

Sure, future will be electric, but not with current mix of power generation
and state of energy storage.

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dingaling
> Using the word “electric” in the description of a vehicle that doesn’t have
> a plug is deceptive.

Not really, we've had diesel-electric railway locomotives for over a century
and no-one confuses them with electric locos.

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RickJWagner
Given that Toyota produces the Prius (and has for many years) I think the
criticism of Toyota is a bit over the top.

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madengr
Why is Toyota so far behind the other manufacturers, despite having a initial
lead in hybrids? Were they just betting that EVs would flop? Even Honda, which
is a hold-out, has the Clarity which is a nice car (we have a Clarity and
Leaf).

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Danieru
Toyota, and several other manufacturers, have focused on hydrogen. It seemed
as the perfect solution by offerings similar car cost and ranges. Prior to
Tesla making even high end electric cars was theoretical. Even now battery
powered cars do not have an obvious path to hitting 15k USD and 600km range.
The weight to battery ratio is improving bit by bit, but not as fast as cost
is improving.

Personaly the chance to charge at home means I would be willing to trade off
range and cost for the lower running cost.

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xbmcuser
Looking at driving patterns 600km range is required for a very small subset of
cars. Most people drive to work in the morning park their cars for 7-8 hours
then drive home or where ever. Cities should be providing car chargers at
places where people park their cars at work which is the same period of large
solar production and commercially in some cities is selling at zero or
negative. At home night charging should be actually discouraged in favor of
day time at work charging.

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dsfyu404ed
This behavior isn't surprising, Toyota has been coasting on consumer
perception they built up in the '90s and early '00s for a long time now. Since
consumer perception tends to lag reality by a decade or so and the car
industry is more of a boogeyman than a subject of interest to most of HN it's
not surprising that this behavior is unexpected to a good chunk of HN.

