

Toyota to Sell All-Electric Car in 2012  - jsm386
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104574652301810464802.html

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houseabsolute
Unless it is very cheap, few people will buy it, it will be a commercial
failure, and there'll be another half-decade of people complaining about GM
killing the electric car before somebody tries again.

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jcnnghm
It depends on the range. Personally, I think the sweet spot is 80 miles of
range with a 8 hour charge. Electric cars should be very cheap to operate. The
volt is expected to cost $32,500 after a federal rebate, which doesn't seem
excessive.

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houseabsolute
Meh? Not excessive? I could buy two Honda Civics for that price, or operate
one for a hundred and sixty thousand miles. Of course, maybe it is a higher
quality car, but it doesn't seem to offer a serious value proposition. It's a
charitable luxury, basically.

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ugh
Huh? What kind of cars do americans buy? My parents aren’t exactly super rich
and they just bough a run of the mill, middle of the line Mercedes for $10,000
more (30,000€).

I know quite a few people who would be comfortable spending that amount of
money on a car. That’s not luxury, that’s a standard car for your middle class
dads and moms in their fifties.

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houseabsolute
Heh, my wife and I bring in a lot more than the average middle class family.
But I still consider $30k a luxury, especially for a car that'll have trouble
getting you from here to sf and back.

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ugh
Well, it depends. Your average European will probably need to travel shorter
distances. 80 miles would probably be enough for my parents for maybe 330 days
in the year. That’s not bad at all. But you are probably right that this pesky
month when you really need to drive farther and really don’t have any time to
wait for the battery to recharge will kill it.

And buying a second car for $30,000 is probably a bit too much. I guess that
all goes to show that some sort of way to just change batteries (and not
charge them when driving long distances) really would be a good idea.

(Psst, we are on the internet. Didn’t know if you noticed. I have no freaking
idea where your “here” is :)

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houseabsolute
Here is Palo Alto. ;)

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jsm386
Some more info:

Toyota, the leader in hybrid car sales, plans to have a battery-powered
compact car called the FT-EV on the market by 2012 - a lightweight four-
seater, modeled on its gasoline-powered iQ, that will have an all-electric
range of 50 miles.

[http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/toyota-to-
build-...](http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/toyota-to-build-all-
electric-car-by-2012-5494/)

