Haakon
has an accommodating arse
Toyota was a key lobbyist in killing off fuel quality standards and co2 regulations for cars in Australia.
Electric Vehicles etc
- Thread starter Cardy George
- Start date
Asininedrivel
caviar connoisseur
I actually like how it looks too but I just don't see how it'll get made looking like that and pass pedestrian impact laws etc. I think it's more of a classic disruptor move, and if you're being cynical a great way to bolster your share price and investment prospects by going "hey look I just released a prototype of this truck thing and I have 3.7 million
Stredda
Runs naked through virgin scrub
I'll be interested in how the production ready truck looks. You never know with Elon, he's good at putting red herrings out there.
The pedestrian impact law is soon negated by the a big F off bullbar straight after buying any ute
Calvin27
Eats Squid
Interesting. On what basis? I would assume it would be based on competitive advantage rather than lack of tech. The only thing I can think of is that it would bring the euro cars operating costs in line with the japs at least from a fuel perspective. Or was this back in the day when we were still producing the camry here - I'd assume in that case Holden and to a lesser extent, ford and mitsu would be in on that game too.
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
Whoops, sorry, my memory being a bit wonky... This was all about 5 years ago. It was mostly the refineries arguing cost issues against aligning our fuel quality standards with the rest of the world... Toyota was officially supportive but not without caveats - basically bringing in Euro 6 was not possible without decent fuel. They supported a co2 standard, but argued for SUVs being considered as LCV with a different standard.
Calvin27
Eats Squid
I'm gonna have an interesting chat to the policy guy I know at Toyota lols.
droenn
Fat Man's XC President
So you're saying I should buy a hybrid?
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
haha. you'll be pleased to hear its not even remotely my area... now trying to remember why i remembered toyota as being annoying, probably their anti EV stance for years. And that they had supported trumps efforts to bar california wanting to retain obama era emissions standards https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-emissions-idUSKBN2A21E4
Calvin27
Eats Squid
Probably adversarial to the european diesels. I recall they had a very different trajectory to other makes and now it looks like they had the right idea.
Toyota: ditch diesels (at least for small cars), bank on hybrid transition and skip EVs in favor of hydrogen.
Euros: Diesel powarrrhhhhh
Americans: EV for life, but couldn't get it done themselves, and in true capitalist spirit, decided to throw tonnes of money at a new startup. In fairness though, they have had their fair share of non-starts.
Japanese: We will just let Toyota buy a piece of us and give us free tech.
At the time I recall folks thought hybrids were unnecessarily complicated and unreliable compared to small capacity turbo diesels. No doubt the oil lobby did it's thing in Europe. The japs however seem to be a bit more impervious to this approach as I guess hybrids extend a lifeline to the oil industry for the medium term.
Asininedrivel
caviar connoisseur
Honda: Hyrdogen will saaaaave us al....okay, fine, f*** it. EVs it is.
Speaking of Hydrogen, 2021 Toyota Mirai anyone? RWD too...
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
I remember thinking the same thing about the early Prius tech. Turned out to be their most reliable drivetrain ever - leverages all the advantages of EVs basically. All the complexity is in non moving electronics, the mechanical parts are super simple.
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
Looks nice, but slow and expensive and no where to put very expensive "fuel" in it. Pass.
gippyz
Likes Dirt
We have electric boats now.. not just cars!
The fishermen swapping petrol for electricity
Fishermen on Lake Victoria in Kenya have begun using some of Africa’s first electric fishing boats.
www.bbc.com
Calvin27
Eats Squid
The thing weighs like 2 tonne! What is so heavy about a hydrogen car? I have no idea about hydrogen tech lol.
Same I thought it was dumb to do hybrids - might as well go to full EV. But now they are dominating and looks like the gas prices have even pushed the taxis to pick up hybrids which improves the serviceability of these things.
silentbutdeadly
has some good things to say
The new Porsche Taycan EV weighs 2.3 tonne...
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
Hydrogen cars are electric cars. But with a medium battery instead of a big one, plus a fuel cell (expensive and heavy) and fuel tanks that mean they’re a packaging disaster.
Back in the days when battery took a long time to charge maybe they had an advantage, but those days are past.
silentbutdeadly
has some good things to say
Which implies that cars designed to look like ICE powered cars whilst being propelled by something else are...stupid. Or inefficient. Or both.
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
Calvin27
Eats Squid
You'd think Tesla would have challenged this. But then again Model X isn't exactly pretty.
I suspect a lot of it is legacy parts and manufacturing. wheels, brakes, suspension design, seats and all that must have gotten so streamlined design that it's hard to redesign without appearing way inferior.
Haakon
has an accommodating arse
To be fair, there have been plenty of ICE cars that challenge the “normal” looks. The original Renault espace is a good example of a successful alternative packaging.