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Jun 03, 2023

Toyota sees 2023 Prius Prime and RAV4 Prime as practical EV solution.

2023 Toyota Prius Prime. Toyota says the world isn’t ready for pure electric

2023 Toyota Prius Prime.

Toyota says the world isn't ready for pure electric vehicles.

That premise is behind its push for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Most notably, the Prius Prime and and RAV4 Prime.

PHEVs have a backup gas engine that powers the battery when the car runs out of juice (typically between 30 and 60 miles depending on the model).

This obviates the need to rely on the public charging network. This can be especially convenient when taking long trips since a gas-fueled engine can extend the range hundreds of miles.

A Toyota document circulated to dealers, cited by Jalopnik, claims that even with fast charging, the time it takes getting to an 80% charge can vary wildly for Pure EVs.

According to the document entitled: "There are three major barriers to widespread electric vehicle adoption in the United States":

Toyota is on to something. Pure EV manufacturers have wordy asterisked disclaimers on their promotional pages about fast charging.

While some promotional pages say that it only "takes minutes" to charge your car with a fast charger, there's invariably an asterisk, which often gets closer to the truth.

The reality is complex: some EVs, by design, don't fast-charge as quickly as others. Also, users are often at the mercy of the vagaries of charging stations: inoperable fast chargers and broken software can extend wait times for a charger.

And conventional definitions of fast charging don't help: "Depending on an electric vehicle's charging source and battery capacity, some drivers can charge their cars to 80% in as little as 15 to 30 minutes using a Level 3 fast charger," says Kelley Blue Book.

That sounds hopeful if you’re a first-time buyer in the market for an EV. But, based* on my experience, it's not realistic.

More importantly, the Toyota document says the vast majority of public chargers aren't fast chargers:

Toyota is referring to Level 1 and Level 2 chargers, the latter is what you typically find outside large retail and food stores and hotels in the U.S.

And getting the necessary number of public chargers installed by 2030 is unrealistic, according to Toyota:

"To meet the federal ZEV sales target, 1.2 [million] public chargers are needed by 2030. That amounts to approximately 400 new chargers per day."

Toyota is offering a mix of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, pure-electric, and fuel cell electric cars.

It's worth noting that with the Prius Prime and RAV4 Prime, Toyota is, in fact, offering what General Motors offered for many years with the Chevy Volt, which was a groundbreaking plug-in hybrid when it hit the market in 2010. It was discontinued by GM in 2019.

"With a full charge, you can take advantage of a longer driving range in EV Mode and potentially drive using only electricity for short commutes. And don't worry—if you can't or forget to charge, you’ll still be able to run on an efficient gas engine as long as you have fuel," Toyota says on its plug-in hybrid promotional page.

There is a campaign against Toyota by organizations such as Public Citizen, claiming that Toyota isn't doing enough to wean the world off fossil fuel cars.

For instance, Public Citizen made the following statement this past week:

"Toyota has not only dragged its feet on ditching fossil-fuel powered cars and replacing them with zero-emission vehicles, it has lobbied to slow the adoption of emissions-free vehicles across the globe—endangering our health and our planet," said East Peterson-Trujillo, clean vehicles campaigner at Public Citizen in a statement.

The Prius Prime and RAV4 Prime use fossil fuel. But Toyota sees this — like GM did with the Volt — as a stepping stone until a better charging infrastructure is in place. (I asked Toyota for comment but did not hear back.)

More importantly, what will ultimately impact Toyota the most isn't advocacy from organizations like Public Citizen but competition from the likes of Tesla. The American EV manufacturer may someday be as big as — or bigger than — Toyota (based on output of cars). That could have serious consequences for Toyota's profits and global presence and force changes that Public Citizen can't even imagine today.

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NOTES:

*I’ve been actively charging at public chargers in Los Angeles and surrounding counties over the last three years. How fast you get a charge can vary widely at DC fast charging stations depending on (1) number of chargers available due to demand, (2) how many chargers are working, and (3) the speed of the charge — some fast chargers are faster than others...among other reasons.