YHK - yet another hacker news clone

Toyota is taking the Corolla electric

47 points cisc 19 hours ago 33 comments

paimapi 17 hours ago | parent

and all it took was two decades and millions of spend in anti-EV lobbying before they finally gave in, huh

(also kind of wild to me that an EV focused blog wouldn't mention this a single time since Toyota is (was?) arguably one of the staunchest and most stubborn anti-EV manufacturers out there)

Apocryphon 21 minutes ago | parent

Don't they have existing EV models, though?

loloquwowndueo 18 minutes ago | parent

Yep bz, chr, bz woodland and the upcoming highlander Bev, at least - but they’re late to the game for sure.

rwmj 17 minutes ago | parent

They have large electric cars / SUVs, but not small EVs.

radiator 18 minutes ago | parent

They were neither anti-EV in the past nor will they stop producing Internal Combustion Engine vehicles in the future

rwmj 18 minutes ago | parent

I was going to say "about time", but actually about 3 years too late.

RajuChacha108 10 minutes ago | parent

Toyota was broadly right in their approach to EVs. They were pioneers in hybrids. They had excellent hybrid cars like Prius that have been around forever. Their low end cars are extremely fuel efficient too that making them hybrid does not really offer marginal benefits.

Now most companies have written off their crazy investments in EVs. Honda has discontinued Prologue and so on.

numlock86 6 minutes ago | parent

> [...] since Toyota is (was?) arguably one of the staunchest and most stubborn anti-EV manufacturers out there

Wait till you hear about German car manufacturers. It's not even that long ago that e.g. Mercedes said that their target audience doesn't want EVs and they will never (!) give in to that market. Now look at them. All of them.

WokeUp420 12 hours ago | parent

The hybrid already gets 55mpg and the batteries are dirt cheap.

crimsontech 9 hours ago | parent

Its actually cheaper (for me in the UK) to run a corolla hybrid than an EV as I don't have the ability to charge at home.

scottyah 23 minutes ago | parent

I really did think Toyota would have a nice market if they stuck to hybrids.

mcone 21 minutes ago | parent

Our 2026 hybrid gets 64mpg in Albuquerque. The last time I did the EROI calculation it beat everything by a long shot.

throwitaway222 14 minutes ago | parent

Not sure how you got one that gets 55mpg, mine gets 44 (47 was on the sticker). But in CA this still beats 100% EV.

dzonga 22 minutes ago | parent

why don't Japanese auto-makers embrace the super+ hybrid that was embraced by Chinese auto makers. having electric motors and a small engine to constantly charge / drive the motors.

Japanese auto makers are already good at hybrid power trains, small engines.

surely extended range vehicles - 1000km+/700mi+ shouldn't be limited to Chinese brands only.

Apocryphon 21 minutes ago | parent

Yeah, what happened after the Toyota Prius?

alphabeta3r56 15 minutes ago | parent

They have. See toyota hyryder

gruez 7 minutes ago | parent

>why don't Japanese auto-makers embrace the super+ hybrid that was embraced by Chinese auto makers

How is that different than plug-in hybrids that toyota already have?

__natty__ 16 minutes ago | parent

> The Japanese automaker is planning a drastic overhaul, including a sleek new design, high-tech interior, and updated platform.

Oh please no! I loved the old boring interiors with analog components

ck2 14 minutes ago | parent

can we get a car that doesn't self-drive or phone-home?

just replace all the gas burning, oil dripping parts

electric cars also produce way less brake dust particulates, so it's a win all around

just stop trying to make a car a smartphone

ramesh31 12 minutes ago | parent

Maybe, some day, many years into the future. /shrug.

zacharycohn 9 minutes ago | parent

Ugh. I saw the headline and I was hoping it would be an entry-level, low cost, highly analogue, "looks just like a normal car but electric" car.

alphabeta3r56 8 minutes ago | parent

Toyota does sell those. Just not in EU/NA. Toyota hyryder sells in India for 15k Euros.

wakamoleguy 5 minutes ago | parent

Looks like most of the images are concepts. I wonder if the looks will change before launch? And they do say the cost is only a few k above the gas models. Something to wait and see, I guess.

apparent 6 minutes ago | parent

I was surprised to read the headline because this is going in a different direction than most car companies. For example, VW, Ford, GM, and others have been axing electric vehicles that they started selling a few years ago. They discovered that most people who wanted EVs had already purchased them, and the rest of the market wasn't interested enough to pay the price premium.

Then I read the key quote and realized that Toyota isn't transforming the Corolla into an electric vehicle. They're simply going to offer an electric option. That's much less of an interesting headline, which explains why it wasn't chosen.

> “Whether it’s a battery EV, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, or internal combustion engine vehicle―whatever the power source―let’s make good-looking cars that everyone will want to drive!” Toyota’s CEO said at the Japan Mobility Show.