Electric cars?

[JohnDe]

that would depend on the size ( and fuel efficiency ) of the engine

if it was a glorified lawn-mower/motor scooter engine .. it might give you some cost savings , as a renter , however maintenance service costs as the owner might be more ( assuming you are not recovering vehicles with float batteries all the time )

As a hire car it is ok, but I would not recommend it to anyone. My recommendation would be to choose either a ICE or na EV, but not this hybrid.

• Toyota's hybrid systems typically feature a gasoline engine, an electric motor, and a battery pack. The electric motor can assist the gasoline engine, especially during acceleration and driving at lower speeds, improving fuel efficiency. The system can also run on electric power alone for short distances at low speeds.
  
  While the Corolla’s hybrid powertrain does a generally good job of making the car quick enough at low speeds, you can’t fight physics. Ultimately you might be left wanting for power, particularly if you travel on the highway a lot and definitely if you intend to use the top half of the speedometer.
  

https://www.autoblog.com/reviews/shopping-for-a-2025-toyota-corolla-hybrid-experts-reveal-4-pros-2-cons

 

[divs4ever]

As a hire car it is ok, but I would not recommend it to anyone. My recommendation would be to choose either a ICE or na EV, but not this hybrid.

• Toyota's hybrid systems typically feature a gasoline engine, an electric motor, and a battery pack. The electric motor can assist the gasoline engine, especially during acceleration and driving at lower speeds, improving fuel efficiency. The system can also run on electric power alone for short distances at low speeds.
  
  While the Corolla’s hybrid powertrain does a generally good job of making the car quick enough at low speeds, you can’t fight physics. Ultimately you might be left wanting for power, particularly if you travel on the highway a lot and definitely if you intend to use the top half of the speedometer.

https://www.autoblog.com/reviews/shopping-for-a-2025-toyota-corolla-hybrid-experts-reveal-4-pros-2-cons

my experiences have been Camry hybrids as a taxi passenger ( over a reasonable distance across the city ) and they seemed to be OK at that

the Corolla's application of hybrid tech seems to be an inferior one

 

[IFocus]

I’m in Darwin for a week visiting an in-law that is 84 and not doing so well. I booked a Subaru loan car for the size of the rear to fit 2 walking aids, instead they gave me a Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid EV. Today we had one walker in the rear with plenty of room, tomorrow I find out if I can squeeze in a wheelchair next to it.

I drove about 80 kms today, trying to use battery & the EV motor as much as possible but found it pointless. After about 5 minutes driving the engine cuts in, either as the power source or to charge the battery.

What is the point of having an hybrid EV if the majority of the time the engine is running?

View attachment 198044

View attachment 198045

A friend was making this very point the other day

 

[basilio]

The rate of battery evolution is now ballistic. Very good overview of how quickly the technology has moved.
Tidbit. In China EV cars are cheaper than ICE cars. Period. Simpler design. fewer components. Battery costs falling through the floor.

 

[Knobby22]

The rate of battery evolution is now ballistic. Very good overview of how quickly the technology has moved.
Tidbit. In China EV cars are cheaper than ICE cars. Period. Simpler design. fewer components. Battery costs falling through the floor.

Fascinating, and the USA with Ford Tesla and others were really building battery factories to rival Chinas volumes to come second in the world!

All in danger now as the Clean Energy act looks like being shut down. Surely not.

And the fact in China EVs are now less expensive than ICE vehicles is the classic disruption moment.

 

[Knobby22]

I’m in Darwin for a week visiting an in-law that is 84 and not doing so well. I booked a Subaru loan car for the size of the rear to fit 2 walking aids, instead they gave me a Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid EV. Today we had one walker in the rear with plenty of room, tomorrow I find out if I can squeeze in a wheelchair next to it.

I drove about 80 kms today, trying to use battery & the EV motor as much as possible but found it pointless. After about 5 minutes driving the engine cuts in, either as the power source or to charge the battery.

What is the point of having an hybrid EV if the majority of the time the engine is running?

View attachment 198044

View attachment 198045

Hybrids advantage is evident in stop start city traffic, but I suppose you could say that about EVs also.

 

[JohnDe]

Hybrids advantage is evident in stop start city traffic, but I suppose you could say that about EVs also.

That’s what I thought, but unless you’re accelerating from standstill at crawling speed the combustion engine is continuously cutting in after the initial 5 minutes of stop start driving. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the A/C.

 

[divs4ever]

The rate of battery evolution is now ballistic. Very good overview of how quickly the technology has moved.
Tidbit. In China EV cars are cheaper than ICE cars. Period. Simpler design. fewer components. Battery costs falling through the floor.

amazing what a bit of demand does to creativity and development

 

[basilio]

To reinforce that unstoppable progress of EVs and battery technology check this video out.
Sodium Ion batteries are now in full flight. CATL is well and truly on the move. Full commercial production is on.



CATL major announcements.

Battery giant CATL showcases three innovations: 1500km range battery, 520km in 5 minutes ultra-fast charging, and 2025 mass-production sodium-ion battery

Now a pure electric car can have a 1500km range with CATL's innovative battery

carnewschina.com

 

[JohnDe]

The Chinese car industry is at the stage that will see it become the world’s largest automaker. And it is ready to surpass western competitors ICEV with EVs.

Chinese carmakers have accelerated through the gears with incredible speed. A huge bet placed by the government in the early 2010s that the car of the future would be electric has paid off handsomely. This year perhaps three-fifths of car sales in China, the world’s biggest market, will be electric. This dominance has put Chinese carmakers at the forefront of electrification as well as the software that defines the driving experience. They are now poised to draw ahead in self-driving technology, too, if the systems on display are anything to go by.​

Dispatch from Shanghai ​

Simon Wright Industry editor

I last visited Shanghai nearly four decades ago, as a backpacker. I returned this week to find a city in many ways barely recognisable. It is still frenetic and enthralling, yet the once imposing buildings constructed by the British, French and other colonial powers have now given over dominance of the skyline to an abundance of skyscrapers. The neon garishness of shops selling Western and, increasingly, Chinese brands is the most obvious symbol that communism has given way to consumerism.

Yet if I had to nominate the most profound change, it would be on the streets. It is an exaggeration to say that there were no cars in Shanghai in the 1980s, but only just. A few beaten up taxis and fleets of equally battered buses vied for road space that teemed with bicycles, then the transport of the masses. There are still some bikes and plenty of electric scooters, not to mention a comprehensive metro system, but the roads are now nose to tail with cars.

It is cars that bring me back to Shanghai after too long a break. It is the week of the country’s leading motor show, which rotates annually between here and Beijing, a more functional but less charming city. This is the chance for China’s established and up-and-coming carmakers, of which there are plenty, to show off their wares alongside the once dominant foreign competition, which they are rapidly supplanting.

Chinese carmakers have accelerated through the gears with incredible speed. A huge bet placed by the government in the early 2010s that the car of the future would be electric has paid off handsomely. This year perhaps three-fifths of car sales in China, the world’s biggest market, will be electric. This dominance has put Chinese carmakers at the forefront of electrification as well as the software that defines the driving experience. They are now poised to draw ahead in self-driving technology, too, if the systems on display are anything to go by.

So getting to grips with the Chinese car industry has never been more important for me. Shanghai’s show is on a scale surpassing anything I have seen before. Immense glitzy stands in huge halls showcase firms that are exporting and gaining recognition in the west such as BYD, Chery and XPeng, as well as other manufacturers that may never try to make the journey and recognise as much by having only names depicted by Chinese characters.

But this year feels like one of introspection after the celebratory air in Beijing in 2024, when the Chinese were thriving at home and seemed ready to surge abroad. A faltering domestic economy and Donald Trump‘s trade war are shaking consumer confidence, which will have an impact on sales in China. Yet the tariffs talked of most are those imposed by the EU last year to slow the flow of imported Chinese vehicles to the continent.

Phrases such as “in it for the long haul” spill out of the mouths of Chinese and foreign executives as they assess the various new forces buffeting the industry. Nonetheless, the astounding advances of the Chinese car industry are here for all to see—as is the incredible transformation of Shanghai in only half a lifetime.

 

[qldfrog]

BYD Doubles Quarterly Profit as EV Sales SoarUpdate

By Jiahui HuangChinese auto giant BYD continued to outpace Tesla in the first quarter, reporting a doubling in net profit on robust growth in its electric-vehicle business.The Chinese EV maker said Friday that its net profit surged to 9.15 billion yuan, equivalent to $1.26 billion, from 4.57 billio…

www.tradingview.com

Thanks to @divs4ever

 

[divs4ever]

That’s what I thought, but unless you’re accelerating from standstill at crawling speed the combustion engine is continuously cutting in after the initial 5 minutes of stop start driving. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the A/C.

an interesting question

and maybe not just the AC , some of those other drains on the battery , that many will have activated

yes , very possible

 

[divs4ever]

BYD Doubles Quarterly Profit as EV Sales SoarUpdate

By Jiahui HuangChinese auto giant BYD continued to outpace Tesla in the first quarter, reporting a doubling in net profit on robust growth in its electric-vehicle business.The Chinese EV maker said Friday that its net profit surged to 9.15 billion yuan, equivalent to $1.26 billion, from 4.57 billio…

www.tradingview.com

Thanks to @divs4ever

yes i watch BYD closely because APE signed up an exclusive deal ( at the time ) to distribute BYD in Australia

( and i hold a reasonable parcel of 'free-carried ' APE , part of the holding inherited from a rellie that bought in during the '70s )