Toyota Prius review, Porsche Taycan lessons, mobile hydrogen stations: The Week in Reverse

November 27, 2022 by admin 33 Comments

Which automaker claims its dealerships have fixed thousands of Teslas?

How can you see where future fast-chargers will be located?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending November 25, 2022.

Just ahead of the recent debut of the next-generation 2023 Toyota Prius, we drove an outgoing 2022 Toyota Prius Nightshade. With a bottom-line price of around $31,000, and gas mileage topping what we’ve seen from any other current model without a charge port, it still makes a strong argument in the numbers.

2023 Toyota Prius Prime (Euro spec)

A Toyota Prius—or any other Toyota/Lexus hybrid—could power your home through a blackout with an aftermarket high-voltage inverter that’s been available for a decade. So if you’re holding out for the right EV just for its power-out capability, remember that you have options.

Porsche made the right choice in building its Taycan around an 800-volt battery pack but underestimated the battery cells themselves. Those are among the lessons learned from Taycan, according to Porsche executives, as the brand leans ahead to its PPE platform, good for future models from Audi, Bentley, and the sports car brand itself.

PPE platform for VW Group, developed by Porsche/Audi

GM and Volvo are among the legacy automakers projecting that EVs and gasoline vehicles will reach cost parity by 2025. That will be assisted by technology improvements, plus the Inflation Recovery Acit (IRA), which both companies have pointed to as strengthening the business case for EVs.

Hyperion Motors announced that it plans to deploy mobile hydrogen fueling stations—with electricity for electrolysis supplied by roof-mounted solar panels—to support its XP-1 fuel-cell supercar.

Hyperion Hyper:Fuel Mobile Station

Mazda this week boosted its EV target to 40% by 2030, and emphasized that it plans to introduce a new hybrid system before then. It also announced agreements with suppliers to develop and manufacture electric drive units.

LG Chem announced on Tuesday that it’s planning a mammoth cathode material plant for EV batteries in Tennessee. The largest of its kind in the U.S., it will support U.S. battery and EV production and once ramped up make enough material for 1.2 million long-range EVs annually.

General Motors, in a recent investor presentation, revealed that its dealerships have made more than 11,000 repairs on Tesla vehicles. Mentioned by president Mark Reuss, it emphasizes that about 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a GM dealer—so it’s a level of convenience Tesla itself might not be able to match.

2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV Domino’s pizza delivery car

Domino’s has committed to 800 Chevy Bolt EV pizza delivery cars in the U.S., with the first 100 scheduled to arrive later this month. In the meantime hungry customers can track how many EVs are deployed, and where.

While EV adoption lags in the U.S. heartland, according to a recent study, a number of factors such as product availability, the growth of charging infrastructure, and consumer awareness may altogether change that.

Porsche Taycan charging

And will you be able to make the Thanksgiving journey in an EV next year? For those who travel the fringes of existing charging networks, the idea of taking an EV might soon be less nerve-wracking—thanks to the federal EV charging network taking form. We have some tips to quickly see where future EV fast-charging road-trip routes will be.

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This article was originally published by Greencarreports.com. Read the original article here.