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A comment on Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar nickel-hydrogen battery. Parent comment

Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by dehrmann on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @03:22AM (#27890916)
> they could have announced a 100% electric vehicle

There's something weird about Ford making a mass-market electric F-150 before Toyota has a mass-market car. I know they're betting on hydrogen, but so many other companies are so far ahead with electric cars that it's a little worrying. The irony is this is the company that's most associated with hybrids.

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Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by PicassoCTs on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @03:52AM (#27891036)
From a engineering perspective, a purely electric vehicle is very simple, not a challenge and in engineering focused companies thus often considered "unworthy" of time and effort.

Internally you will often hear terms like "golf-cart" and "toy" to describe them. They threaten the careers of whole departments and large established supply chains. This fear/anger often manifests as subtle internal sabotage to pure electric projects.

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Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by aaronbeekay on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @08:51AM (#27893096)
I work in product development at a major global automaker. I have never heard somebody call a BEV program “simple”, and if somebody is trying to sabotage BEV projects, they’re doing a very, very bad job of it.
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Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by m-ee on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @04:08AM (#27891131)
No engineer that knows anything about batteries would call a battery pack/BMS design that meets automotive requirements simple.
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Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by rcMgD2BwE72F on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @04:38AM (#27891315)
Simple compared to ICE at their stage (NB: one has benefited from many centuries of man-hour work than the other). So, for their current level of efficiency, a BEV is simpler than an ICE also fewer people are able to produce the former for cheaper than the latter.
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Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by dehrmann on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @12:42PM (#27896036)
I buy this to some extent, but it also reeks of hubris and discounts the value of marketing.
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Re:Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua (Prius C) with new bipolar ... by throwaway0a5e on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @08:56AM (#27893147)
Toyota doesn't need to innovate or push limits. They built an incredibly deep moat of customer loyalty with high end customers. They can coast and just copy what works 5-10yr after the fact and still make money hand over fist (for now).
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