I really appreciate it when corporate leaders like Mr. Toyoda have the courage to take a stand that isn't necessarily in line with the current politically correct positions prevailing in current politics. We leased a Nissan Leaf for three years in MN. We live in a community of about 125,000 located about an hour or so from a major metro area. Leaf wasn't, and still isn't, the answer. Not enough range, not enough public chargers, and not suited for cold weather. The fully charged range routinely dropped 40% or more to under 50 miles when the temperatures were single digits or lower. Maybe a very spendy Tesla with a longer range is an answer? Don't know. I do know that Chevy Volt, a PHEV that operates on electric power for 50 miles when fully charged with a small gasoline powered range extending motor just might be the answer for folks like us. We have to to do some longer highway driving at times and don't want to spend $100k or more on an electric car. Ignoring the power generation sources, most carbon is eliminated by the Volt running on electric most of the time. The carbon is emitted by the range extending motor is minimal in most driving situations. The Volt PHEV is not the perfect answer for eliminating carbon emissions, but it is much better than all gasoline power. Maybe it is time for Toyota to update the Volt technology, since GM has set it aside. We might add such a vehicle to our garage alongside my wife's Highlander Hybrid. We shouldn't be afraid to let perfect get in the way of a very good and affordable answer to minimizing carbon emissions. As for self-driving, in my view there is a role for a system like Super Cruise that adds a powerful supplement to the human factor but does not replace it. Just drove my Escalade over 4,000 miles from MN to CA and back. There were stretches where letting the car guide us for a spell would have worked well on those long highway stretches. My next Escalade will most likely have Super Cruise and I will appreciate it. Fully autonomous? Not so much.
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