Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)

All Comments on TM

  • commenter
    User 149053
    Sep 19 11:49 AM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    Change an only be made by taking risks. I give GM a lot of credit for this, Reply
  • commenter
    Willywah
    Sep 18 09:01 PM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]



    the lithium battery is the bug-a boo that has GM worried. Being sure that the problem of long useful life is ensured so that it won't be the Achillies heel of the whole machine. GM is to be comended taking the slow and hopefully successful introduction of the Volt     Reply
  • commenter
    User 149053
    Sep 18 02:26 PM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    So far Brandon seems to be the only one with constructive comments and no axe to grind here. 18 months ago the only question asked by prospective auto customers was "how much horsepower does it have?" Now with gas prices at $4 the big 3 are pulling out all the stops to produce more fuel efficient cars, and it looks like GM has done it with the Volt. Waiting is a little like planting a garden when the grocery stores close and then try not to starve to death waiting for harvest. It is easy to blame auto companies for not seeing this coming, but 3 years ago no one I know did. Now that we are in this situation, let's water the garden instead of cursing the ground for being dry. Reply
  • commenter
    diamonddalla
    s
    Sep 18 02:08 PM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    2 years to get into production, that's a joke when they had 40 years to make startegic changes for more fuel efficient vehicles. Well, in 2 years whatever GM brings out it will face tigh competition. I don't understand why it will take two years to bring this to market. Reply
  • commenter
    Brandon
    Sep 18 01:11 PM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    LNG is part of what needs to happen, but EV should make up the bulk of future automobiles.

    This needs to be accompanied with major electricity infrastructure improvements and hugely increased tax credits for individuals who buy solar panels.

    Let's use everything we've got. Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Nuclear, Water, Cellulosic, and anything else I'm sure I missed.     Reply
  • commenter
    paulk8756
    Sep 18 12:01 PM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    The problem is one of VISION. Without harping about what may or may not happened in the past, the future is NOW (not some far off day when EV's may or may not be running around).

    And what's taking place TODAY is Kenworth is building LNG trucks, buyers in UT and OK are snapping up NGV's, California is about to pass an initiative a $5 billion public NGV initiative, and Wal-Mart is looking to replace it's 850,000 diesel powered rigs with LNG trucks.

    Meanwhile, Congress and Detroit are oblivious to all this. Well, Congress can afford to be, because those idiots get paid (by us!) one way or the other. But if GM and Ford are to survive, they need to WAKE UP and get on the stick!



    Reply
  • commenter
    paulk8756
    Sep 18 11:37 AM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    The only problem is the Volt, IF and when it ever gets into production, will be that it will sell for the price of TWO Priuses. And they're Toyotas, not Chevys in the first place.

    What the Detroit 3 could do is piggyback on the interest Boone Pickens has created for CNG powered vehicles, and begin selling the "dual-fueled"... (CNG + gasoline) versions in the U.S. (which they've built for 40 years) again starting TOMORROW.

    Indeed, they sell CNG vehicles across the globe (5 MILLION are in service around the world), everywhere but in America. So, let me ask you, would YOU "loan" $25 or $50 billion to such dummies? No, only the Congress would do something so stupid!     Reply
  • commenter
    bot_feeder
    Sep 18 11:20 AM
    Slow Start for Lithium-ion Hybrids [view article]
    Frazer:

    I too am invested in Natural Gas and Lithium.


    My NG's are pretty conventional ones, CHK, NFX, UPL, XTO

    My Lithium play is WURNF. (Western Uranium trades in Canada but has a pink sheet version for US investors).

    By the way- anyone who isn't familiar with trading pink sheet versions of Canadian stocks- you have to be careful how you do that so as to not pay big premiums due to lack of liquidity, poor execution on the part of some brokers, and high commissions in the case of some brokers.

    I have found that they trade very well in TD Ameritrade. As far as I can tell, I generally get the pink sheets at the same price as I could get the Canadian stock (there is a slight tedious complication, however, you have to convert CAD to USD to know what limit price to set, since the Canadian stock trades in CAD and the pink sheet trades in USD)     Reply
  • commenter
    bot_feeder
    Sep 18 11:14 AM
    Slow Start for Lithium-ion Hybrids [view article]
    JFrazer:

    Good point, natural gas vehicles are an excellent bridge while we are still working on batteries good enough to power true EV's.

    Don't worry about Lithium supply, however. There is a 25 billion pound deposit of Lithium Carbonate in the western US. You can invest in it by buying Western Lithium or Western Uranium. (Western Lithium is a spinoff of Western Uranium, but WUC retained a 30% stake WLC when it spun it off.)

    That is a mining deposit rather than a brine deposit like the Latin American Lithium sources have. As I understand it it costs a bit more to mine lithium in the ground compared to extracting it from brine.

    But bottom line is that there is a huge supply of Lithium in the US that could be extracted at a price that would only incur a slight increase in the cost of a Lithium battery-based EV.     Reply
  • commenter
    bot_feeder
    Sep 18 11:09 AM
    Slow Start for Lithium-ion Hybrids [view article]
    Korthof:

    Lithium battery technology has inherently far superior capabilities to other types.

    We are still I would guess 3-5 years from having high-performing Lithium batteries for EV's.

    However, where is battery research going on today? The vast majority of the articles I see about battery R & D involve various forms of Lithium batteries.

    PHEV's and EV's using Lithium batteries are definitely not in the category of hydrogen or the Easter Bunny.


    You sound to me like someone with a vested interest in NiMH or Lead Acid.

    Based on its superiority on parameters such as energy density, there is every reason to believe at this point that Lithium batteries will be the mainstay of EV's. In the meantime I could imagine that there will be some vehicles in the short term that use less capable but more mature battery types such as NiMH and Lead Acid.     Reply
  • commenter
    Joey
    Sep 18 10:24 AM
    GM Volt Generates Interest - Will Congressional Funding Follow? [view article]
    GM's stock was $55 when Clinton left office. If GM did not fight for more fuel efficient vehicles with the Government, they would not be in the mess they are in with their shares less than $11. Reply
  • commenter
    JoeM
    Sep 17 01:09 PM
    The Case for Natural Gas Powered Transportation [view article]
    This is why China is so far ahead, they are more capitalist than we...5,000 buses and 20,000 taxis using CNG in Xi'an, China.
    High use, local vehicles is where to start.
    How many taxi's are there in NYC alone?... at least 15,000 in a city of ~8 million, about the same as Xi'an.     Reply
  • commenter
    stats
    Sep 16 05:25 PM
    Forget $100 a Barrel - Oil Will Plummet to $30 [view article]
    Harrycalahan: Umm, have you looked at the price of oil today? It droped another $4. And no one knows what the bottom might be. Look out below! Reply
  • commenter
    AlexS
    Sep 16 03:01 PM
    My Website
    The Case for Natural Gas Powered Transportation [view article]
    Talking to a friend last night about this idea. He had checked on converting his truck and the estimate he received was $15K just for the vehicle part. He was saying in order to get one installed it has to go through EPA for a type certificate, that type certificates were issued model by model, that they expired and they wouldn't necessarily be renewed by EPA. His impression was that was a big reason the conversions are so expensive. Around here $15K will get you a pretty good used car (or truck, as it happens).

    I came across another web site talking about the early 1990s and Silverado CNG trucks. Apparently there were a couple of explosions (tank ruptures?) when refueling. GM couldn't explain it so they recalled several hundred CNG trucks and offered to replace them with gasoline powered trucks. This might be one factor keeping fuel distributorships from installing CNG fueling stations.     Reply
  • commenter
    harrycalahan
    Sep 16 02:31 PM
    Forget $100 a Barrel - Oil Will Plummet to $30 [view article]
    when did you break your nose? Cause it rattled your brain cells too. Reply
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