The Toyota Mirai FCV (fuel cell vehicle) may follow in the Prius’s footsteps to establish a family of cars for eco-minded consumers. According to Autocar, chief engineer Yoshikazu Tanaka said that he would like to see the Mirai “procreate” into a full line of vehicles, similar to the variants of the Prius that include the Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Prius v wagon, and the subcompact Prius c. He gives a window of 10-20 years for FCVs to attain the sale volumes enjoyed by hybrids today.
Related: First Drive: 2016 Toyota Mirai
Toyota’s family of hybrid and electric vehicles includes models from Lexus, its luxury division arm. With eight million global sales, Toyota sells more alternative fuel vehicles than any other manufacturer, far head of Honda and Ford, who hold the number two and three spots.
Tanaka did not discuss details regarding the Mirai’s configurations, but according to a source, a wagon, hatchback, MPV, and SUV may be considered. The Mirai is being built at the low-volume Motomachi Plant in Japan, where the Lexus LFA supercar was assembled.
Extracting hydrogen from renewable resources is a costly process, and it is one of the main roadblocks for the mass production hydrogen FCVs. The infrastructures needed to extract the gas also burn fossil fuels.
Progress has been advancing in other areas. In 2008, a fuel cell that weighed 240 pounds and produced 121 horsepower now weighs 125 pounds and produces 154 horsepower.
Toyota stated in a press release that production of the Mirai will be limited to 200 vehicles this year, initially available only in California. The cars were made available for order at eight dealerships in July, and will be delivered to customers this month. The world’s biggest car manufacturer plans to have 3,000 units on the road by the end of 2017.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.