bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

lexus as far as i recall was the first to have electrification in luxury cars with the hybrids.

but now the german and other brands have (or are showing) not only (mostly mild) hybrids, but also full electric vehicles include:

BMW: i3, i8
MB: EQC, ...?
Audi: eTron
Jaguar: I Pace
Tesla: all (although some would not consider them a luxury brand, i would because of the aspirational nature)

so when do we think lexus will launch or announce an electric vehicle? what about more from the other brands? what about cadillac, lincoln, acura, etc. ?

arentz07

nit: The i8 is a plug-in hybrid. But full-EV versions of the i3 do exist.

There was that one Lexus concept that kinda looked like a futuristic LS. I'd say probably 2019/2020 we'll find out.

Seems relevant: https://lexusenthusiast.com/2017/12/...n-early-2020s/

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Have you sat in a Tesla S before? It's 'Premium' at best. Loads of tech, cool design, but the material content leaves a lot left to be desired.

Lexus will be super late to the party. 2022 / 2023 is likely when they'll bring a full EV if I had to wager.

Cadillac and Lincoln (based on GM and Ford efforts) will have EV's probably within 2-3 years. 2020 / 2021 I think

Infiniti will have an EV before Acura.

LeX2K

Been in one and now the X, from what I had read here and elsewhere the interior was low rent materials that would make a Motel 6 proud. Didn't find that at all the materials are nice and I like the minimalistic design. I wouldn't consider the interior the best in the industry but certainly not nearly as bad as some are saying.

Toys4RJill

Toys4RJill

arentz07

I agree, I sat in an X and it was not bad at all. Did it feel like $100,000+? No. But it was not low-rent either. I think quality for the money is what's important though.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Not everyone will agree with me, which is fine because it's a subjective opinion on material matter. One of my friends who works for Tesla had a Model X 100D over the weekend. Sticker'd for about $115,000. Overall pretty decent, I didn't have much to complain about and was dazzled by the rear Falcon wing doors, though it's mostly for show. Another friend has a Model S 75D, and that one feels cheap IMO. Also had that window/pillar noise issue.

Toys4RJill

LeX2K

The falcon wing doors are a one off they will never be put in a vehicle again. On Lexus fielding an electric car they are being very vague the statement was something like "early 2020's" so does that mean 2023? 2020? Either way by the time Lexus has a battery electric there will be many out there from multiple brands.

Sulu

My thought is that the German and other European automakers are introducing electric vehicles because they have a lot of pressure to do so. There is the constant pressure from the highest levels of government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and since CO2 emissions are proportional to fuel consumption, reducing fuel consumption also reduces CO2 emissions. There is also ever-increasing pressure from both the top (the highest levels of government) and the bottom (the big European cities) to get rid of diesel-powered passenger cars.

Electrification is seen as an easy way to replace diesel engines.

Japan, which has traditionally been an advocate of small cars powered by small, fuel-efficient engines (but not diesel power) is facing less pressure to reduce CO2 emissions and so less pressure to reduce fuel consumption and electrify.

Lexus' largest market, the USA, is also putting little pressure (and perhaps to be reduced further) to electrify. Toyota and Lexus, with their lineup of fuel-efficient engines, can easily meet North American fuel economy standards with further electrification. Lexus probably also sees that the market for more-expensive electrified vehicles in North America is very small and the return on investment small (or non-existent, especially if fuel economy standards are further relaxed), that it is not worth the effort to electrify more. There is just less pressure on Toyota and Lexus to electrify than there is on the Germans, the Swedes and the British.

Added to that is Toyota's very conservative, risk-averse nature (even moreso in the past decade or so, it seems), and there is little push to "electrify now!".

We are now aware of Toyota's dislike of the lithium-ion battery, which all other automakers have embraced with gusto (in the absence of anything better). That does not mean that Toyota has given up on batteries, however, which we all seem to believe.

Toyota, which is very secretive (especially compared to the publicity-seeking Germans), has said that they it is now working to commercialize solid-state batteries, which promise to have greater capacity and be safer than current lithium-ion batteries, and will have EVs out, starting in China, in 2020 and then rolling out to the rest of the world from there.

My worry is NOT that Toyota will be a generation or two behind the Germans when their first EVs start rolling out in the early 2020s but that Toyota is so quiet and secretive now that people will believe that Toyota has no electrified vehicles to offer even if they introduce state-of-the-art EVs in the early 2020s. We can sense some of that scepticism here in this thread.

theory816

The reason why we aren't seeing many full EVs is because of the tooling. Car manufacturers have tools for gas car. To make the adjustments for EVs would cost them billions. Should a manufacturer invest billions into the tooling or keep on making gas cars that sell?

spwolf

When does EQC start sales? I saw an article about MB boss saying they will ramp up production gradually, and also complain about the cost of the vehicle to build... doesnt seem like they will produce many. Audi's eTron seems very similar to that, just half year later.
i-Pace started sales these days? There should be few delivered by now?

Otherwise, Lexus seems on track for 2020, but I would expect low volumes and not full availability but only selected markets.... It seems that UX will be the first one in China, since C-HR is getting EV version in China next year, but they expect low sales, something like 10k per year.

It is basically a compliance vehicle, they dont want to lose money on them... As to the US, new factory is built for EV with Mazda, and that starts in 2021, so I would expect Lexus EV around those times... I just dont expect it to be competitive with Tesla, simply because they will not lose money on it. They dont have to.

riredale

We'll see how this sorts out over the next few years. Many consider the EV frenzy to be a fad. Certainly the attitude towards EVs here in the States has shifted from just a few years ago, when it looked like oil was going through the roof and we had folks in power who wanted it that way and who specified very high mileage requirements. Now, quite different attitude.

I personally don't want to ever plug-in a car and I want to be able to go anywhere at any time. Just got back from a trip through the (smoky) mountains of Northern California to Lake Tahoe. EV would have been a logistics worry; my RX was completely hassle-free.

theory816

Plugging in a car to charge is a huge killer for potential buyers of EV. Its why I came up with a device that takes the hassle out of that. Ever seen a B2 bomber refuel? It sorta looks look like that.

As for the long road trip thing, normal people don't take road trips everyday. The average miles traveled is somewhere between 30-50miles. EVs can now go up to 250miles in one charge. The fix for this is really simple, rent a car if you need to take a long road trip.