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Toyota Prius Taxi Cracks 550000 km

turbox submitted on 07/23/2008 Official AutoSpies Timestamp: 10:48 AM
from: ucarmagazine.com

[27] user comments | category: Misc News

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Tags: Toyota, Prius, Taxi, Cracks, 550000, km

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Toyota Prius Taxi Cracks 550000 km

A Cairns-based Toyota Prius taxi has clocked up approximately 550,000 kilometers while costing just half the fuel and maintenance outlay compared to other conventionally-powered cars in the fleet.

Thirty-two Prius taxis operate in Cairns, each clocking up around 200,000km per annum. Local Toyota dealer Pacific Toyota says it has eight more on order for local cab companies.

Taxi operator Graham Boundy, who owns Black and White Taxis in Cairns, received the company’s first Prius in September 2005.

“We’ve have had almost three years great service from it,” he said.

“We obviously track our costs very closely and our reports show the Prius consumes half the petrol of other vehicles in our fleet and also half the service costs - it is quite amazing.

“The Prius is also very suitable as a taxi in terms of leg and head room for both front and rear passengers, and in terms of boot size.

“In three years of driving it, I only had to turn down one fare for a group of four tourists with four very large, hard pieces of luggage.”

Mr Boundy said he no longer drives the Prius taxi himself, but was so impressed by the overall performance and low running costs of the vehicle that he bought a Prius for private use, and another for his wife.

The experience of Prius taxis also revealed the exceptional battery life of Prius.

The latest Prius battery confirms the progress made in sealed nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) technology, which was originally developed for electric vehicles.

The Prius taxi that has covered approximately 550,000km had a battery that recorded a low voltage reading and was replaced at 500,000km, as did another Prius taxi in Cairns that had travelled 350,000km.

These are the only two Prius in Australia that Toyota is aware of that have required battery replacements since the vehicle was first launched in Australia in October 2001.

“When you consider that the average car in Australia travels approximately 15,000km per year, the 350,000km Prius has crammed over 23 years of average driving into a couple of years,” said Vic Johnston, Toyota’s manager of hybrid sales and fleet strategy.

“And the 550,000km Prius has fitted in 36 years into three years, which is astonishing.

“The average age of the Australian car population is now around 10 years, so the battery is lasting well over double that in distance terms.

“When you consider that the Prius taxis in Cairns are generating half the fuel and service costs of other vehicles in their fleets, the Prius is significantly cheaper in whole-of-life costs.

“That’s why the taxi fleets use them, and continue to order them - they are simply less expensive to run and maintain than conventional vehicles in their fleet.”

The Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive used in Prius combines a petrol engine with a powerful electric motor.

At the time of purchase, Prius owners are automatically entitled to Toyota Service Advantage capped-price servicing, paying just $120 each service for up to six standard scheduled services during the first three years, or 60,000 kilometres of driving, (whichever occurs first).*

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t_bone - 7/23/2008 11:38:38 AM

+5 Boost

Anyone who thinks that hybrids are "hype" should read this. Or better yet, go ahead and start your own taxi company and try to compete with this guy's lower cost structure.

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Carboy - 7/23/2008 11:47:33 AMView My AgentSpace

+2 Boost

Lol that's Michael Taylor..

Carboy - 7/23/2008 12:04:03 PMView My AgentSpace

-3 Boost

and bigmotov...

bigmotov - 7/23/2008 11:59:46 AM

+5 Boost

You really can't argue with the numbers.

reply to this comment

mattman953 - 7/23/2008 6:12:14 PM

+2 Boost

dumpsty - 7/23/2008 12:09:22 PM

+2 Boost

That was a excellent deal for both the customer and Toyota. The customer has racked up hundreds of thousands of km in "real-world" driving situations and has done so economically.

You'd think, Toyota, GM, Ford, etc. would heavily market their hybrids to US taxi firms to track their progress as the odometers reach & surpass the 100,000 mile marks on US roads.

If I were an exec at Chrysler, GM, or BMW; there would be 2-mode Durango/Aspen, Tahoe/Escalade, and X5/X6 taxis in every airport in each state showing people how much savings can be attained over the live of the vehicle. Yeah, they'd be taxis, but they would be testing the hybrid transmission in everyday driving situations while giving large sums of riders test rides while doing it.

reply to this comment

Threepoint1415926 - 7/23/2008 12:30:58 PM

0 Boost

Where exactly does one put his luggage in a Prius? No one can argue that the Prius doesnt fare better on the gas front but what about its utility as a taxi?

reply to this comment

t_bone - 7/23/2008 6:23:24 PM

+4 Boost

“The Prius is also very suitable as a taxi in terms of leg and head room for both front and rear passengers, and in terms of boot size.

“In three years of driving it, I only had to turn down one fare for a group of four tourists with four very large, hard pieces of luggage.”

They are actually quite big inside. I know I was surprised the first time I saw it.

Star - 7/23/2008 12:41:46 PM

-9 Boost

A Toyota made it over 300K miles. Wow! That IS news. Again we are not talking about the huge amount of Mercedes and Volvo cars passing 1 million miles we are talking about the lowly Toyota actually making it over the 300K miles barrier. First Japanese car doing that? Maybe so... Congratulations Toyota!

reply to this comment

Etoile_suce - 7/23/2008 2:10:41 PM

+3 Boost

I guess that you're not very aware of Toyota. Read some more.

damikco - 7/23/2008 3:46:46 PMView My AgentSpace

+5 Boost

with proper maintence and service any car can do these numbers, todays consumers demand so much out of thier cars this is a good story i cant say its not but evan a kia (which has a longer warranty then Toyoto) can do this with proper maintence.

EL44 - 7/23/2008 1:27:31 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

No comment.Just bravo!

reply to this comment

kpaxx - 7/23/2008 1:30:39 PM

+1 Boost

Wow every time I step in a taxi it has more than 500K on the odometer so what!

reply to this comment

hatepusss - 7/23/2008 4:08:24 PM

+1 Boost

Kpaxx from planet x. I guess you are too stupid to comprehend the fuel saving and maintenance cost part of the article...huh?

kpaxx - 7/23/2008 1:32:37 PM

-2 Boost

Wow when my last car hit 500K I didn't need to replace the battery!

reply to this comment

hatepusss - 7/23/2008 4:12:33 PM

+4 Boost

kpaxx from Planet x. I bet any vehicle in the world can travel over 500K, if you constantly sinking big money into it. Please let your testicles drop first before making another silly comments.

F1_Driver - 7/23/2008 8:39:17 PM

+3 Boost

What testicles? He's a eunuch!

mpls - 7/23/2008 1:41:23 PM

0 Boost

kpaxx..
yeah your last car was japanese.. so what ?

Your battery does not need to drive the car.. only to start up the engine ! duh !!

reply to this comment

auto001 - 7/23/2008 2:06:19 PM

+4 Boost

kpaxx didn't own a Japanese car.. where he's from, there aren't any.

F1_Driver - 7/23/2008 8:40:05 PM

+1 Boost

So how do they get around town?

auto001 - 7/23/2008 1:52:49 PM

-1 Boost

Did you expect anything less? When you buy Toyota, it makes you money :)

reply to this comment

bigmotov - 7/23/2008 1:57:06 PM

-1 Boost

To be one of the first to produce these alternative vehicles and to be this reliable and successful so soon, yes it is very impressive. I'm all about alternative modes of transportation, but this, like probably many to come are just stepping stones. You have to have stepping stones to get to where you need to be. If this wasn't about Toyotas success and if this was about BMW, I wonder how many hybrid haters would there be? For those who hate hybrids, you better get use to it and the things to follow.

reply to this comment

BMW995 - 7/23/2008 2:09:30 PM

+5 Boost

What's impressive to me is that for Toyotas, as well as other mfgs., hybrids are only in the 1st or 2nd generation. In 5 to 10 years from now, their performance, economy, reliability, and cost structure will only get better.

reply to this comment

F1_Driver - 7/23/2008 8:47:46 PM

0 Boost

Seriously, I cannot wait for the debut of their lithium ion hybrid technology to come out on the Lexus version of the Prius. It's going to be awesome: half the size, twice the charge, and half the cost of NiMH batteries!

_43LE - 7/23/2008 2:15:06 PM

+3 Boost

All the usual haters out again. When a piece of good news about a German car company comes out, rarely is there this much hate here. If feel sorry for these people as they actually feel threatened enough to post something hateful. But, at this point, what more could we expect of them?

reply to this comment

hatepusss - 7/23/2008 4:04:08 PM

0 Boost

Awesome news esp. on the battery life news.

reply to this comment

1000rrRider - 7/24/2008 11:36:56 AM

0 Boost

Wow!!! A Taxi driver in a clean cab wearing a uniform!! Here in Toronto Canada they are extinct most cabs here are dirty, smelly and most drivers don't even speak English majority are form 3rd world country like India or Pakistan.....

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