Tag Archives: toyota

Want a job? Knock on Tesla’s door

by RufusLZIaogjuun Posted on May 19, 2014

A workforce in a fast lane

Want a job? Knock on Tesla’s door

By

pestoverde

Hey, Toyota, eat Tesla’s dust!

The electric-car maker added 3,000 jobs during the past year or so as it ramped up production of its Model S sedan and prepared for the release of an SUV model, building up its Californian workforce to 6,000 factory workers, engineers, and other employees. And the company is expected to add another 500 jobs in California by the end of this year.

Bloomberg reports that Tesla now employs more Californians than any other automaker. Toyota, which used to hold that honor, now provides just 5,300 jobs in the state. And that number will fall to 2,300 after it shifts many of its white-collar workers from Torrance, Calif., to Texas over the next few years. More from the Bloomberg story:

Led by billionaire Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, Tesla is the rare company doubling down on making products in California, which has relatively high labor and energy costs and stiff environmental guidelines for laying down new plants. Texas and other states, meanwhile, are luring manufacturers with vows of lower taxes and less red tape.

“Tesla’s scaling up here in California is terrific news,” said Gino DiCaro, spokesman for the California Manufacturers & Technology Association. “It’s also an exception — and we certainly need more of them.”

Tesla is now a bigger employer than many other high-tech California companies. It has a larger workforce than San Francisco-based Twitter, which employs about 3,000 people, and it’s gaining on nearby Menlo Park-based Facebook, which has about 7,000 employees.


Source
Tesla Edges Out Toyota as California’s Top Auto Employer, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Want a job? Knock on Tesla’s door

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Don’t expect that hybrid minivan any time soon

by ker3roa Posted on August 16, 2013

Don’t expect that hybrid minivan any time soon

By Lisa Hymas

ToyotaThe Toyota Estima Hybrid. The Japanese text translates to “Ha ha, you can’t have one.”

For years, Grist readers have yearned, ached, and virtually begged for a hybrid minivan. Sorry, folks. Keep dreaming.

Toyota has sold its Estima Hybrid minivan (44 mpg) in Japan since 2001, but it has no plans to sell a hybrid or plug-in minivan in the U.S., a spokesperson tells the Chicago Tribune.

Why not? Green-car expert Jim Motovalli explains:

I have brought up the concept of a plug-in hybrid minivan several times to automakers, and they always dismiss it. Their claim: Minivans are big and boxy, and the fuel economy wouldn’t improve that much with a hybrid drivetrain. Plus, they’d be expensive (the Estima is $50,000). Besides, that segment of the market is really not that big, they say.

Tribune writer Robert Duffer speculates that Americans are just too demanding:

We want fuel economy but we want power and the ability to carry a lot of weight. All of these factors would reduce the effectiveness of a hybrid or plug-in on fuel economy. Other speculation on car forums clamoring for the hybrid minivan is that it wouldn’t meet stringent U.S. safety requirements. It would end up weighing about the same as the Toyota Sienna, again reducing the effectiveness of its hybrid gains.

On top of that, “Minivan owners are among the most cost-conscious shoppers, prizing utility and value.” Demanding and cheap.

Plus minivans are totally out now:

According to CNBC in March, minivans are on the decline, making up just three percent of total auto sales. Only 500,000 were sold in 2012. In 2000, there were 1.37 million sold.

Ford and Chevy don’t even make a minivan anymore. … It’s all about the crossover, or CUV, these days. It’s neither minivan nor wagon nor sport utility vehicle, shaking off the stigmas of each into its own hip sub-class. CUVs are more fuel efficient than SUVs, sharper looking than minivans and more versatile in terms of passengers than a wagon.

Car shoppers who want both roominess and efficiency could consider the crossover Ford C-Max Hybrid — “a mini minivan,” as Duffer puts it. Except that Ford just had to lower the car’s fuel-economy numbers this week and send “goodwill” checks to disgruntled customers. D’oh.

Lisa Hymas is senior editor at Grist. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.

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Sometimes a hybrid is greener than an electric car

by AdelaidaH Posted on August 9, 2013

Sometimes a hybrid is greener than an electric car

By Lisa Hymas

Shutterstock

Which car is greenest in your state? Find out.

If you live in California, the most climate-friendly car you can drive is a Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid. If you live in Ohio, you could go easier on the climate by driving a regular ol’ non-plug-in Prius. And in Vermont, the best pick would be an all-electric Honda Fit.

That’s according to a new report from Climate Central: “A Roadmap to Climate-Friendly Cars.” Here’s how the researchers explain the state-by-state differences:

An electric car is only as good for the climate as the electricity used to power it. And in states that rely heavily on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas for their electricity there are many conventional and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that are better for the climate than all-electric cars.

The report includes a handy interactive map that shows you the top 10 choices for your state.

The researchers arrived at their conclusions after considering states’ electricity sources plus the amount of energy used in manufacturing cars — which, in the case of electric cars and their batteries, is a lot.

In 39 states, a high-efficiency, conventional gas-powered hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, is better for the climate (produces fewer total “lifecycle” carbon emissions) than the least-polluting, all-electric vehicle, the Honda Fit, over the first 50,000 miles the car is driven.

But in the four states with the cleanest grid electricity, “the mpg equivalents of the best electric vehicle are dazzling,” says the report, “ranging from more than 2,600 mpg in Vermont, to 380 mpg in Washington, 280 mpg in Idaho, and 200 mpg in Oregon.”

Cleanest, in this case, means lowest in greenhouse gas emissions. In the Pacific Northwest, emissions are low because so much electricity comes from hydropower. In Vermont, it’s because so much electricity comes from nuclear. Of course, goings-on at Fukushima remind us that nuclear is definitely not “clean” in all senses.

The bottom line, says Kevin Drum at Mother Jones: “figuring out the best car to drive is harder than you think.” Which gives me a perfect opportunity to plug Greg Hanscom’s new post on how to make cities more bike-friendly.

Lisa Hymas is senior editor at Grist. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.

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