Conquest, the nonsense.  Sometimes, the problem runs so deep, it turns into pointless nonsense.  In this case, it came to: "If you were to be honest, you would admit that you are not a fan of a GM EREV but fully support Toyota's efforts in their hybrids and plug-in hybrid.  You are not a fan of GM, period."  In other words, there's nothing you can say that will ever be accepted.  They establish a false belief and disregard all else.  Put another way, they don't think it is possible for anyone to like more than a single automaker, that the idea of plug-in supporters joining together will never happen.  That's sad.  Long story short, I decided to make it ever longer... by climbing up on my soapbox:  Over and over and over again, I posted the need to diversify.  It has nothing to do with any particular automaker.  It's simply good business.  Remember all the SECOND MODEL posts?  Those were to get Volt split into multiple configurations, one for the enthusiasts and another for everyday consumers.  Notice that no matter how many GM references are made and no mention of Prius or Toyota whatsoever, all certain people see & hear is Prius and Toyota.  It's amazing how blinded some can be to the obvious.  Post after post I'd refer to the true competition: GM'S own traditional vehicles.  Yet, they'd simply ignore that.  The evidence is blatant now.  My complaints about ONE SIZE FITS ALL were finally heard, not by those here though.  Bolt and the CTS plug-in are what will come about as a result.  They are that diversity of product.  Watching sales of Volt getting lost to Malibu, Cruze, Impala, Equinox, etc should have been a concern.  It was baffling to witness denial of such a major problem.  GM's own vehicles were cannibalizing Volt.  Instead, there was using me as a scapegoat and waving the flag of conquest.  Didn't you see that happening?

Conquest, the trouble.  Things immediately fell apart.  The very first response was filled with denial and a clear pattern of repetition.  We're seeing the same trouble emerge again.  Ugh.  I got attacked.  Funny part was, it was a rant about my "perfect" Prius and how Toyota can "do no wrong".  I found that quite amusing, since my comments were entirely about GM.  It reminds me of the past when there was an individual who absolutely insisted I was lying, that there was no possible way that data was correct.  Then when I posted a video showing exactly that, I got banned.  Some people refuse to accept reality.  Oh well.  This isn't as extremely.  It's more a matter of avoidance, pretending it doesn't matter.  Naturally, I had to respond:  It is so superior, yet it still feels threatened by mere mention of KWH and GALLON.  Then when there’s mention of COST and WEIGHT and SIZE, all hell breaks loose.  The over-reaction is quite entertaining when TAX-CREDIT and NISSAN are added.  I was beside myself in awe by how a rant could emerge, going on and on about Toyota and Japan, when neither were any part of what had actually been posted.  That’s an obvious sign something is wrong.  Why is there avoidance of those particular design factors?  That’s a legitimate question and quite on-topic.  Plug-In hybrid have to deal with them.  There is growing pressure to reduce consumption (of all types) and reduce emissions (of all types).  What we saw here today is proof some are not taking that seriously.

Conquest, the post.  This is how I jumped in:  Progress is made when overall consumption of both electricity and gas are taken into consideration.  The problem for years has been the belief that EV miles are vital, important above all else.  That has resulted in missed opportunity, not taking advantage of the gas engine during times of inefficiency and neglecting EV efficiency itself. It also required cost, weight, and space sacrifice.  While cruising on the highway, it doesn't take long to see the battery-level drop.  The miles go by quickly.  When it's winter, that need for heat uses up electricity which could otherwise have been used for driving.  And of course, there's the reality that electricity is a fuel that shouldn't be wasted either.  It's why KWH and GALLON usage was brought up so many times when first-gen rollouts first began.  Unfortunately, the rhetoric drown out those constructive discussions.  Now, we find ourselves going back to that very same topic.  Remember the "too little, too slowly" concern?  This was part of that.  Consumers understanding what's available and how it works is a really important.  The blatant disregard for diminishing returns was an obvious problem.  More EV isn't necessarily better.  Blending offers opportunity.  It's nice to finally see attempts to address that.  Subsidies will end.  Traditional vehicles will continue to become more efficient.  Oil will continue to be inexpensive & abundant.  The challenges to overcome never cease.

Conquest, the problem.  I'll admit, watching the "vastly superior" blog come crumbling down to join the rest of us has been rewarding.  Falling to right where they should have been right from the beginning is nice.  You really don't want any harm to come.  You just want them to be the ally you've sought for all those years.  But to be expected, there are a few bad apples remaining behind, those who absolutely refuse to be part of the end-traditional team.  Oh well.  It is intriguing to watch the denial playout.  They've always thrived on conquest.  No cost could be too great.  The trophy was all that mattered.  Volt has quite a few.  That doesn't pay the bills.  Praise isn't enough.  People actually have to buy something.  GM's diversity is finally happening.  Yeah!  It was quite frustrating to see the battle against Toyota.  But to watch defeat coming from Ford, that's what really stirred reason for worry.  Soon, there will be the new Cruze.  Rated at an expected 40 MPG highway, it shows just how fierce traditional competition will be.  Fortunately, there will be the Malibu hybrid.  That's long overdue.  There will also be a CTS plug-in hybrid.  Later, the electric-only Bolt.  Needless to say, Volt is being pushed into a category of many.  No more trying to declare it superior.  So, when the topic of plug-in hybrids was posted on the daily blog today, I was captivated.  Only the troublemakers are left.  No one else participates there anymore.  Would they even try to be constructive?  After all, acceptance is the stage which follows defeat.

Intentional Omissions.  A common technique for misleading is to not include vital information.  Without all the facts, it's easy for a reader to draw incorrect conclusions.  They make assumptions.  It's that simple.  Recently, we've had an honest & constructive attempt to do the opposite.  An owner of a Prius PHV purchased another.  The second was used though, with an uncertain history, and performance results have been different.  Not knowing how the driver recharged or even their driving routes & distances, observed variations in performance cannot be well identified.  Many of the posts have just been anecdotal too, since the owner doesn't have any type ODB-II scanning device to note vehicle detail.  How to you measure without a gauge?  The well-informed active participants have been trying to help.  The owners focus has been on EV miles.  Right away, a former Prius owner who now drives a Volt jumped into the discussion.  Unfortunately, he did the typical disregard.  The amount of gas consumed was left out of the equation entirely.  Despite several posts pointing out that the same amount of electricity is consumed in the end, the fact that HV miles were higher was all that mattered.  Getting recognition of overall MPG was, again, a problem.  That's a common theme.  Obsessing with miles labeled as EV disregards HV miles, which include those known as EV-BOOST.  It's maddening.  The goal is the same.  The outcome is the same.  But as we see with those who greenwash, no mention of vital information is a problem.  Omitting non-EV miles that take advantage of plug-supplied electricity is misleading, period.  That's quite frustrating to know the act is intentional too.  We try to ignore the attempt and direct our effort toward the owner instead.  Hopefully, he'll come to recognize what's happening.  I added:  The one Prius delivering fewer EV miles is utilizing the same amount of electricity, which likely means the same is true for gas consumption.  In that case, the EV/HV ratio really doesn't mean much.  It's the overall efficiency that counts with a plug-in hybrid and that fact hasn't been taken into consideration yet.  We still don't know what the resulting MPG is.  Blending isn't count as EV, even though it takes advantage of plug-supplied electricity.  You must look at both KWH and GALLONS to truly understand differences.

Importance.  Moving on is a challenge.  There's a fine line between stirring up the past and not forgetting it.  You want to remind people how things happened; otherwise, it could happen again.  After all, falling into that trap has proven very easy.  The Volt enthusiasts got sucked in to an extreme, the entire time claiming their situation quite different from that of Two-Mode... even though I was continuously pointing out the parallels.  It's quite amazing to watch mistakes being repeated.  That's exactly what we saw.  The disbelief manifested itself in odd ways.  The most frustrating was taking out of anger on Prius PHV, using it as both an excuse and a scapegoat.  Unfortunately, placing blame turned into misleading.  Then when evidence emerged (like the videos I shared) to show what actually happens, some posts became outright lies.  Those individuals simply didn't care.  That allowed misconceptions to run wild.  Some innocent readers would assume they knew what they were talking about, then help spread that misinformation.  Thankfully, we are now seeing evidence of that coming to an end.  Hooray!  This was how I pointed out an observation of that today:  Notice the "just 11 miles" in the article's introduction?  That's a clue to the plug-in Prius importance.  Until this year, there were some other plug-in supporters so desperate to undermine Prius PHV they'd intentionally mislead about it.  For 3 years, we had to deal with the "6 mile" claim.  It was really annoying, but at the same time confirmation that they felt threatened by the potential the system offered.  It gives us a lot to look forward to with this next generation.

New Antagonists, introduction.  There's growing frustration.  Fortunately, the obsession of the antagonists often causes them to expose their true purpose.  I particularly like this comment: "Feeling threatened by Tesla and BMW, Lexus puts out some anti-plug in ads."  It was obvious rhetoric with no intent to be constructive.  They just keep trying though.  That abuse thread is a perfect venue for the anti-Toyota sentiment.  The reason is simple, most people have absolutely no idea how they would actually deal with the charging-station situation.  What should happen when charging is complete, yet the owner leaves the vehicle parked in the spot?  Should the owner have even plugged in at all?  What if they were just topping off the battery-pack and someone else is desperate to recharge?  Should the desperate owner have risk the chance that a charger wouldn't be available?  It's a messy situation, especially when you consider plug-in hybrids and short distance travel.  Anywho, I responded to that comment with:  Lexus is a totally different entity than Toyota.  Coming from the same corporation and sharing the same resources does not make their customers the same.  So, it is inappropriate to think both will have the same approach.  The audiences are very different. In fact, it's as absurd as applying truck selling logic to car buyers.  This is why I keep pointing out the need to understand economics better.  It makes no sense combining unrelated groups.  Yet, people keep doing it anyway.  One is targeted at middle-market, the other luxury.

New Antagonists, diversion.  The distractions are endless.  There is favorite though, fuel-cell vehicles.  Rather than address the topic of discussion, the divert attention by simply complaining about something unrelated.  This came up on the public charger abuse thread: "Unfortunately Toyota is really trying to force the FCV on the consumer using politics and questionable marketing to more or less foist a technology a lot more limiting than PHEV and EVs."  What the heck does that have to do with a plug-in vehicles not being considerate of others by moving their vehicle when charging is complete?  It's so far off-topic, you'd think people would complain.  But coming for a long-time forum contributer, they don't see the act as troll behavior... even though that's exactly what it is.  So, thread participants often take the bait.  Successful trolling is a challenge to deal with.  That sound-off didn't have any impact, so today this was my attempt:  FCV is a product of many automakers, clearly a long-term work-in-progress not intended in any way to be rolled out in large volume.  We'll be getting plug-in options far sooner.  Affordable batteries offering enough energy-density to actually compete with traditional vehicles are on the way.  Where is the conspiracy?  What amazes me is the deliberate effort to not pay attention to the traditional vehicles.  Those strong sales should be a concern. Instead, there's this on-going pointless argument about leading.  It completely misses the point... and the market.

New Antagonists, sounding off.  The chosen venue for that frustration release has been on a new thread about public charger abuse.  The antagonists have taken advantage of the opportunity.  Seeing the hate some have expressed, the hope is to attract more anti-Toyota support.  In a way, it's intriguing to watch their obvious trolling methods play out.  The avoidance of questions is obvious.  The vague references and attempts to change the subject are desperate.  It's sad.  Two days ago, finally sounded off with this unaddressed (no quote) post:  For those of you... and you know who you are ...that continue to come down on Toyota for not having expanded rollout of Prius PHV, this topic is a contributing reason.  It never ceased to amaze me how dismissive some have been when I brought up how the market wasn't ready yet, sighting the conflicts between other plug-in vehicles as a barrier to still overcome.  Thankfully, there are some who are more receptive.  A plug is plug.  You're using electricity for cleaner emissions and a reduction on oil dependency.  That's the point and the numbers of those who accept that is growing.  So what if a plug-in hybrid is plugged in?  You have no idea how far they actually drove to get to that charger anyway.  The goal is to replace guzzlers with affordable, practical, and profitable choices.

New Antagonists, introduction.  Just as we had worried all those years ago, Volt did indeed become a huge market distraction.  Yes, it proved the technology.  But unfortunately, it sent a message that it was expensive and impractical.  Supporters we so blinded by the engineering, they didn't take ordinary consumer importance into account.  Prius was mocked since way back in 2001 for being too small.  That meant regardless of how well it performed, the car would still be outright dismissed based on size.  That way it grew over the years.  Being able to compete directly with midsize cars was no just important, it was vital.  That gave Toyota the opportunity to diversify, offering 3 choices of size.  Allowing it so reach a wide audience was a big deal.  You'd think GM would have followed that wisdom.  GM didn't.  Supporters see the challenges the upcoming next-gen rollout present and have moved on.  That's stirred antagonists on the big Prius forum.  More and more, we see anti-Toyota sentiment.  Their arguments are weak and based on just vague references & limited scope.  Unfortunately, they don't get called out as trolls.  That identifier doesn't work on forum members who have participated for years and only recently turned.  So, just like with the big GM forum years ago, the big Prius forum now faces the same problem.  Some of us are attempting to call them out, to draw attention to their intent to do harm.  The detail reveals their criticism is not only not constructive, it's also purposefully misleading.  Needless to say, it's troubling to watch these disenchanted frequent posters become antagonists.  Their disappointed with Toyota's approach and have chosen to not listen to any reasoning.  They've made up their mind and now want to take out their frustration using the forum.