Prius Curse

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Sunday January 22, 2012 - Prius Curse - It seems that I have my own personal curse that bites me when I try to move to the latest technology in personal transportation.  I think of this as the Prius Curse but it's really a curse that affects me whenever I decide it's time to become an early adopter.

The curse first bit me when I decided that I want to drive an EV1.  I had been interested in electric cars for a while and while attending one of GM's Auto Show in motion events I got my first drive in an electric car, the EV1.  I only got to drive it for a couple of minutes around a test track but I did get to feel the incredible surge when I floored the accelerator - I was hooked.

I didn't do anything right away except to learn a lot more about electric cars.  I was living in an apartment at the time so it wasn't possible to install a charger.  Then my job moved down to Santa Monica where there were two Chargers less than five minutes from where I work.  I began to track the EV1s that charged there for the EV1 Club.  I got to know Tom Dowling who told me I should try for one of the EV1s that were being returned from lease early for a variety of reasons including the current driver moving out of state; you couldn't lease an EV1 unless you lived in California or Arizona.

I went to my local Saturn dealer and took a test drive then signed the lease papers.  About a week after that I got a call from and EV1 specialist who told me that I couldn't have a car since I couldn't install a charger in my apartment building.

I looked around for Electric cars and found that it was very difficult to get information on where and how to buy or lease these vehicles.  I founded EVFinder.com in an attempt to make EVs easier to find.

Then in 1999 there was another development.  Toyota was going to launch a gas electric hybrid in the US in 2000 and this time it didn't need to be plugged in.  I quickly signed up at the Toyota web site so that I could be one of the first to order this new technology.  Then the curse hit again, a big meeting was called at work and I was told that my position would be eliminated.  I wasn't going to spend a lot of money on a new car when I knew I was going to be out of a job so when the notice came from Toyota that I could order my Prius I had to pass.

When the Gen II Prius came out its the hybrid synergy drive system had a few modifications but the car was basically the same technology as the classic Prius so this wasn't new technology anymore.  There was no special ordering system for the Gen II Prius, you could just go to the dealer and order the car.  I hadn't been out of work for long after my layoff and was well established at my new company so I decided it was time to get a Prius.  The car proved to be immensely popular and I refused to pay over sticker for the car so I ended up having to wait for a year until I was able to drive off the Carson Toyota lot with my 2005 Salsa Red Prius.

My Prius has just crossed 100,000 miles and a new technology was coming out, the plug-in Prius.  The company where I worked had moved us into a new building and this one had EV parking spaces complete with a 110V plug for charging, I was ready to own a new Plug-in Prius.  Once again Toyota opened up registration for people to be the first to place orders.  I entered my name on the list.  On November 17th I placed my order and waited.  I got a notification that my car would be built sometime in February and March.  Then the Curse struck again.  Earlier this week I got laid off again.  Obviously spending almost $40,000 for a car, including tax and license, wasn't something I wanted to do with no income so I went ahead and cancelled my order. 

Hopefully I will be able to get a new job and then I can think about getting a plug-in hybrid, and the selection will be better by the time I am back in regular employment.  When the Prius BEV comes out I will wait until the Gen II becomes available before I take the plunge.

On another note, I just learned from Toyota that they received just 2,100 pre orders for the Plug-in Prius.  Not really bad for just one month but I was expecting the 5,000 available cars to be sold out so I am a little disappointed.  Now there are only 2,099 pre-orders.

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