Toyota’s Prius may have got a bit of a kicking lately but it’s fighting back!
With an intersting twist on electric cars Toyota has just launch a trial of the Prius Plug-In hybrid (PHV). The new car can go for up to 20 Kilometres using just electricity, but unlike other electric cars when the charge runs out you still have a petrol engine to keep you going. So there is no range anixety that is the major drawback with electric cars right now. The car which produces just 59 g/km of CO2 is due to go on sale in 2012.
Since 2007 Toyota and French power supply company EDF have been working on plug in car charging technology. Last month saw Toyota showcase the latest evoloution of it’s green hybrid technology with the new Prius Plug-In. As the name suggests the new car is a standard Prius – so it has a petrol engine and electric motor, but there is one new addition - a rechargeable battery pack that can connect to external electricity. Unlike electric cars the PHVs battery pack can plug directly into the single phase mains at home without the need for a special dedicated plug. A full charge takes just 90 minutes and costs about 40 cent. As a result fuel average fuel consumption falls to 2.6 litres per 100 kilometres, which is 30% better than the standard Prius. It is an impressive figure too in that most modern diesels can match if not out perform the standard Prius at the moment.
The standard Prius uses a small bank of rechargable batteries that sit under the rear seats out of sight. The engine and braking system top up the batteries that in turn power the electric motor. This electric motor provides additional power to the petrol 1.8 litre engine on demand. The standard Prius can run for very limited periods in just electricity (EV mode) before the petrol engine has to kick in. Toyota’s PHV uses a larger more modern lithium ion battery pack. This gives a much great range of EV mode use – up to 20 kilometres at speeds of up to 100km/h.
In order to gain valuable real world data Toyota over the next year will be providing 100 of its PHVs (plug-in hybrid vehicle) to the people of Strasbourg to use in and around the French city. Ireland will get 3 PHVs that will go on trial this summer. A total of 200 PHVs are being made available in Europe as part of a worldwide trial of 600.
Toyota dominates the global hybrid scene with 2.3 million hybrid vehicles sold to date and that equates to 80% of the hybrid market. Toyota also claims a reduction of 12 million tonnes of CO2 as a direct result of its hybrid initiative. It is clear that the Japanese giant will for the foreseeable future continue to dominate and pioneer hybrid technology. More and more Toyota/Lexus hybrid variations are coming on line, with the Auris HSD hybrid next to go on sale.
70% of all Europeans are expected to live in urban areas by 2015, so for now the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid looks like a very sensible solution to reducing CO2 about town.
Michael Sheridan
