Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid

Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid? Yes, the company is targeting release Toyota Prius plug-in versions in 2012.

Currently Toyota is starting to promote the company’s future eco friendly technologies. With a concept to paving the way for the next generation of eco friendly vehicles, Toyota Prius plug-in cars will ‘like cars charged at home’.

Those five words ‘like cars charged at home’ is a big signal that Toyota ASAP will moves forward with plans for Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. This plan has a great response from Toyota’s hybrid followers. They are cheering the company’s intention to plug-in hybrid. Toyota Prius plug-in will boost mileage on a Prius to the equivalent of 75 mpg or so – normally Prius’s mileage of 50 mpg.

Starting in January, the consumers from European, American, and Japanese will ‘test drive’ this plug-in hybrid cars. The company has put 150 of the test vehicles in the United State and placing 500 official plug-in priuses in Japanese, American, and European road. Toyota Prius plug-in will use lithium ion batteries in this plug-in hybrid.

The company need about three year (from 2009 to 2012) to get data on how Toyota Prius plug-in cars fare in the real word – how these cars charged, what sort of mileage they get, and how their batteries perform. After that the company will release this plug-in hybrid in 2012. Irv Miller, the vice president for Toyota Prius United State Sales, at a LA conference said that they are going to study the challenges of consumer demand.

Here some basic stats from the Prius Plug-in at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show:

• The battery need about an hour and a half to full recharging from a 230-volt supply
• Extended EV (electric) driving mode of up to 12.5 miles at speeds up to 62 mph
• This plug-in hybrid will cut less than 60g/km CO2 emissions.

Besides Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, there are other articles by Johan Young you may interest in reading: Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, Chevrolet Aveo, Chevy Equinox, The Dominate of Prius, and Nissan Versa.