Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid – details

The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid will show at Frankfurt

The principle difference between the standard Prius and this new plug-in version is – you’ll never guess – that it adds the ability to charge the Prius’ batteries through a domestic outlet. The Prius can be fully recharged in around 1.5 hours, and the new lithium-ion battery pack – which replaces the old nickel-metal hydride pack in the regular Prius – is more compact and of higher output.

Toyota claim that the plug-in Prius can cover round 12.5 miles on a full charge in pure ‘Electric Mode’, which is around double that of the normal Prius. Once the batteries are discharged the engine kicks in and the plug-in reverts to working like a normal Prius. Toyota say that the new plug-in will return emission figures of around 60g/km CO2, a big drop on the regular Prius.

Toyota plans on having 500 Prius Plug-in Hybrids out on lease in the New Year to evaluate their function in the real world. The wrinkles should be ironed out to allow full production to follow.

Cant’ wait.

1,798

97 @ 4,000

142 @ 4,000

Permanent magnet synchronous motor

79

207

Lithium-ion

12.5

180 (target)

100 (target)

<60

4,460

1,745

1,490

By Cars UK