Prototype Prius plug-in getting road tests

[Ed Barrow]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The plug-in Prius has arrived. Well, the prototype has, at least.

Toyota Motor Sales presented the Silicon Valley Leadership Group in San Jose with three plug-in versions of the company's Prius hybrid car on Tuesday.

Toyota will loan 150 of the cars to organizations nationwide for the next 18 months to see how they perform on the road. The results will help Toyota spot any kinks in the plug-in Prius before it goes on sale in 2012. The leadership group, a public policy organization representing more than 300 of the valley's top companies, got the first three.

"The education and feedback we'll receive will be invaluable to Toyota as we bring this vehicle to market," said Mary Nickerson, national manager for advanced technology vehicles at Toyota.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/15/BU391DVH6Q.DTL

[AndyA]

1. Hopefully, they'll spend extra time testing the accelerator pedals and brakes.

Toyota...you couldn't pay me to have one of those piles.

[Brickbat]

2. 13 miles on a charge, eh?

:rofl:

[Gore1FL]

5. That would be enough for me to get to work and back. n/t

[NickB79]

6. In addition to the 50 mpg the gas engine gets after 13 miles

After you drive 13 miles on pure battery, the gas engine kicks in and you can go as far as your gas tank will take you, at 50 mpg to boot.

[dpbrown]

3. Awesome. I love my Prius and will make my next one a plug-in model

It's a shame that U.S. companies can't make, in the U.S., a car that gets 53 MPG when we live in the biggest gas-guzzling nation on earth.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Gimme gimme gimme I want

The leaf is too expensive. This would handle probably 95% of my driving needs. I don't need no stinkin' hybrid.


Edit: Ooooh crap, Tesla powertrain. This is going to cost a pretty penny too. Bugger

[Javaman]

7. Will it be able to stop? nt

[Romulox]

8. I think Toyota has painted itself into a technological corner with its hybrid system.

Full electric vehicles are set to launch this fall. The Prius tech is now a decade old, and the plug in version doesn't seem to greatly improve on the formula. :hi: