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26th July 2007

Toyota announced yesterday that it has developed a plug-in hybrid vehicle and become the first manufacturer to have such a vehicle certified for use on public roads in Japan. Toyota will also provide plug-in (PHEV) hybrid prototypes to the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Toyota Plug-in HV - certified for public road use by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport – has the Prius bybrid’s 1,496cc engine, plus increased battery capacity to give it a longer electric-motor-only cruising range and a battery-charging device allows users to replenish the batteries using household electricity. The test car has a cruising range of 13km under electric power under the Japanese 10-15 test cycle, and can reach over 40 mph. Battery recharges take 1-4 hours, depending on whether the source is 100v or 200v.

Although Toyota admits challenges still exist in the development of pure electric vehicles such as a limited cruising range and issues related to cost, it still views plug-in hybrids as a promising technology and is committed to their continued development as a key environmental technology. The cars to be tested are equipped with the same type of batteries as the standard Prius, rather than the lighter and more efficient, but still problematical lithium-ion batteries Toyota and others would like to use once over-heating and other problems are solved.

Toyota plans to conduct public-road tests in Japan with eight units of the Plug-in HV to verify electric-motor-only cruising ranges and optimal battery capacity. While doing so, it plans to provide the Japanese government with data for formulating testing methods for emissions and fuel efficiency and to consider Toyota’s measures for promoting plug-in hybrids and the use of electricity. There are also plans to conduct public-road tests of the Plug-in HV in the U.S. and in Europe.