Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid under investigation for Australia, Prius c and MPV locked in for 2012 | CarAdvice

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Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid under investigation for Australia, Prius c and MPV locked in for 2012

TOYOTA PRIUS
By Tim Beissmann |
FIND DEALS

The production version of the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid has been unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

 

The Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid promises to be one of the most fuel efficient petrol-powered vehicles on the road when it launches in Japan, Europe and the US from early next year.

Toyota says the Prius Plug-In Hybrid will sip fuel at a rate of just 2.1 litres/100km on the combined cycle while emitting just 49g/km CO2.

The vehicle’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system will produce a maximum of 100kW, good for a 0-100km/h sprint time of 10.7 seconds and a top speed of 180km/h.

At the heart of the powertrain is a 4.4kWh lithium-ion battery, which can be recharged from a standard 230V power point (not a fast-charger) in just 90 minutes. Toyota says the Prius Plug-In Hybrid will have an all-electric range of 23km and a full hybrid range of around 760km, which is about on par with most petrol-powered small cars.

It also compares favourably with its obvious rival, the Chevrolet (and as of next year Holden) Volt, which uses around 3.9 litres/100km hybrid/electric combined, takes three hours to charge from a similar power source, and has a total range of 610km.

The Plug-In Hybrid can be driven in three different modes: HV, EV and EV-City. In HV, the car operates like a normal Prius, drawing on the petrol engine and the electric motor for power. In EV mode, the Plug-In will remain in electric mode for up to 23km and at speeds of up to 85km/h. The petrol engine will kick in if the system determines more power is required. In EV-City, the throttle can be used more forcefully in electric-only mode before the engine kicks in.

On top of all three drive modes, ECO mode can be selected to reduce throttle input and temper the air conditioner for added fuel efficiency gains.

Despite its larger battery, the Prius Plug-In weighs just 50kg more than the standard Prius (1420kg vs 1370kg). It has 443 litres of boot space and an additional 40.5 litres in an under-boot stowage bin.

Toyota initially expects to sell around 50,000 units per year around the world, and will reveal pricing details closer to its launch.

The official word from Toyota Australia is that the Prius Plug-In Hybrid is “still under investigation for the Australian market”, although we expect it to go on sale locally sometime during 2013.

Before it arrives, Toyota Australia will introduce the compact Prius c city car in the first quarter of 2012, the 2012 Prius hatch facelift around March/April, and a larger Prius MPV in the second quarter.

A Toyota Australia spokeswoman told CarAdvice the local brand was still unsure whether we would get the five-seat Prius v or the seven-seat Prius +, but admitted the people mover variant was its preference at this stage.

Do you think the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid would be suited to Australia’s driving conditions? Let us know in the comments section below.


 

  • Μr Gaspo

    This would be a great car for heavy urban conditions. Outside of the city I really think it is a bit pointless. For me where I spend 95% of my time in inner city traffic, the Prius makes sense. One advantage oveg a diesel in city conditions is not having to give the car a regular freeway run to clear the particulate filter… This is a pain for people that have purchased diesels for city use.

  • Alexander

    The 23km range would mean I could do all of my weekday driving on one charge per day, Meaning no fuel and zero emissions when charged at home. I’m keen for it!

    • al

      No emmissions? Haha, just the coal to produce the electricity….

      Emmissions are not bad anyway. They are just telling you that to justify stealing a lot of tax money from you.

      • Alexander

        I have solar panels producing about 75% of my energy + a 100% green energy grid matching plan to cover the the rest, so it would be pretty much emission free.

      • RichardW

        No emissions if you use renewable electricity sources, these are available right now!!!

        Emissions not bad?

        Do you know what CO2 does to humans? Are you willing to breathe CO2 in quantity?

        Are you willing to sit in your garage and breathe your car’s emissions? Or would that be suicide?

        Do you know that increased CO2 causes plants to produce more toxins and less food for humans?

        In short – are you crazy? Of course emissions are bad!!!

        Or are you ignorant enough to think colourless and odourless gasses are safe and weigh nothing? Just like a certain politician tells you?

        My reason to want a Plug-in car is to save money.

        The Carbon tax will save me and anyone with half a brain or more a great deal of money.

        Oh yes, the carbon tax will make it harder for some billionaires to continue to take my money, but hey – that’s not my worry, it might be yours?

  • http://CarAdvice The Salesman

    Great….now, put this system into an SUV and you will have a winner.

    • F1MotoGP

      I know it is not a Toyota but you got it in the Lexus RX450h

      • Phil

        What do you mean RX450H is not a Toyota?

        It’s a Toyota Highlander! Same engine, same chassis but vastly different price tag….
        Known here as Toyota Klugar but we don’t get the Hybrid version like other countrys do.

    • Toyota Guru

      Speaking of SUVs, hey TMCA, when are you going to bring the Kluger (Highlander) Hybrid here?

  • FrugalOne

    Love it!

    Eat this TDi “just 2.1 litres/100km on the combined cycle while emitting just 49g/km CO2.”

    UNTOUCHABLE!!

    Well done BigT[tm.F-O] world’s #1 for a reason

    • Phil

      I think those figures are a bit sketchy.

      How do they calculate the electric only range into it?

      When setting off on a full charge, obviously it would use far less fuel on the first 100kms since a quarter of that 100kms would be done using no fuel at all.
      What about the next 100kms that are driven purely on petrol? It’s not going to be the same consumption as before.

  • FrugalOne

    !Love it!

    If they would sell it at $30k [they could, but won't] they would have a 5 year waiting list

    The final piece is powered by LPG

    Eat this TDi “just 2.1 litres/100km on the combined cycle while emitting just 49g/km CO2.”

    UNTOUCHABLE!!

    Well done BigT[tm.F-O] world’s #1 for a reason

    • me-all-day

      That 2.1L is a figure which discounts the electricity you charge your car with.
      It’s like moving a car to the top of a mountain, filling it’s tank, resetting the odometer, then driving it till empty down the mountain and saying “ta-da 2.1L/100Km”. Easy to do when you rule out the additional help.

      • RichardW

        Well there is probably more to that figure than is being explained here.

        The cost of electricity to run a car is much less than the cost of petrol for the same distance.

        How much less depends on how you get the electricity, you can make your own, or you can buy it at various rates from 44c/KwH to 9 c/KwH.

        If you drive less than the EV only distance it would be very cheap if you charge overnight, or almost no fuel charges and no electric charges if you use solar.

        We do 30 km in the mornings and afternoons, with moderate to heavy traffic for half of each trip. We would get much better economy with this plug-in.

  • AndyGF

    So you still have to fill it up at the pumps (admitted less often), and you have to charge it up every night when you get home. And you only get that better fuel economy for the first 23km (max), after when it goes back to the old 3.9l/100.

    I still rekon save yourself all that plugging and charging, and get yourself either a proper EV is you driving short distances (at very slow speeds), or a Diesel if you drive further than 23km (especially at free way speeds).

    This kind of engineering smacks of the ‘flying submarine’ conundrum. Technically it is possible, but it would be neither a good aeroplane, nor a good submarine…

    • Vrrm

      If that was the case, then you’d get people saying, “Oh, but what happens after x km when the batteries run out? I’m not going to wait x hours for the car to charge up”.

      There is no silver bullet and honestly, can we keep doing what we have since the car was invented burning oil in a relatively inefficient motor and let the next generation work it out how to make it work? The internal combustion engine hasn’t really changed all that much. There’s still a suck-squeeze-bang-blow in the first oil powered car as there is now in the latest supercar. Have we even had much advancements on that? I’d say this is one way to at least improve the inefficiencies of the ICE whilst maintaining the range and quick “recharge” of energy from oil or electricity.

      • al

        Are you aware how inefficient our electricity is? Are you aware that while electricity travels on power lines through the country, a substantial(!) percentage of it is lost on the way?

        Or have you assumed that the same amount of electricity fed into power lines at the power plant will reach its destination hundreds of kilometres away?…..

        And the production of electricity with coal is more advanced than modern car engines?….

    • AndyGF

      Lets talk PROs & CONs…

      EV…
      Pros: Never have to change oil and services are simple, no catalytic converters to block at 120,000km, no clutches and very few wearing parts!
      Cons: You have to charge it everyday if you do any kind of reasonable mileage, (if not WALK or cycle?) If you forget and your battery runs out, your are getting towed! And if you battery starts to get old, who knows how far it will take you?

      Diesel & Petrol…
      Pros: Keep on driving with no charge delays.
      Cons: Internal combustion engines are dirty, and have many wearing parts. Neglect or misuse can lead to increased chances of failure.

      Prius (EV or NOT)
      Pros: Well not quite as good as an EV at being clean, because it still has an engine with all its disadvantages, and not quite as good as a diesel when driving either (a) freeway speeds (b) long distances too?
      Cons: BOTH the EV battery uncertainties, excluding maybe range anxiety. And still has a petrol engine with all of its long term servicing and wear & tear disadvantages.

      Its like making healthy Ice Cream; It tastes really bad (why have it at all), and it will never be as good for you as a salad sandwich either? Pointless…

      • Robert

        I agree with you completely. the plug-in prius is keeping all the cons of petrol engines without really benefitting the EV side of things. twice as much can go wrong. but atleast they have capped servicing haha

        • Alexander

          Could provide evidence of this ‘budget’ that Toyota has for keeping Old Prius’ on the road? If you bothered to read forums and/or other articles, Prius’ have been listed as some of the most reliable used cars to buy, and on Priuschat forums, the largest Prius owners forum on the Internet, there are very few people who have issues with Prius’, very, very few, even on cars with over 400,000km, all running original batteries. Yet on VWvortex, Watercooled etc, you hear a lot about electrical issues, engine/trans failure in warranty periods (this happened to a Skoda long term test car in Wheels magazine) & other misc faults. If you think a VW is more reliable than a Toyota, you’re off your head.

          A $25k VW golf sharing it’s platform with a $140k Audi TT-RS? A US VW Jetta sharing it’s basic engine with a $140k TT-RS? A $70k Touareg sharing it’s mechanicals with a $200k Porsche?

          Cutting import losses? Toyota’s been building cars in the US for ages, much more than VW does. It’s more like the old passat simply didn’t sell as it was too expensive & the wrong at for the US Market, as VW themselves said.

      • Alexander

        I only know about the current Prous, but the batteries are very, very reliable, as are the engines, for the Gen 3 they’re totally beltless and I’ve heard of almost no problems with them.

        • AndyGF

          Until some kinda of ‘prius driver’ dies because his AIR-CON button jams ON and freezes to death!

          I can see it now… “Our greenie switch off the engine, but it just kept on freezing him!” Kind of like a low budget horror movie!

          • Vrrm

            Irrelevance much?

          • AndyGF

            Sense of Humour much?

          • Vrrm

            Nah, it’s like a half baked attempt to be funny. Pointless..

          • Alexander

            What are you on about? :s

          • AndyGF

            If you must know alex, ‘belts’ are one of the last things I worry about in a modern car. (V belts are amazingly tough and require bad fitment or abuse before they fail prematurely)

            If you ask me, electronics are much more troublesome (well not since I brought a German made car…), but electronics, sheez, my two previous Jap cars had to have an ABS controller and a ECU changed, and the last Jap scrap I had let me know because of a faulty ‘timing sensor’. (all new cars, changed under warrantee)

            So yeah, I think the AC system jamming on would be a kind of appropriate humour…

          • me-all-day

            Interesting, I’ve read of many complaints regarding the electrical systems in European cars, I can’t ever think of a Jap car having the same issues. Of course they all have failures yet anecdotally – it’s the Euros that seem to cop most of the grief!

          • AndyGF

            Good point me-all-day.

            Even 6 years ago I would have totally been right there with you, and I might have just been unlucky? But the more I thought about it and the reasoning behind it, the more it makes sense.
            The tables have turned on the reliability front IMHO for the following reasons…

            (a) While its more expensive to design a new chassis in Germany, even compared to Japan, their concept of platform sharing philosophy actually really makes the buying public win big time! You get a 800 billion dollar budget chassis ‘design’ for the price you are paying for a 400 billion dollar design from a japanese model, because they stubbornly refuse to streamline. Its taken a step further, they seam to think that its an advantage that they they dont make ‘world cars’, like FORD and VW do.
            (b) Also, they have thousands of interchangeable parts helps keep the prices down, and the keep the knock offs out! Resulting in better customer experience.
            (c) These margins have FORCED the Japanese manufacturers to build their cars in half cocked manufacturing plants each doing their own thing, rather than Tokio, where the quality used to come from (even that’s past tense).
            IE: Im not saying the VW does not have any 3rd world manufacturing plants, but at least they aren’t building bespoke chassis, the VW plants have a chassis code, and the machines which make them are the same for each of those codes, weather they are in Czechoslovakia or Dresden, Germany.

          • Alexander

            @Andy GF

            To be honest i’m neither a Euro or Japanese car person, i’ve had three euro cars since i started driving (Alfa 147, VW golf MK4 & an Astra Coupe), all gave me mechanical and electrical issues, i’ve now had a Prius for over a year and have had zero issues. none at all (although it’s still early days, judging by other peoples experiences on PriusChat forums, there’s VERY little that goes wrong with them)

            I know other Japanese car manufacturers don’t platform share to a great extent, but Toyota really knows how to use a platform. Their platfroms are global in the sense they use them fo many different products around the world.

            The Toyota MC platform is used for the Rav4, Corolla, Camry, Aurion, Lexus ES, Toyota Mark X, Auris, Kluger, Scion xB, Matrix, Venza, Avensis, Lexus HS, RX, CT, Scion TC, Prius and Sienna. If that’s not effective platform sharing, i don’t know what is? They all have closely related parts, especially switchgear, although Toyota parts are so easily and cheaply obtained, there’s no reason to worry. Toyota doesn’t do global cars to the extent of other car makers as they can afford to make cars tailored to specific marke, besides, global cars may not always be the way to go, i think VW has learnt this, after all they produced a US specific Passat?

            I honestly havent heard of Toyotas built in non japanesefactories such as in Argentina, Aus, Brazil, Canada, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, UK & US having any better or worse quality than the Japanese built cars?

          • AndyGF

            I have also never heard of hypocrites (any kind) complaining about their punt. After all, its the essence of their ability to pooh-pooh their neighbors?
            There are plenty of problems with the prius, if you see Toyotas budget for looking after old priuses and keeping those batteries going, you would swear they would have sold 20 million of the things, not 2 million? What happens when you stop being a recipricant of that budget? Its no wonder old Priuses are worthless.

            Lexus RX Luxury 4×4 ‘sharing’ ($100,000) a chassis with a measly Corolla ($18,000), Mmmmm… Need I say anything more?

            The US Passat is being marketed to compete with much bigger cars in the USA, I wouldnt be surprised if you see a ‘baby pheaton’ model on our shores not too long from now with the same underpinnings as the US Passat. The truth is VW is growing in the USA, and that new model is just to keep up with demand and reduce import losses, more than could be said for most manufacturers, including toyota.

      • Vrrm

        If it’s so pointless, why aren’t you using lard in your cooking and as a bread spread? Oh? Coz olive oil taste better??

    • RichardW

      Why is the internet full of those who just don’t get it with anything new?

      But then I guess this is nothing new, I bet the first combustion engine cars got the same sort of nonsense from those defending the old Edison electric cars.

      Yes, a proper EV is better if you stay within it’s range.

      The Volt makes some sense for range extended EV also.

      But drive a Hybrid round a few blocks and watch what it does – and you begin to see how it can save a heap of fuel. You also begin to imagine how it could be improved by getting some of it’s power from a power point.

      Note that almost all car brochures and manufacturer websites quote combined economy. There is a reason they leave off the Urban/City figure.

      I have been doing a lot of analysis of the fuel economy for different trips over the last week, the variation in economy depending on traffic conditions is staggering.

      When a diesel car quotes you something like 4.6 l/100km – what does it actually do in peak hour on Victoria Rd sydney? it won’t be 4.6 will it?

      A hybrid has some chance of doing close to it’s City cycle rating, even in heavy traffic. Anything else can’t possibly.

      A car with idle stop will get some of the benefits, and not be quite as affected by the traffic as any other non-hybrid, but the start-stop driving will still put the engine through repeated cycles of it’s worst possible performance.

      A hybrid will use it’s electric engine to do the start, and an electric engine is efficient at low speeds, it will recover some of the otherwise wasted momentum in the stop. Best of all – not having to start the petrol engine for a slow start it will just not need to burn petrol for much of the trip.

      A plug-in will allow the additional benefit of a much cheaper and in some cases free fuel source for some of the trip.

      So this is not a flying submarine, it is a car, and what’s more it is a reliable and well engineered car, that simplifies out some of the bad engineering that has been in cars for years.

  • indon

    I saw this car this year ( trial car). It is good if you are happy with a slightly shallow boot floor than the current model and ok with not having a spare tire.
    I bought a base prius model and not the higher spec model because of not having an option of a spare tire ( I would never buy a car which has no spare tire). As a matter of fact I did get a puncture last year which cost $40 to fix at the local tyre shop.
    I would miss the extra space that the current prius has under the boot floor for extra things for the kids which can be left alone.
    I’ll wait for the next model which hopefully have a smaller battery with a longer EV range as I do 100 kms per day and the 20 kms ev range would do not much for me.
    But it would be good for a lot of people who are happy with the above limitations and do short drives per day eg Alexander above.
    Indon

    • Alexander

      The lack of a spare tyre doesnt worry me that much to be honest,at first I was looking at a base model but I found an iTech demo for the same price as a base model. According to Toyota the boot capacity for the production PHEV is the same as the standard Prius minus the spare tyre and under floor bin area. Although as you said 20km in EV out of 100km wouldnt make a huge difference to economy anyway, although for myself it would make a huge difference to my economy.

      • indon

        The trial model that I saw had the floor raised by about an inch ( which makes a big difference overall ) .It also had no underfloor space as the batteries are big and take up a large area as you can tell by the diagram in the group of photos which is in the article.
        I also bought a ex demo base model( nearly 2 yrs ago now). I would have loved to have the radar cruise which is in the higher spec and the solar panels with the sunroof/leather but I refused to pay the extra and not get a spare tyre.
        The rear seating space beats most of the german cars ( I tried sitting in the “rear seats” of Audi 3/4,BMW3,Merc C , Volvo S40,60. The only thing that came close to sitting at the back re space was the Merc B class.

        • Alexander

          Yea the PHV test cars did have a very noticeable raised floor, although they did have a slightly larger 5.5kw battery. The Prius is oddly sized, the interior is almost Camry size in most directions apart from width, while the exterior is more stretched Corolla size wise. It’s either small nor medium.

        • K

          You do realise you can find any space saver out of a Subaru or pay through the nose for the base Prius space saver and just fit that spare tyre in.

  • nick

    2.1L/100km, 760km range. So it has a 15L tank?

    • Nick2

      760/100 = 7.6
      7.6 * 2.1 = 16L

      Seems a tad small even for a Prius.
      According to Toyota it has a 45L tank.

      • Nick2

        45L @2.1L/100km = 2142.9km

        Something smells very fishy here

  • mrxandthexfactor

    This is no boring Prius! This car should really come to Australia. It’d be great for normal everyday city driving.

  • Nick

    Nobody has mentioned the weight issue with this thing yet. When you’re driving electric, you’re having to push a dirty great petrol engine that’s not doing anything except adding mass, and when you do use the engine, you’re dragging around a dirty great battery !

    Get a grip Toyota, junk the focus groups and their ‘range anxiety’ issues, and do a ‘proper’ EV !

    • .RoFlmaTiC

      You’re right! Because this car has to lug both a petrol engine and a dirty big battery, the fuel economy is going to be terrible!

      Oh wait…..

    • Alexander

      It weighs 1420kg, 50kg more than the base Prius, and about the same as an iTech. The batteries are equivalent to carrying a small passenger in a regular car, is your car noticeably less efficient when carrying an extra 50kgs? Toyota reduced the weight addition of the battery by reducing the fuel tank to 15l and deleting the sunroof option. According to the US test cycle, the PHEV is just as efficient when running in hybrid mode as a regular Prius?

  • Tim

    Very useful for those short runs to to local shop / school – no need to start the petrol engine which over short distances runs cold and hence is very inefficient.