Toyota to produce plug-in hybrids
July 6, 2009 by David Twomey
Toyota in Japan plans to start mass-producing plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012, with a projected first-year output of about 20,000 to 30,000 units, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Reuters Newsagency quotes Toyota as saying it would start leasing 500 plug-in cars globally by the end of this year, primarily for government and corporate use, but has not said when it would commercialise them.
Toyota’s plug-in hybrids would fan competition against General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt plug-in, which can also be charged at home through an electric socket
GM is aiming to launch the Volt, a showcase vehicle for its effort to reinvent itself after filing for bankruptcy last month, by the end of 2010 and plans to have a total 14 hybrid models in production by 2012.
Plug-ins can be cleaner than regular hybrids as they can run purely on electricity, but the need for more batteries makes them expensive.
Toyota wants to price its plug-in hybrids at a comparable price to Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV all-electric car, which debuts this month to fleet customers in Japan at 4.59 million yen (US$47,800) before government subsidies, the Nikkei said, without citing sources.
Toyota’s new Prius petrol-electric hybrid costs less than half that, starting at 2.05 million yen in Japan.
Toyota’s plug-ins will be able to run 20-30kilometres, much less than the 160km range of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, on battery power alone at full charge, the paper said.
Toyota has said lithium-ion batteries developed and produced by its joint venture with Panasonic EV Energy Co will power the car.
A Toyota spokesman said the company could not comment on future product plans.
Print it: 
That’s a really poor range…
I think they could do a lot better, I mean charging twice the amount for basically an extra power socket is pretty silly.
Quote ” Toyota’s plug-ins will be able to run 20-30kilometres,”
Agree with that RoFlmaTiC,you may as well be driving a golf cart around.
How long does it take to recharge when you get to the limit of the 30k range and what’s the point of leaving home unless there’s a recharge station near by !
They are still “hybrids” so I would assume they will retain the petrol engine BM. I just can’t understand why it costs so much to get basically a power socket for a car. Surely they could just take the current prius, wack on a transformer etc and put a power socket it on it for a few grand extra? Then tweak the car’s computer so that it is designed to run on battery alone for the first x number of km’s.
I guess it is RoFlmaTiC ,would have to be.
So why bother ? Is it really competing against the all electric Mitsubishi version ?
Only way to go I think with these electric cars is to have exchange battery stations in the future ,unless they can do quick recharge systems.
Better idea, if you want one of these just buy a Prius go to your local caravan guy and buy an inverter, sit it in the boot and your done. $300.00 for a good one and you can tricle charge to your hearts content.. don’t worry about the electricity comming from a coal fired powerstation, your car will be cleaner though. :p
[NOT!]****primo****
Do the math, hybrids DON’T save a thing.
These plug in jobs are even more silly.
Cheers
F-0
Not to push the comments too far off topic, but isn’t a plug-in car just converting any carbon emission that would be produced by a petrol/diesel/hybrid engine over to our local coal-fired power plants? (As Frontman also noted).
Isn’t that robbing Peter to pay Paul?
This concept is probably great for countries which are heavily urbanised (i.e. everything is within 10-15km of your home), and have a clean means of generating power (e.g. Hydroelectric plants, wind/wave power plants, and arguably nuclear power plants). For example, Japan (??? – I’m not sure what kind of power plants Japan has (geothermal, nuclear, ???))
But for a country like Australia, which is mostly supplied by coal-fired power plants, this is a (not bad, but) not-so-good idea.
Tell me really would anyone here look at this car.
i would only ever look at one if it could do a return trip from home to work and back say 100K.
Range of 20-30Ks waste of time getting this car to the market.
i work 35Ks from home what if i need something from the shops, OMG looks like i would be walking home from there lol.
Go Ford
Blaze:
You’re right that Australia is disproportionately reliant on coal power plants, however even they are much more efficient in terms of energy produced vs emissions produced than internal combustion engines.
It’s something like 60% efficiency vs 30% if I can recall.
LPG is the anwser for Australia
Have our own here [no arab oil to import]
35% cleaner than petrol/DIEsel
But alas the govco does not collect 10 billion dollars per year in tax so they wont be all that interested while they?
Cheers
F-0
I agree FO,we in Australia should run our cars on LPG,we have got tons of the stuff.
We also used to have plenty of crude oil, but aparently thats running out now….
LPG is a bandaid for a bullet wound…
Hybrid is designed to be a stepping stone into other technologys.
Drove the new prius today, Quite impressed!
Tyson, the experts reckon that Australia could run our entire automotive fleet on LPG for 50+ years with the supply we have. That’s almost equvalent to the duration of the motor car, as we know it, so far.
Great we can run them for 50 years, Why not start the change now? My commment in regards to a Bandaid for a Bullet wound is more in regard to the fact that it will run out at some point! We know this, so why drag it out, why not save some of the resource for a potentially better use! Hybrids and electrics are the future, Super efficient engines are desireable granted, and so are cheap clean fuels, but sustainability is the hardest thing to maintain!
with a population increaseing exponentially and an increasing need to transport those people I think its great to see all manufacturers from all stables looking to find green technologies! especially when it comes to bulk transport!
People say a 30km range out of a vehicle that plugs in is useless! I say its 30kms that a person doesnt have to start a motor and fill the air with gasses is nothing but a plus! Especially when you consider that power companys are working on greener sources for cleaner energy. So you look to the future and you have a Plug in car that to run to the shops and back didnt need to start the motor, A cleaner generated power source through evolving technology and increased government pressure. but most importantly we have a step in the right direction! Sustainability!
I don’t really like hybrid cars. They don’t really save that much gas. Also, they’re pretty expensive compared to their non-hybrid counterparts.
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