Toyota to make plug-in Prius standard in 2014
Japanese automaker Toyota is preparing to make plug-in technology standard on its popular Prius hybrid car beginning in 2014, according to a Nikkei business daily report.
Toyota will introduce the plug-in version of its Prius for the 2012 model year. The technology allows the driver to recharge the car from a conventional household electrical outlet.
The move is the next logical step after the Prius' current drivetrain, which recharges the battery during braking. With plug-in technology, Toyota can allow the electrical drivetrain to handle more of the overall driving experience, moving away from the vehicle's 1.8-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine.
The 2012 Prius will be capable of traveling more than 140 miles per gallon (60 km/l) equivalent -- far more than the already impressive 89 m.p.g. (38 km/l) equivalent it manages today.
(If those numbers sound far-fetched, it's because those figures include the car's 13-mile (at up to 62 mp.h.) all-electric range. Strictly speaking, the 80-horsepower engine itself achieves about 50 miles per gallon.)
The 2012 version will be priced about the same as the current model.
The hope is that these advances -- along with a possible expansion of the Prius line into several models -- will help speed adoption of electrified auto ownership. The company wants to average sales of one million units a year by 2015; in 2010, it sold 700,000 Prii.
The next step: building out a charging infrastructure to accommodate all these newly plugged-in cars.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com