Toyota will test plug-in Prius, with li-ion packs, in Japan
Has Toyota had a change of plans? Again? We've told you about the delays for Toyota's next-generation Prius (see below). The problems centered around the lithium ion batteries, or at least the possibility of li-ion batteries and the latest word was that those plans were scrapped. Now, according to Green Car Congress, the Asahi Shimbun is reporting that Toyota is looking for permission to test a plug-in Prius prototype on public roads in Japan. This will be the first such test there. And, yes, the batteries are supposedly li-ion.
Related:
[Source: Green Car Congress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 10:30PM (7/19/2007)
Hmm...This seems to make more sense.
It's pretty clear that Toyota must be working on PHEVs because of the competition from other car makers (Tesla,GM) It doesn't sound very Toyota-like to not persue such a technology.
However, it sounds very Toyota-like to play it safe first and do some extensive testing on their product before doing anything that may tarnish their prestine green image. (like a Prius that caught on fire.)
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Chris M 10:56PM (7/19/2007)
Toyota had the Prius on sale in Japan for 3 years before upgrading it and selling to the rest of the world. Not suprising that they would put them on the road in Japan first, and they'll probably put them on sale there first.
It would be nice if they could offer a plug-in upgrade option to people who already bought a Prius. Who knows, maybe they will. They'd better hurry, though, before other companies flood the market!
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David Fox 11:41PM (7/19/2007)
At $24k for a plugin conversion, I doubt there will be a flood of interest anytime soon. "Hybrids-Plus www.hybrids-plus.com Boulder, CO offers lithium-ion conversions of the Toyota Prius and soon on the Escape, for private individuals or for organizations; current pricing starts at $24,000."
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Paul Berg 5:34AM (7/20/2007)
Toyota can afford to take the slow, secure way towards green cars. They have earned this privelige by making good buisniss all over the world the last 20 years. Ford and GM for examble on the other hand is making thees cars...or at least statements about coming cars with the knife at their throat. Their financial problems force them to stress coming to the green future and that will make them vonorable to bad dessisions conserning quality and market analysis. Theerefore i belive only the strong companies today, like Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Honda and so forth will end up as the "winners" when we look at a hopefuly much greener car industri lets say 20 years from now !
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Altairian1 7:17AM (7/20/2007)
If Toyota finally played it SAFE it must be Nanosafe. Altairnano sofar gets the best and safest Li(NLTO)battery out there and the Bipolar design in JV with ElectroEnergy made it more versatile and ECONOMIC.Altairnano powered
Plugin2Go and Plugin2G soon to be the standard.
altarnative.com opinion.
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FrankTheCrank 9:29AM (7/20/2007)
Wow, this is GREAT!!!
I think Toyota is going to continue it's dominance over the American automotive market with innovations, such as this.
Just to think, GM already had a plug in auto called the EV1 in Califormia....almost 10 years ago. Wow, did GM blow it or what?
If this plug-in Toyota ever comes to fruition, Toyota can count me IN!! I'll gladly trade in my gas gussling, terrorist funding auto.
Now if I could only juice up this car with solar power...that would be the perfect solution.
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AlexNC 9:40AM (7/20/2007)
You can add solar, and it gives you a 10% increase!
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/productstory?id=40320
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parbpatacsil 4:14AM (8/02/2007)
Just hope the Li-Ion batteries are not made by Sony.
Or else we'll burn to a crisp.
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