Are you a Floridian and have been looking at converting your Prius into a plug-in (PHEV)? Well, today may be your lucky day, especially if you live in South Florida. The Department of Energy has approved the state of Florida's plan to use $500,000 of federal stimulus funds to offer 100 people a $5,000 tax credit in exchange for converting their Prius.

... at least in Japan. According to a Toyota Japan press release, the details of the leases should be finalized by the end of November, with deliveries of those highly sought after Prius PHEVs beginning in mid-December and continuing onward until the country's 200 units are all gone.

This is the first public announcement we've seen on who will be getting a look at the factory-equipped Prius Plug-In early next year. Xcel Energy is getting 10 of the PHEVs to put into service with their SmartCityGrid Project in Boulder, CO.  Press release below.

Toyota is First Automotive Manufacturer to Participate in SmartGridCity(TM) Project

Need a reason to move to Colorado?  Here's one: the state will give you up to a $6,000 tax credit toward converting your plain-old Prius into a snazzy PHEV Plug-In Prius capable of getting 2,500 miles on a tank of gas.  Clayton Cornell over at Gas 2.0 put together a great article on the ins and outs, and he crunched the numbers for all you "When will it pay itself off?" people.

The actual concept car won't be shown in the flesh until next week at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but Toyota released a bunch of details and new photos today of the Prius Plug-In Concept.  Here are the highlights:

• Lithium-ion battery technology allows for compact packaging and quick recharging
• Rechargeable from domestic power supply or public charging point in about 1.5 hours
  
• Extended EV (electric) driving mode of up to 12.5 miles at speeds up to 62mph
• Over longer distances, Prius Plug-in switches to conventional petrol-electric full hybrid operation
• CO₂ emissions cut to less than 60g/km

There are still no hard details on the Plug-In (PHEV) Prius, but we at least finally have a picture of what it'll look like.  Toyota has chosen the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show as the place to release more details, but it doesn't start until September 15th.  What we do now know is that the charging port for the Plug-In Prius will be just below the driver's side mirror (same side as the gas tank door).  We also know that Toyota will release 200 test vehicles to Japan, 150 to the US, and another 150 to Europe to commercial and government fleets by early 2010.

There's a pretty big thread going over in the PriusChat Forums regarding the announcement of the Nissan Leaf EV.  We won't go into too much, but will give the general overview:

Toyota Motor Corp 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 on Saturday.

No word on how many will reach the U.S., or when sales will start here. Toyota has said the vehicle will be powered by lithium-ion batteries developed and produced by its joint venture with Panasonic. The cars would be able to run up to 18 miles on battery power alone before a backup gas powerplant kicked in.

Toyota, how can I be one of the lucky 150 US-based testers?  And no, I'm not kidding.

Toyota to start leasing plug-in hybrids in Japan, US, Europe

YURI KAGEYAMA

AP Business Writer

3:41 AM PDT, June 3, 2009

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota said Wednesday it will start leasing plug-in hybrid cars, that are even greener than its hit Prius, by the end of this year in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

Wired's Ben Mack wrote an article yesterday about engineers at the University of Technology Sydney who have built a plug-in Toyota Prius they claim is capable of reducing power shortages by returning energy to the grid.