We've been able to add aftermarket PHEV conversions to Priuses here in the UK for a couple of years now (Amberjac conversion). They use a much bigger battery than the twin-standard-NiMH type used in this trial.

6.2 miles on pure electric and takes 2 hours to charge. That would get me to the grocery store and back, or even to the Safeway (the only place I can get nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt) but for those trips, the PHEV Prius would be no better than my Xebra. 25 mph residential streets. And for the longer trips downtown or even to the Indian restaurant 5 miles away, the PHEV Prius would have to burn gasoline, which the Xebra does not, and it's still 35 mph streets. The Prius would get me there a couple of minutes faster as it reaches 35 quicker than the Xebra does. Big deal.

Conclusion: a PHEV-6.2 does nothing at all for me.

Follow-up article here.

P.S. The Prius takes two hours to charge enough for 6.2 miles. My Xebra with the LiFePO4 battery pack goes 40 miles on a charge and charges to full from empty in 7 hours; but it charges to nearly full in 4 hours. Prius: 3 miles for an hour's charging; Xebra: nearly 10 miles in an hour of charging.

Prius plug test car in London... BBC NEWS | Technology | Plug-in hybrid car's test drive
Video from BBC.

Upto 60mph in electric mode. Short range.. as the purpose of the test is to see what sort of range users require.

Some interesting shots of the MFD 2008 model plugin test bed.

Does nothing for you, but would do a lot for a "normal" person

I commute 18 miles RT, have the option of taking surface streets or freeway, and have the ability to charge both at home and work. Currently I average about 60mpg when I commute surface streets. Current daily fuel consumption is 0.3 gallons. With a 6.2 mile EV range, that would drop to 0.093 gallons, or 193.5mpg. A 70% reduction in consumption would be very nice indeed, particularly considering I'm already doing pretty well compared to "normal" people. On the freeway in mixed mode I should have battery to spare and still get 100mpg+.

BTW Daniel I'm teasing in case there is any doubt. I admire your commitment to EVs. I really wanted to do a conversion, but the Prius was more practical for the family and burned my EV budget.

Rob

For a fairer way to look at it, the average person in the US drives 33 miles and would probably only be able to charge at home at least to begin with. 6.2 miles of EV would take 20% off their consumption. On the highway it should be at least 18.8% if not better. Not huge, but I'd take it.

I also don't think we have any specific reason to believe that this is a proposed production configuration. Just a useful testbed for gathering data.

Rob

Yes the video does indeed say it's a "work in progress" to assess the required EV range. 35 miles would be a nice figure...

6 miles electric?
pfffff thats not a lot

2009 fleet will have litium ion http://www.smartplanet.com/news/transport/10001660/video-toyota-and-edf-on-the-plug-in-prius.htm