On sale in 2012. Seems like vaporware if they are really that far off

Re: Prius Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) FAQ

". . .
Why is the Prius PHV range so short?
Toyota is of the belief that the smaller the battery in a PHV the better, both from a total lifecycle assessment (carbon footprint) point of view, as well as a cost point of view. Research has shown that plug-in hybrid vehicles with smaller batteries, charged frequently (every 20 miles or less) with average U.S. electricity produce less green house gas emissions than conventional hybrid vehicles. (according to a 2009 Carnegie Melon University study). And as battery size increases, so does the battery cost resulting in higher overall vehicle cost.
. . .
How will plugging in the Prius PHV at home affect the electric bill?
The PHV draws approximately one kilowatt per hour and takes approximately three hours to charge. The effect on the bill also will be determined by how often the vehicle is charged. Since electricity rates vary greatly depending on location and utility company, Toyota cannot determine an exact cost."


Sometimes I wonder why Toyota, which generally has high quality cars, devotes so little to technical editing--or other editing. This press release shows many of the same problems as the Prius Owner's Manual.

"One kilowatt per hour"? Don't they mean one kilowatt-hour per hour?

"the smaller the battery in a PHV the better"--This may be possible (though I kind of thought that up to a certain point, the idea was to get as much power from the plug as reasonably possible), but the whole explanation in that paragraph completely confuses me.


Am I crazy on either of these? And if I'm not, what are they really trying to say in that paragraph about wanting small batteries in PHVs?

Re: Prius Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) FAQ

They should just say the battery pack charges at the rate of 1kw. It isn't allowed to fully deplete so it so it will fully charge in about 3 hours and use about 3kwh of electricity. If you do this every day your bill will go up about 90kwh a month.

In some sense this it true. Especially for the Japanese market where drivers don't travel far. The bigger the battery pack, the more the added cost and weight. The cost is somewhat subsidized by the US government. The car must be designed for the additional weight.

My guess is toyota is only doing this to get some experience with it. If lithium batteries do come down in price they will design the 2015 prius with longer range. Toyota has a lead in pure hybrid vehicles and is majority owner of panasonic ev which leads in Nimh batteries. The playing field is much more level when it comes to plug in vehicles.

Re: Prius Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) FAQ

No, apparently their technical editing is good. They correctly stated a load rate ("draws") for electrical power usage, whereas your suggestion is more awkward. A kwH is a unit of power usage to be multiplied by time to arrive at total electric power usage. Toyota could have stated that charging the PHV uses approximately 3kwH of electricity. Customers can then simply multiply that amount by their supplier's rate to get total cost per charge.

TYVM. As noted in another thread Toyota can now lay claim to being the first one of the major makers to have a plugin on the roads in the hands of the public generating real results. Neither Nissan or GM can make that claim.

Yes siree, and the foot dragging continues... Toyota gets a lead and they sit on it. Honda plays idiot. GM ran in the wrong direction for too long. Ford may be moving in the right direction. We are moving toward green, but not by leaps and bounds, just milling around and looking to see what others are doing.

A lot of people don't remember that Prius was "data collected" in the Japan from 1997 to 2000. It came to US as 2001 model.

Toyota is taking the same approach with PHV Prius but the data collection is world wide this time.

Good luck to Nissan and GM with their approach. The risk is highest for Nissan since they are planning to produce a lot more than the Volt. Nissan are now in the position how long they should warrant the Leaf. They announced the price but not the warranty, betting that most will want to lease. $21k electric car that last only 5 years is a very expensive. Not only that, it can ruin the image of the entire EV industry.

I do !!!

Reading about those test & review experiences prior to the US rollout was very exciting. Then finding out how Toyota took that feedback to build the next model for sale in late 2000 here was very almost surreal. To think, that was the dawn of a new age. Boy was I naive. I had no idea so many would resist change so fiercely. What the heck!

Anywho, to those of you that feel just like we did over 10 years ago, enjoy the experience. Now, the rest of the industry is really going to have a difficult time maintaining that status quo they have fought so hard for... and you can witness it firsthand.
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thanks for the detailed commentary. Hopefully thanks to your help and from others, Toyota has enough sense and doesn't waste any more time and makes the PHEV Prius available to purchase fairly soon.