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2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid - First Drive Review

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Tideland Prius, May 10, 2010.

  1. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Back in the waning years of the previous millennium, the Toyota Prius was born, becoming the first Toyota hybrid. Since then, of course, many other Toyota and Lexus hybrids have hit the roads, as have many from nearly every other automaker. But it’s the Prius—thanks to distinct (if unsexy) styling and industry-leading fuel economy—that remains the unofficial greenmobile for Toyota and the world.

    Naturally, then, the Prius is set to become the first Toyota to make the next big leap in fuel efficiency for 2012 by going plug-in with the new Prius PHV, or “plug-in hybrid vehicle.†And since 2012 is a long way off—in our impatient minds, at least—we jumped at the chance to drive one of the 150 powder-blue preproduction Prius PHVs bound for the U.S. in 2010. All are part of Toyota’s Prius PHV pilot program that places these vehicles with various utilities and government agencies to gather data on vehicle performance.

    2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid - First Drive Review - Auto Reviews - Car and Driver
     
    #1 Tideland Prius, May 10, 2010
  2. joe1347

    joe1347 Active Member

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    Not good.

     
    #2 joe1347, May 10, 2010
  3. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    Not bad.

    The Classic model took 12.5 seconds and I never had any trouble with highway merging.
    .
     
    #3 john1701a, May 10, 2010
  4. joe1347

    joe1347 Active Member

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    I'm just baffled why the PHEV Prius Lithium battery pack increased the vehicle weight by 330 pounds. Isn't the PHEV Prius battery pack only 5 Kw-hr?

    A 'similar' 5 Kw-hr lithium battery pack from Hymotion only weighs 187 pounds. I don't know what the current NiMH Prius battery pack weighs - but a reasonable or conservative guess is that if you replaced the Prius NiMH battery pack with a 5 Kw-Hr Hymotion (A123 Systems LiFePO4) battery pack, the total vehicle weight should only increase about 100 pounds max. So why does the Toyota PHEV battery weight so much more than the A123 Systems/Hymotion solution? Different battery technology? Or did Toyota add a whole lot more cooling and structural support around the lithium batteries for safety reasons (than Hymotion)?
    Product Specifications

    [​IMG]
     
    #4 joe1347, May 10, 2010
  5. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    It is their first gen Lithium pack. They don't intend to use it for 2012 mass produced model. I hope the 2nd gen Lithium to be lighter, more range, less room and cost less.
     
    #5 usbseawolf2000, May 10, 2010
  6. V8Cobrakid

    V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

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    after reading car and drivers other reviews of the prius.. i bet they left the car in B mode.. with the power option on...

    i really don't care for their reviews.. how could anyone find the shift knob and park button to be difficult?....
     
    #6 V8Cobrakid, May 10, 2010
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Well remember part of it runs as a regular hybrid. I'm not sure how hymotion works if the car isn't plugged in

    I also think Toyota's being very conservative with its range. The battery pack is much larger than Hymotion's yet only does 21km.

    ~0.5 sec slower than your Gen 2....still faster than a Jetta TDI, 1st gen Civic Hybrid, 1st Gen Prius and smart fortwo. Oh and it's about the same as a V6 Chevy Epica lol... slower than a Fit and Yaris though...


    cause anything that doesn't have 1-2-3-4-5-R is hard.
     
    #7 Tideland Prius, May 10, 2010
  8. F512M

    F512M Member

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    Agree, they will improve.
     
    #8 F512M, May 10, 2010
  9. Erikon

    Erikon Active Member

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    They just seemed really annoyed with the Prius, plug-in or standard!
     
    #9 Erikon, May 11, 2010
  10. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    I bet the first thing they tested was 0-60 and got disappointed. That probably set the tone of the rest of the article.
     
    #10 usbseawolf2000, May 11, 2010
  11. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    In my own drive, I did notice that freeway acceleration was indeed slower. EV only acceleration is quicker off the line.

    According to the Toyota-University guy, the packs combined are good for 3kWh, but I don't have anything in writing to validate that.
     
    #11 HTMLSpinnr, May 11, 2010
  12. Rybold

    Rybold globally warmed member

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    Why Can't Toyota's Plug-In Prius Recharge Its Larger Battery?

    Why Can't Toyota's Plug-In Prius Recharge Its Larger Battery? - All Cars Electric

    Anyone know the answer to this? Does NiMH accept faster charging rates than LiIon?
    (But, gee, my Li-Ion iPhone rapid charges the first ~80 of every charge, then slows to top off the final 20%)

    Can someone familiar with this subject of the Prius regen not charging the Li-Ion please shed some light on this? Thank you.
     
    #12 Rybold, May 12, 2010
  13. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    I assume that you're referring to this part :
    The answer is simple really. It's simply untrue, that's why. The new PHEV prius does regenerate perfectly well into the LiIon battery packs.

    Yes there is a limitation that it can only regen into the currently selected pack, but YTF people always want to exaggerate any perceived weakness when it come to the Prius is beyond me. Somehow people are all too ready to distort things or blow them out of proportion with anything Prius.

    BTW. Toyota have stated that they implemented it this way to make the individual battery pack operation more independent and therefore more reliable.
     
    #13 uart, May 12, 2010
  14. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    There is also added weight in the back for the upgraded suspension.
     
    #14 Danny, May 12, 2010
  15. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    The author made mistakes with the specs. He corrected the NiMH number but not the Lithium main pack number. I sent him a reply already. Basically,

    Lithium: 1.73 kWh x 0.6 = 1.04 kWh (usable)
    NiMH: 1.31 kWh x 0.4 = 0.52 kWh (usable)

    As you can see, PHV Prius in hybrid mode can store about twice more energy in hybrid mode than a regular Prius.

    Since the PHV main pack (for HV mode) is bigger than NiMH, it should be able to absorb more regen faster.
     
    #15 usbseawolf2000, May 12, 2010
  16. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Do we know the front and rear weight ratio for PHV Prius? It should be closer to 50/50.
     
    #16 usbseawolf2000, May 12, 2010
  17. Rybold

    Rybold globally warmed member

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    Wait until they remove the engine for the "City" Prius in a few years. :D
    It will do wheelies!
     
    #17 Rybold, May 12, 2010
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