First Drive: Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid

I assumed that a plug-in version of the Prius wouldn't be powerful enough when operating in electric-only mode, given that you have to accelerate gingerly in a regular Prius to achieve its top electric-only speed of 30 mph without triggering the gas engine. A drive in an experimental Prius plug-in hybrid, however, proved me wrong.

Here at the Detroit auto show — where sudden hybrid rival GM introduced an upcoming plug-in model and vowed to beat the Japanese pioneer to market — Toyota seized the opportunity to offer Cars.com a test drive. The modified Prius I drove is one of only a handful in the U.S., four of which Toyota has provided to the University of California,  Berkeley and Irvine, in conjunction with the Clean Mobility Partnership.

The plug-in Prius is little more than a regular Prius with an additional nickel-metal-hydride battery pack in the space usually occupied by the spare tire. Aside from that, there are some software changes and an outlet on the rear quarterpanel opposite the one with the fuel filler; the Hybrid Synergy Drive system uses the same electric motors, engine and everything else.

An EV button on the dashboard activates electric-only mode, which gives plenty of power for normal acceleration and lets you climb up to 62 mph before the gas engine turns on. This is a wholly different experience than the EV mode in the Highlander SUV and Lexus LS 600hL sedan, which only help a little when it comes to keeping the engine off; accelerate too quickly or up to about 30 mph, and their engines fire up.

The plug-in Prius accelerated at a reasonable rate in EV mode, turning on the gas engine only when I called for heavy acceleration or exceeded 62 mph. Even better, the familiar in-dash touch-screen display gives additional information: The Energy Monitor screen adds a bar graph in the corner that indicates exactly how close you are to triggering the gas engine. By modulating the pedal position, I maintained the electric-only mode as long as I could. More information, Toyota says, helps drivers maximize their mileage.

This screen also shows how much farther you can travel in EV mode until the battery's depleted — in actual miles. This is a mystery in other hybrids, as battery level appears only as a bar graph. This experimental plug-in has an electric range of about seven miles, but Toyota says that would at least double in a real product, which won't come until the next-generation Prius — with a lithium-ion battery — does.

So when do we plug it in? The idea is to recharge plug-in hybrids overnight, but this model takes only three to four hours from a 110-volt household outlet. If you use 220 volts, it's only an hour to an hour and a half. The point behind charging is that it lets you start out with a full battery. Current hybrids often fire up the engine when you turn the car on to top off the battery pack. Even with the seven-mile range on fossil-fuel-free energy, Toyota stresses that the fuel burned by the end of the trip — not how long you go electric only — is what counts.

The additional batteries help out in part by increasing the storage capacity for electricity generated through regenerative braking, which all hybrids do. For example, if you use a lot of juice climbing a hill you can gain more of it back when you coast or brake your way back down. In current hybrids, once the battery is full, any additional braking represents wasted energy.

You might want a mileage figure for this car, but Toyota correctly points out that there's no reliable way to judge it yet — and that goes for other companies' plug-ins, too. One of the Clean Mobility Partnership's goals is to develop such a test cycle, and study the real-world "life-cycle" emissions of electric cars in different regions, because most of the country's electricity is generated by dirty, carbon-heavy coal. Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies will look into the demand for such cars by cycling drivers through plug-in hybrids, full electrics and other alternative-fuel cars. The viability of alternative propulsion depends on too many factors to mention, but includes the cost of manufacture, how much consumers will pay for what level of performance, and their tolerance for plugging in a car or having shorter ranges between charges or fill-ups.

Overall I'm impressed with the experimental plug-in, partly because the Prius itself is a system designed to operate plug-free. A car designed from the start as a plug-in — as the current car's successor may be — will invariably be more efficient. Toyota and other automakers are busier than we know, and they keep the details to themselves. As soon as we know any more, you will too.

Comments

[LM]

"Toyota correctly points out that there's no reliable way to judge it yet — and that goes for other companies' plug-ins, too."

It's nice to hear some honesty...none of this "100" or "120-150 MPG" baloney that is only mentioned to get attention.

[J]

Only 7 miles of range? When can we finally get some electric only cars?

[Karl]

Amazing how Bob Lutz spews his sales-bs and here Toyota is in the background getting it done. Gotta respect the Japs for their modesty. While 7 miles is not much, given Toyota's track record I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out a 200-400 mile version in the very near future.

[Cervus]

200-400 mile version? Only Tesla has come close to that in a $100,000 roadster. The batteries are simply not there for that kind of range that can fit in a Prius-sized car. And there are no batteries in "the very near future" that can do that at a reasonable cost.

[Jay]

This is a good step, though not much better than what many people have been doing in their garages with Priuses.

I've thought GM was embarrassing itself lately by running those ads featuring the Chevy Volt, which isn't even available. C'mon, GM, just keep your mouths shut until you're shipping actual cars to the dealers!

What I want is a reliable 25 miles of electric range; that way I could recharge at work and hardly buy any gas at all.

[Dave T.]

Keep in mind guys that this isn't slated for sale either. It's more realistic than a hydrogen vehicle but who knows when they'll be able to come to market. the Volt is the only one given a speculative date BTW of 2010.

[LM]

GM is hype...they don't even have a drive-able concept...even Hydrogen vehicles are out and being tested and have been for some time.

And 7 miles isn't that bad, consider most people drive less than 5 miles at a time. I know many of you will now write "my commute is 27 miles each way uphill"....but most commuting is very short. 7 miles in EV alone and even a 1-5 miles with engine assist will do great things to improve overall MPG for a vehicle.

[trainer]

Your not going to get a super long electric-only mode in a plug-in hybrid - the gasoline engine and assorted parts weigh too much and that doesn't leave as much capacity for a big battery pack. With Li-ion batteries, the PHEV Prius might be good for 15 miles on electric only, which is respectable. If your roundtrip commute is 25 miles a day, the PHEV Prius will burn one gallon of gas every four or five days, assuming you plug it in each night. That's not a bad trade off when you consider the PHEV Prius will have a much greater range than a plain electric vehicle would.

[patrick]

go look at this on the Volt from Wired mag. http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2008/01/lutz_volt_qa

Could be BS, but I don't think so. the GM Volt is slated to enter production in 2010, the same year as the Toyota, is to have 40 mile range. That is almost 6 times the Pius, and doesn't look like a suppository. It could be a crock, but considering how much GM needs to do it, and have spent the money to do it. I tend to believe it. We will all know soon enough.

[Ken in Austin]

How many noticed that the battery technology in the PHEV was still NiMH. They only added more cells, could have done that to begin with.
Once companies like Valence Technology get their batteries into large volume mass production, LI costs will drop, and we will see electric vehicles with 100-200 mile electric ranges become a common offering from all manufacturers. The problem will still lie in the affordability of storing enough energy to go any farther. Today that cost is in the $25+K range. The 6000 cell pack in the Tesla is $30K, about 1/3 the cost of the car, and 200 miles is a stretch for it. What most folks fail to realize is that the cost of electric fuel is so low, compared with $3-4/gal. gas; that paying an additional $10+K for batteries will save you about twice that much over the life of the vehicle as compared to paying for a tank of Gas each week. Soon, you will be hearing about thin film Solar technology bringing the cost of complete residential solar systems down 50% or more. These systems will turn your electric meter backwards when you are not home and then you can put that power into your car at night... CO2 free driving. And, consider the fact that a coal plant's CO2 emmisions are 1/2 or less of most mid-sized 6 cly sedans, when considered on a per mile basis; A gas plant is 1/3, a "combined cycle" gas plant gets it down to 1/4; and often the wind blows harder at night so much of the energy we'll use to rechange will be from renewable generating sources, only minor amounts of fossile fuels used at all. Check out tomorrows batteries at www.valence.com.

Yes, like the rest of you, I want it now! I don't really think most this will be available in mass until about 2015 when the second generation of these technologies will be in competition for your dollars. As always, buying first generation technology is expensive. The electric car is about where the PC was 20+ years ago.... kinda limited in appilactions. Remember you vote with your pocket book, so I encourage you to at least go to a diesel, if you don't (or can't) get an electric hybrid. Diesel fuel has almost double the energy as gas does and in heavy vehicles or hilly terrain it does approach 50-75% efficency gains. We have a diesel hybrid school bus here and it does get double the ecomomy of a non- hybrid bus in a regular start-stop school bus situation.

[J]

LM,
"consider most people drive less than 5 miles at a time."
Please tell me you are not serious about this.
The distance between my school and home is ~20miles. And I wouldn't stop anywhere in between.

[jimsum]

Ken, the economics of plug-in hybrids just isn't that good. Suppose the battery pack costs an extra $10,000 compared to the battery in a Prius. A Prius gets 45 mpg; so at $3 a gallon, you can go 150,000 miles for $10,000. Even if electricity is free, I don't think an extra $10,000 for batteries is justified. Also, if the battery range is 40 miles, it will take 3750 charges to go 150,000 miles - which is more than 10 full years of driving the maximum daily plug-in distance. I think it will be very hard for a plug-in to compete with hybrids like the Prius, especially since a PZEV rated vehicle doesn't pollute any more than the typical electric generating plant.

[Katie]

If you already have a Prius, you can get it retrofitted to be an electric-only plug in Prius. More info: http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/50/plug-in-your-prius

[Trainer]

Jimsum, your comments about the economics of Plug-in hybrids are correct, but only remain valid assuming we continue to have a stable and plentiful supply of petroleum. One hiccup in the supply chain from the mideast, courtesy of an attack on an oil field or export terminal, and we'll be waiting in lines for $10 per gallon gasoline. At that point, having the option of plugging in to get around a few miles each day will look pretty good. Also, even a more moderate increase in gasoline prices would change your economic calculation in PHEVs favor. The opportunity to offset mideast oil with electricity and keep rolling on through any oil supply disruption...priceless.

[Nicholas]

If I had the option to buy a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius, I would. I have a 3.3 mile one way trip to work. I have access to electric outlets at work to plug into during work hours, so I am sure eight hours should be plenty to recharge the battery. I've also heard that recharging the batteries during off peak hours while we are sleeping would mean cheaper access to electricity at night and help the electric companies by utilizing the electricity they have to put out at night mainly because of their inability to really lower their electricity outputs to a great degree at night, since they need to keep their power plants operating at certain outputs to be cost effective.

I plan to bike to work next spring, summer and fall, but right now I drop my daughter off at school on my way to work during the winter in Minnesota, because the bus will not pick her up, since we fall within the 1 mile radius around the school, but "to far" for walking in the cold temperatures and wind chills down to -20, -30, and -40 degrees F. Though, it would be nice to have an alternative to biking when the weather is less than ideal or I want to bring with me more than my bike can carry. Hopefully by then, they will have places to store our bikes and a shower to clean up. Refer to http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/02/in-california-y.html for more progress in this arena.

[DodgeFan]

I think alot of people make the assumption that getting to electrical outlet is easy. I wondered about people in the apartments having to stretch a cord out to their car. If I owned a business I wouldn't let employees run up my electrical bill. Most small business don't have the money to give away free electricity. I know in summertime electricity is pretty scarce in California especially considering most of it comes from hydropower (dams)

[leerhok]

Keep the auto(s) you have just 2-3 yrs more until electrical cars ranging your daily commuting distance are available. Then buy one, and if need be, buy a (small) diesel for long trips. Should give you better economy than any hybrid, plug-in or not.

[Reimer]

While these concept cars only get 7 miles on electric only, I've read that the Toyota executives have stated that a production car will get closer to 20.

I think it would be interesting if the car companies could offer the gas engines as an option. Or maybe they allow to the customer the option of a larger battery or gas engine. That way the customer can buy the car to best fit their driving habits

[BradG]

How long do we have to wait for a bio-diesel/electric hybrid...

[RIP]

An all electric range of 7 miles may not seem like a lot, but don't forget it's a hybrid. With the 100+ mpg, that would be about 1000 mile range on a tank of gas. You don't need to find an electric outlet every night or at work.

This kind of reduction in gas usage is a great step in the right direction. Look at all of the electric cars that have been introduced in the past just to be taken off the market. The Prius (with over a million sold) has made hybrids acceptable. Adding a plug-in to double the milage may be a small enough step that it too becomes acceptable. Then in a few years, it's just another small step to remove the ICE and have an all electric. Sometimes if you get to the solution too fast, it's not accepted by the general public.

If you are ready for an all electric vehicle, there are a few that are available. Some are small and only have three wheels, like those by ZAP, but there are some that look like 'normal' SUVs, and Vans (like those by Pheonix Motorcars).

I wonder what a couple solar panels integrated into the roof/hood would do for such a Prius. Let the sun charge it while it sits in the school or work parking lot all day.

[Agsgymboy]

This (so far anyway) is worse than the EV1 that was released by GM an then taken away from rightful owners, just to have them crushed. Back then, the technology was good, about 90 miles a charge. If GM wasn't idiotic, there would already be 200 miles a charge in any electric vehicle! But, the technology was destroyed, and only a few EV1s live to this day. One ended up at some tech college. I still don't know what GM was thinking when they destroyed the EV1s. I can't wait until they actually come out with electric vehicles again, and this is a good step toward that.

[Mazi]

Just "Watch Who Killed the Electric Car"

[G]

Good luck with hydrogen - Problems like hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen outgassing and permeation of materials, stack efficiencies and longevity, high cost of hydrogen production and availability, and hydrogen mpg shortcomings. Those are just some of the problems involved with hydrogen just off the top of my head.

People complain about alcohol and biodiesel "shortcomings" in comparison to gasoline - hydrogen is on another level of its own in difficulty. Why do car and oil companies love it? Its hard to store and expensive to make so it shares the similiar qualities to gasoline -control of the fuel stocks. Gasoline is hard to make (cheap to store but has a shelf life, then its toxic waste) - you get the recipe wrong and you are going to be buying a new engine quickly. Also 95% of hydrogen production today is a byproduct of the petroluem industry processes.

Electric cars and GM? See the movie about the EV1 and watch the faces of the Auto CEOs when president Clinton talks about green technology and electric cars. The expression on their faces clearly shows what they think.

[P Smith]

If you see Doug Korthof on Youtube liveoilfree channel, WKTEC, and the Electric Auto Association (EAA) you can learn -

1. The batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids most definitely ARE here. But suppressed.

Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) by Stan Ovshinsky. Patents bought up by ... Texaco and Chevron. It is here NOW. It works. It has been tested to have a TEN calendar year life. Li ion is untested for calendar year life.

2. Toyota and other were stopped from selling 120 mile range RAV4-EV with NiMH batteries by the patent holder. Chevron for @#!$'s sake. Who a) gave us the last 8 years and b) the Iraq war? Thanks Big Oil.

3. What we need is a 30-40 mile EV range plug-in hybrid. That covers the commutes of 95% plus of drivers.

4. Google Andy Frank of UC Davis for lots of detail on plug-in hybrids.