With Earth Day, Toyota opened up a website to take reservations for the long awaited Plug-in Prius. Unlike the current Prius line which leaves owners 100% addicted to gasoline, a Plug-in Prius allows the owner to get some energy from the wall socket, and some of their miles would come from an energy source other than gasoline. Potential customers in 13 states will be able to order their car through Toyota's web site for delivery in 2012, and it will have a full nationwide rollout in 2013. Toyota claims this will be the "first plug-in prius". But, as some bloggers pointed out today, this is technically incorrect.
The website has a FAQ, which we examine in: Toyota's plug-in Prius FAQ
The car is a Prius, but with a bigger battery pack and the ability to plug in charging the battery from the electric grid. Unlike GM who insists on calling the Volt an "extended range EV", Toyota is honest enough to call this a "plug-in hybrid".
In spring 2012 Toyota expects to deliver the Plug-in Prius in 15 states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. If you live outside those states you can still buy one, but the purchase has to be done via a dealer in one of those states. Starting in 2013 Toyota expects to deliver the Plug-in Prius nationwide.
Toyota's website claims this will be the "first ever prius plug-in hybrid" but those of us who know the history know how innacurate this is.
Plug-in vehicle advocate Marc Geller asked today on his blog "Really?" He suggests we ask Felix Kramer of CalCars about the many existing plug-in hybrid Prius's driving around the country. Can we let Toyota get away with this "first ever prius plug-in hybrid" when there are hundreds of converted Prius hybrids who can not only plug in to recharge an expanded battery pack, but offer more electric-only range than the 13 miles Toyota will offer in their car.
The popularization of the plug-in hybrids concept owes a lot to Felix Kramer and CalCars. He organized a team nearly 10 years ago to re-engineer the Prius design, give it a bigger battery pack, one that can be plugged in, and to enable an electric-only mode which Toyota engineered into the Prius but did not allow customers to use. He then toured the country with a Prius that gets over 100 miles/gallon and published full documentation on the CalCars website. This in turn inspired several companies to provide commercial plug-in Prius conversion services. Some of those converted plug-in Prius's get much more than the 13 miles range offered in Toyota's version.
But, let's turn away from Toyota's incorrect marketing claims to applaud them for taking this step. The existence of the converted plug-in Prius's is obvious demonstration that, as Toyota says, "everybody has been waiting for" a plug-in Prius. While some were so anxious to have one they couldn't wait and built their own, wouldn't everybody be better served by a factory built plug-in Prius sold by Toyota?
See:
http://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/prius-plug-in/
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