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The 65 mpg Toyota Prius? We didn't say that, says Toyota
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Regardless of what you may have read, Toyota has not stated that the Prius plug-in hybrid will achieve 65 mpg. This isn’t to say it won’t. It’s just that this number was a misunderstanding between a Toyota spokesperson and a reporter in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show, the latter likely misinterpreting comments made while discussing privately-converted Pruises made by aftermarket companies. According to Irv Miller, Toyota group vice president for environmental and public affairs, owners of the converted Priuses have “stated or publicly posted performance numbers in the 65 mpg range.”
“For the record, Toyota has only a small test fleet of PHVs in the U.S and has never offered mileage estimates on PHV technology. These PHVs are being used for auto displays, brief demonstrations and university studies. They are very early ‘converted’ prototypes using double nickel metal-hydride batteries.”
Mileage data collected during those various events have been collected by the participants, but Miller says the numbers vary too widely to mean anything concrete. And more to the point, when Toyota PHVs arrive, they’ll use lithium-ion batteries. This includes the next-generation Prius PHVs to be delivered to 150 lease-fleet customers later this year.
Toyota has consistently responded to questions about mpg performance of PHV vehicles by stating that it will vary widely based on driving style and conditions, and even more so, says Miller, than the current gas-electric vehicles. “This is due to the added weight of a large battery that, once depleted by pure electric drive, will contribute nothing until it is plugged in and re-charged.”
It’s too early, says Miller, for reporting any anticipated mileage range experienced by engineers in developing PHVs by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. Even when the test vehicles are put into use here later this year, numbers from different users will vary widely.
Indeed, as has been noted elsewhere, the Environmental Protection Agency has been in negotiation with the car companies over a new testing procedure to determine estimated fuel economy numbers for the window stickers of new cars using alternate propulsions systems, and particularly PHVs.
All of which doesn’t mean the experiences of individual converters should to be disbelieved, just that they may not be representative of use under all conditions. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary. And it probably will, even after new standards are developed.
But for near-term future, any reports that Toyota said 65 mpg—or any other number—it ain’t so. At least not that they said it.
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