Out and about in the new Prius – finally!

Posted by Colin Hensley on July 13, 2009 in Green Technologies

Four months ago, I was writing about the new Prius and my desire to get into one for a drive. Thanks to Johan and Dirk, I managed to do so last weekend. I previously had a Prius for a couple of years, so I was looking forward to giving the new model a go.

From the outside you are left no doubt that it’s a Prius, though I think it has really been brought right up to date, with a slightly edgier look. When you get in, the only thing that was really familiar was the voice of ‘Annie’ (this was what our kids christened the voice of the SatNav system.) the new interior was very much to my taste. But enough of me, I decided to ask the kids what they thought of it. Tim said, “it was really comfy and big and not noisy so I could hear the music really well.” Katie’s opinion was “it was cool and quiet and a bit like a spaceship!” (she’s a big fan of Dr Who)

So, there you go, it was fully approved by my toughest car critics. From my perspective, I was really impressed by the car. The driving was really effortless, we went about 800 km during the weekend, and between the lack of noise and the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), it was possible to get out of the car at the end of the journey feeling in pretty good form. Very importantly, the fuel consumption was also great, and I only had to fill up once. Apart from the ACC, my favourite new feature is the head-up display. There floating in front of me was the speed and my directions – no need to take my eyes off the road – neat, and safe rolled into one.

 RSS   Comments(1)

PHV - It’s a hybrid Jim, but not as we know it

Posted by Colin Hensley on March 24, 2009 in 360° approach, Green Technologies

You may have seen some press reports last week about the plans for the launch of a significant trial of Toyota plug-in hybrids (PHVs) in Strasbourg, France. This is an activity we are doing in collaboration with EDF, a major French electricity provider. Later this year about 100 PHVs will be leased to selected companies and partners and will start running around Strasbourg.
These are what I suppose we could call our second generation PHVs, they will have lithium-ion batteries. The limited trial in London and Paris with the first generation used nickel metal hydride batteries, (that’s the same type as we used in the other 1.7 million hybrids we have sold around the world.)
PHVs really give you the best of both worlds, for short trips or commutes they are an electric vehicle, but once you need to go further, they are just like a normal full hybrid. That means you get the full performance of the vehicle at all times. When you can choose to use electricity from a renewable source, the car will be running at zero-emissions while in EV mode.
One of the reasons for the trial is to really try to find the optimum balance between EV range cruising range and battery capacity. It always possible to give a car greater autonomy, by adding more batteries, but this has a negative impact in terms of cost, weight and usability.
I haven’t yet had a chance to drive the PHV, but I look forward to doing so in the future, and you can be sure you will hear about it here, first!
I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the future direction of sustainable mobility, and which type of vehicles will be the most popular. At the end of the day, it will be the customer that has to make the decision for what they want.

 RSS   Comments(5)