European unveiling of the New Prius Plug In

[FROSTYBALLS]

See - http://blog.toyota.co.uk/european-unveiling-of-new-toyota-prius-plug-in-hybrid

[cuius]

Didn't get beyond the "PHV" sign in the second image - do Toyota have a design department?

[Anthony Poli]

I like it, just need a lottery win at the moment lol

So Toyota are doing what some guys in the US did, use both electric motors together. Like the solar panels to recharge the hybrid Battery.

[QuantumFireball]

Dare I ask how much it'll cost? :)

[johalareewi]

Battery capacity doubled, EV range doubled.  Makes sense.

Heat pump heating, about time. :)

Solar panel to trickle charge HV Battery, about time. :)

Didn't see any mention of it being a 4 seater instead of a 5 seater (or has that been dropped)?

Coming to the UK?

[Beekeeper D]

1 hour ago, johalareewi said:

...

Didn't see any mention of it being a 4 seater instead of a 5 seater (or has that been dropped)?

... 

It is mentioned - 

"The front seats are shared with the conventional Prius, while the rear arrangement consists of two seats separated by a centre console."

 

And there is of course absolutely nowhere to hide a space-saver spare! 

Lovely, but I need something with rather more practical loadspace. And I suspect it will be way beyond my budget ... 

[PeteB]

1 hour ago, johalareewi said:

Battery capacity doubled, EV range doubled.  Makes sense.

Heat pump heating, about time. :)

Solar panel to trickle charge HV battery, about time. :)

Didn't see any mention of it being a 4 seater instead of a 5 seater (or has that been dropped)?

Coming to the UK?

Agree with first three.

Re 4: under "Interior Design" it states: "The front seats are shared with the conventional Prius, while the rear arrangement consists of two seats separated by a centre console".

There's a lot about it I like, and due to changed circumstances I can live with the low rear roof now, and even the four seats.

BUT, I would only heave been tempted if it also had a spare wheel under the boot floor and four wheel drive.  So I also knew I was safe not to wait!

I've also thought this was long overdue, and would like this on the 'normal' Prius: "The driving modes now include Battery Charge Mode, which uses the engine to generate electricity and charge the Battery when the vehicle is running in HV mode"

I am surprised by the Coefficient of drag (Cd) - 0.25 - the Gen 4 Prius ordinaire on 15" wheels is claimed to be 0.24!

[PeteB]

5 minutes ago, Beekeeper D said:

...And there is of course absolutely nowhere to hide a space-saver spare! ...

At the risk of becoming boring (who me?!) if a small 6-man company could convert a 2007 Prius 9 years ago to a Lithium Ion PHEV with almost 40 mile range AND a space saver under the boot floor, a slightly larger and better resourced outfit like Toyota should have been able to manage it in their sleep!!!!!

I actually considered spending £75k on a Tesla before settling on my Gen 4 Prius - I ruled it out because:

• the range was inadequate for trips I make a few times a year until there are sufficient supercharging points on the East side of England (the claimed 300 mile range evaporated if one cruised above 55 mph, used heat or A/C)
• it had no rear wiper
• it had no Head Up Display

Although it had lots of other things that did appeal, such as four wheel drive, a front boot that would take a full size spare wheel (and leave a generous rear boot fully available) and air suspension that uses GPS to remember where to raise and lower itself over obstacles automatically, any one of the three things above would have stopped me buying one.

Apart from cursing Toyota almost every time i drive my Gen 4 Prius because of the reduced interior storage space (a MAJOR pain to me), I love it in most other ways more than any previous version - and I've done over ¾ million miles in the three previous generations since 2002.

[PeteB]

2 hours ago, johalareewi said:

...Coming to the UK?

Oh yes, and just noticed this at the bottom of the article: "Model specifications and performance data are for international markets. UK-specific information will be released later"

[Anthony Poli]

24 minutes ago, PeteB said:

I've also thought this was long overdue, and would like this on the 'normal' Prius: "The driving modes now include Battery Charge Mode, which uses the engine to generate electricity and charge the battery when the vehicle is running in HV mode"

 

The charge mode is a good idea and should be in all the range, but I would settle for a higher KWh Battery.

[QuantumFireball]

I wonder would using "Battery Charge Mode" actually be efficient at all? E.g. could charging the Battery while motorway cruising then switching to EV mode when you reach slow roads work out better than just sticking to HV mode?

[Beekeeper D]

1 hour ago, QuantumFireball said:

I wonder would using "Battery Charge Mode" actually be efficient at all? E.g. could charging the battery while motorway cruising then switching to EV mode when you reach slow roads work out better than just sticking to HV mode?

I think it would be so that you could dump your pollution in the countryside before entering a "low emission" town centre zone. It would be a way of ensuring that you had max EV range available when you needed it, rather than a mode to give more efficiency.

[PeteB]

7 hours ago, QuantumFireball said:

I wonder would using "Battery Charge Mode" actually be efficient at all? ...

Difficult to be sure, but for convenience if you know you're heading for a traffic jam you can't avoid, or are going to be parked but want to stay in ready mode with A/C on, want to move quietly, or as Beekeeper says are heading for a LEZ.

In the Plugin you can select a mode that preserves the charge for later, but you can't do that in a 'normal' hybrid (Toyota/Lexus).

[I believe the Chevvy Volt (aka Vauxhall Ampera) has always had this option, I think called "Mountain Mode"]

[QuantumFireball]

10 hours ago, PeteB said:

In the Plugin you can select a mode that preserves the charge for later, but you can't do that in a 'normal' hybrid (Toyota/Lexus).

If you're talking about the first gen Plug-in: You can put it into HV mode so it works like a normal hybrid Prius, but it will not necessarily preserve the charge - it will be used whenever MG2 is applying power as normal (low speeds or high load). The only mode it has that the normal Prius doesn't is "EV City" mode, which reduces ICE usage in EV mode.

[Beekeeper D]

The interesting bit for me is the bit about what sounds like a significant evolution of the HSD technology, which hopefully will 'trickle down' from technology demonstrators to to less extreme vehicles.

Milkfloat mode no more? 

"EV power has increased 83 per cent thanks to the development of a new Dual Motor Drive System, which uses a compact clutch within the transaxle to engage the hybrid system generator as a second electric motor within the powertrain. This boosts EV driving power, while at the same time reducing the need for assistance from the petrol engine."  

[QuantumFireball]

Some more information here: http://newsroom.toyota.eu/pressrelease/5285/1/prius-plug-hybrid-new-benchmark-fuel-efficiency

[johalareewi]

On 29/09/2016 at 0:39 PM, Anthony Poli said:

The charge mode is a good idea and should be in all the range,

A normal hybrid doesn't have the necessary equipment for charging the HV from an external source of electricity.

The plugin has a separate HV Battery charger which makes it possible to charge the HV by means other than using the HSD (braking, etc.).

[Beekeeper D]

25 minutes ago, QuantumFireball said:

Some more information here: http://newsroom.toyota.eu/pressrelease/5285/1/prius-plug-hybrid-new-benchmark-fuel-efficiency

Those rear seats are looking even smaller! 

"The new Toyota PHV builds on the already highly efficient aerodynamics of the latest Prius with a lower roof and rear spoiler height, an enlarged area of underbody covers, airflow rectifying front and rear bumper corners, the double-bubble rear screen and aero stabiliser fins built into the rear combination lamps."

Roof is lower than the Gen 4 ... ! 

[johalareewi]

Quote

 

the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid features a shutter built into the lower front grille, which is automatically opened or closed to optimise the flow of cooling air into the engine bay, reducing air resistance.

When the engine is cold, the grille shutter is closed to suppress engine cooling airflow and shorten the engine warm-up time, contributing to lower fuel consumption

Built in grill blocking :)

[Beekeeper D]

5 minutes ago, johalareewi said:

A normal hybrid doesn't have the necessary equipment for charging the HV from an external source of electricity.

The plugin has a separate HV battery charger which makes it possible to charge the HV by means other than using the HSD (braking, etc.).

I think Anthony's point was that he would like to be able to 'force' his HSD to maximise Battery charge on occasions of his own choosing! For my driving, I think that forcing DIScharge (using more Battery power) as one approached a known downhill section would enable better use of the limited (non-plug-in) Battery capacity. 

[johalareewi]

More info about the solar panels:

 

When the vehicle is parked (but not plugged in to a charging socket), the solar roof charges a solar Battery which, when fully charged, delivers a pumping charge to the main HV Battery.

During driving, the solar charging system charges the 12 volt auxiliary Battery, compensating for auxiliary load and thereby reducing the energy consumption of the main HV battery.

[Anthony Poli]

Ideally I would prefer a higher capacity Battery for the non plugins.

Can someone confirm that the plugins cannot fully charge the Battery without plugging in.

Maybe I misunderstood a comment I read on another thread.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[johalareewi]

1 minute ago, Beekeeper D said:

I think Anthony's point was that he would like to be able to 'force' his HSD to maximise battery charge on occasions of his own choosing!

You can force charge the HV Battery when stationary.  Put the car in ready mode and D, and with your left foot firmly on the brake apply your right foot on the accelerator.

[Heidfirst]

6 hours ago, johalareewi said:

Quote

 

the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid features a shutter built into the lower front grille, which is automatically opened or closed to optimise the flow of cooling air into the engine bay, reducing air resistance.

When the engine is cold, the grille shutter is closed to suppress engine cooling airflow and shorten the engine warm-up time, contributing to lower fuel consumption

Built in grill blocking :)

to be fair Toyota are behind the curve on this e.g. many Fords have had this for several years.

[cuius]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/prius/97262/new-toyota-prius-plug-in-hybrid-2016-review