[bwilson4web]

Congratulations to Eric Powers who organized the "Green Drive Expo in Richmond, CA" where Toyota introduced:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011...in-hybrid.html

. . .
With seating for five, the 2012 Prius Plug-in hybrid is expected to achieve a manufacturer-estimated 87 mpge (miles per gallon equivalent) in combined driving and 49 mpg in hybrid mode, or 2.7 L/100km equivalent and 4.8 L/100km, respectively. The production plug-in hybrid has a number of key changes from the 125 prototype demo units that were deployed in the field for testing and customer feedback. Toyota applied experience from that test phase, along with input from participants, to finalize engineering and improve features for the production model. Changes include:

• Completely new battery design. Toyota’s goal was to reduce the cost, weight and volume of the pack from the NiMH system used earlier. The Li-ion pack is almost half the weight of the earlier pack, and so much more compact that the dimensions of the plug-in Prius are the same as those of the iconic liftback—i.e., there is no cargo penalty for plug-in capability.
  Although the gross energy capacity of the pack is reduced (4.4 kWh), the EV range is increased. At a media preview of the introduction Toyota declined to be more specific as to the enabling mechanisms, citing some final issues that needed to be worked through by the battery supplier.
• EV mode is now user-selectable. The demo units defaulted to EV mode.
• Maximum EV speed is up to 62 mph.
• Maximum electric range is 15 miles
• A charge timer allows you to set charge start and finish time. (According to Toyota, one of the things they discovered during the demo program was that the battery packs responded better if they were allowed to rest prior to recharging.)
• The charge port is moved from the front driver-side fender to the rear passenger-side fender, while the charger is now moved back with the smaller battery pack. The result is a shorter distance from the charge port to the charger/battery, reducing weight.
• The charging cable is redesigned to be more flexible and lighter.
• . . .

The whole article is one of the best, collected sets of Plug-In Prius specs I've seen.

Late thought:

The plug-in Prius is well positioned for an advanced control law that uses the EV mode for acceleration. We have a 2003 Prius and the very limited, ~45 seconds, of engine start, EV, allows the car to reach 35-40 mph with ending MPG rates of 50-60 MPG. Our 2010 Prius has nearly four times the early EV mode, ~200 seconds. Once at cruise speed, the rest of the fuel consumption is spread over a longer distance than the acceleration zone.

Acceleration use of EV keeps the engine in a fuel efficient mode while the vehicle kinetic energy increases. Then at speed, the gas engine produces power very efficiently and puts in a charge. Any regenerative braking puts a respectable charge back into the traction battery. This is not theory but practice with our 2003 and 2010 Prius.

If the plug-in can switch on the fly between EV and ECO mode, early adopters will have an excellent tool to extend the Prius energy efficiency range. Essentially, vehicle acceleration, the least efficient fuel consumption mode, can be avoided by using EV to accelerate and ECO to cruise.

Bob Wilson