Written on October 5, 2011 – 2:38 pm | by admin |

The new Toyota Prius Plug-in is due to be released in early 2012. The price could be around £30,000 but this is offset by the Governments Ultra-Low Carbon grant scheme which will pay up to £5,000. This Prius is not just rigidly an electric vehicle. It uses a powertrain which is a harmony of petrol engine, battery and electric motor.

Fourteen miles plus can be covered electrically. After this the vehicle will switch to the full hybrid mode. This means the driver does not need to be constantly aware of how much range is left on the battery making the Prius a much more user friendly option than many of the out and out electric motors. Also where many small electric cars can take hours to charge, the Prius can take a full charge in an hour and a half.

Due to the powertrain system, fuel economy reaches a phenomenal 134.5mpg combined. This certainly counteracts soaring fuel prices and goes some way to repaying the expensive price tag.
The seven seat Prius+ was unveiled at the same time at the Frankfurt motor show. It is the first seven seat vehicle of its kind.

Depreciation figures for the new Toyota Yaris have shown that it is set to retain its value very well. It will keep up to 42 per cent of its original value after three years (based on 10,000 miles per year).
Toyota is set to install solar panels worth £10million at their Derbyshire plant. This will mean around 17,000 solar panels on an area the size of four and a half football pitches. They will provide enough energy to build approximately 7,000 cars per year.

With this ambitious project and the new Prius out next year, Toyota has demonstrated its credentials as a green manufacturer without many equals.