Toyota: Plug-in Prius won't be standard, has limited appeal - USATODAY.com
"We see this market as being a small percentage of our hybrid market," says John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota. "We don't see it as a car for everybody."
Drive On has driven a prototype and found claims of up to 13 miles on battery-only in favorable conditions and charging in 3 hours from a household plug to be accurate, though cold weather slashed the range. And while the plug-in gear adds weight, miles per gallon in standard hybrid mode weren"t significantly lower. But the plug-in system and more powerful battery also likely will add thousands to the price.
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Plugin-Hybrids is one of the few sectors where an American company, GM with the "Volt", innovated and is - for the time being - leading the competition. It's important to mention that GM had produced the "EV-1" pure electric car in 1992, and invested huge effort to develop pure electric motors and brakes for prototype vehicles up to 2008, while the competition was merely trying to build ethanol or hydrogen engines. All that was developed before the bailout and without large taxpayer-funded subsidies.
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