Toyota
delivers Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles to California
unversities
Saturday,
November 10, 2007
A
Prius before being converted into a plug-in hybrid
Toyota delivered two Toyota
Prius hybrid cars that have been converted into plug-in
hybrid vehicles; one to the University of
California-Irvine, the other to UC-Berkeley. While the hybrid
cars use NiMH batteries, rather than lithium-ion
batteries, the vehicles have "oversized packs of
nickel-metal hydride batteries that effectively simulate
the level of performance Toyota expects to achieve when it
eventually develops more advanced, compact and powerful
battery systems," according to Toyota.
"Before we bring it to market, our customers always
expect a level of quality and reliability, value and
cost," said Bob Carter, who heads the Toyota brand in
the United States. "It's critical that we understand
the expectations of the consumers."
Susan Shaheen, research director of the Transportation
Sustainability Research Center at UC Berkeley said the
Berkeley car will be used to see "Where they drive,
how they recharge the vehicles, when they recharge the
vehicles. And we will ask them a great deal about their
perceptions." Also, according to Reuters,
researchers will try learn "how long drivers want the
plug-ins to run on electric power only, how much they will
pay for one, and where they will use charging
stations."
On the other hand, the UCI car will focus
on"technical issues, such as how much electricity
will be taken from the regional power grid as thousands of
hybrid owners plug in."
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