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Today, Toyota added a new technology to the pool of its hybrid technologies.
The company has developed the first plug-in hybrid vehicle that has been certified for use on public roads in Japan.
The Toyota Plug-in HV uses, like earlier Toyota hybrid vehicles, both a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine and an electric motor. The vehicle uses two nickel-metal hydride secondary batteries; the current Prius hybrid vehicle uses one such battery.
Increased battery capacity gives the vehicle a longer electric-motor-only cruising range, and a battery-charging device allows users to replenish the batteries using household electricity, enabling the vehicle to run more often in gasoline-free, electric-only mode, on short trips in city driving.
Toyota claims that the new vehicle has a cruising range of 13km and a maximum vehicle speed of 100km/h in electric mode.
Toyota considers plug-in hybrid vehicles as a promising technology for using electricity as a viable power source for automobiles.
The company will conduct public-road tests in Japan using eight Plug-in HV vehicles this fall. It also plans to conduct public-road tests in the US and Europe.
Toyota has yet to announce when to commercialize the Plug-in HV.
