Toyota announced this week a partnership with the University of California to road test two plug-in hybrid cars, a step toward getting the fuel-efficient vehicles to consumers.

The study to be launched this fall will be the first time a major automaker puts the experimental cars on US roads. UC Berkeley will analyze the behavior of the drivers, and UC Irvine will study air quality and energy use.

By plugging into 110-volt household current, the prototype Prius can cover seven miles (eleven kilometers) per charge in all-electric mode at up to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour).

"This is exciting technology that Toyota has been working on for years," Denise Morrissey, Toyota spokeswoman, told AFP. "This will be a great experiment to see how the market will respond to the plug-in modification."

The new Prius will weigh one hundred kilograms (220 pounds) more than its hybrid forbear to accommodate an additional nickel battery, but other specifications will remain the same.

Toyota's choice of Berkeley as a testing ground for the daily usage of a modified Prius seems a good fit. The city just east of the San Francisco Bay, where the hybrids are as common as pick-up trucks in Texas, is known for it environmentalism and progressive politics and is one of the biggest Prius markets, Morrissey said.

In May, Toyota sold the one-millionth Prius hybrid, half of those in the United States. Sales of the Prius for the first six months of 2007 have increased 69 percent over the same period of 2006, and the company estimates that hybrids worldwide have emitted 3.5 million tonnes less carbon dioxide than gasoline-fueled vehicles of the same class.

Researchers at UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies will be tracking what they believe will be the behavior of early adopters of the new plug-in modified hybrid.

"We will be looking at how people integrate this vehicle in their daily lives and monitoring behavioral response," said researcher Susan Shaheen. "I study how people adapt to new technology, how it affects their lifestyle."

Shaheen will track the patterns in usage over two years during which the prototype Prius will be placed in a company fleet where employees will drive it for both business and personal use.

The study hopes to collect data on trip distance, charging location, duration, time of day, and frequency of trips.

A gas-electric hybrid vehicle demands no modification of behavior, other than learning how to drive to maximize fuel efficiency, said Shaheen. "But a plug-in hybrid is a step in a whole new direction," she said. "This is different from traditional refueling and will require some degree of adjustment."

Many consumers seem eager for the change. Shaheen has already been flooded with calls and emails from Berkeley residents hoping to be a subject in the study.

"But it is still not clear if consumers are going to be willing to plug in their cars, and adjust to the price premium of this new technology," said Morrissey. "Only time will tell."

A Toyota Motor Corp.'s employee holds up a three-prong plug for a photo during the unveiling of a plug-in hybrid vehicle in Tokyo July 25, 2007. The vehicle, certified for public road-use by Japan's Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport, is able to travel at a maximum speed of 100km (62 miles) per hour and Toyota estimates the vehicle to run 13km (8 miles) under electric vehicle mode by charging three to four hours with an ordinary electric wall socket. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

A reporter drives Toyota Motor Corp.'s plug-in hybrid vehicle during a test run in Tokyo Wednesday, July 25, 2007. Toyota said Wednesday it has developed a plug-in hybrid vehicle for public road tests in Japan and plans the tests for the U.S. and Europe. Plug-in hybrids have batteries that power an electric motor, with an internal combustion engine for use when the batteries run low. The batteries can be recharged by plugging them into a standard wall outlet. The energy monitor at left displays battery meter and drivable distance in electric mode. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

A Toyota Motor Corp. employee displays plugs for the automaker's plug-in hybrid vehicle in Tokyo Wednesday, July 25, 2007. Toyota said Wednesday it has developed a plug-in hybrid vehicle for public road tests in Japan and plans the tests for the U.S. and Europe. Plug-in hybrids have batteries that power an electric motor, with an internal combustion engine for use when the batteries run low. The batteries can be recharged by plugging them into a standard wall outlet. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

The Toyota Prius is on display at the New York International Automobile Show during the press preview days, in April. Toyota announced this week a partnership with the University of California to road test two plug-in hybrid cars, a step toward getting the fuel-efficient vehicles to consumers.(AFP/File/Stan Honda)

Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe launches automaker's new compact hatchback vehicle, Blade, in Tokyo, in this Dec. 21, 2006, file photo. Toyota's global auto production in the first-half rose 4.2 percent from a year ago, the company said Thursday July 26, 2007, bringing it closer to overtaking General Motor Corp. as the world's biggest automaker. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, FILE)

 

 

 

 

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