Upcoming Toyota Prius Family Vehicles

Toyota has published a neat site that shows off all the members of the Toyota Prius family of vehicles. The Prius of course is the #1 Hybrid world wide, and has spawned an entire group of hybrid vehicles that have like green intentions.

Other members of the family are the Prius Plug-In Hybrid which will be released shortly, the Prius V which is the station wagon of the group, along with the Prius c Concept which Toyota says will be released in early 2012. Most interesting to us is the Prius c which is a very crisp looking design with very short overhangs and larger hood engulfing head lights.

Link: Toyota Prius Family of Vehicles.

2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid

For the upcoming 2012 model year Toyota is rolling out the new Plug-In Hybrid version of the Toyota Prius. The front and rear fascia's have been given a mid-model refresh and those carry over onto the Plug-In Prius.

It looks mostly indistinguishable from the base Prius Hybrid with the exception of some special badging, 123lbs of extra girth and some nifty gauges in the interior.

Where it does stand out is it's ability to drive longer distances in pure electric mode. There is a new 4.4 kWh Lithium Ion battery replacing the older NiMH one which boosts it's range from a paltry 2km of electric only driving to a larger 24.1 kms.

The range isn't staggering and falls short of the Chevy Volt (50-65) as far as driving in EV mode only. Where it is superior to the Volt is when the battery is depleted and the car reverts seamlessly back to regular hybrid mode, albeit with a 49MPG as opposed to 50MPG in the regular Prius. The Volt only manged mid 30 range MPG when its battery is sapped.