Toyota Unleashes 'plug-in Hybrid' Car

According to Chang-Ran Kim’s writing for Reuters on Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp. unleashed a "plug-in" hybrid car based on its popular Prius model. The report said that it would test the fuel-saving vehicle on public roads, which is another first for the industry.

But the Japan-based car maker claimed that the car, which is called the Toyota Plug-in HV, was not suited for commercialization purposes because it uses low-energy nickel-metal hydride batteries rather than lithium-ion batteries, which are believed to be a better fit for rechargeable plug-in cars.

Not like earlier gasoline-electric hybrids, which run on a parallel system twinning battery power and a combustion engine, the plug-in cars are built to enable short trips powered entirely by the electric motor, through a battery that can be charged by using an electric socket at home.

A number of environmental endorsers see them as the best available technology in order to minimize gasoline consumption and global-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But engineers claim that battery technology is still not enough to store enough energy for long-distance travel.

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