Toyota’s Next Gen PHEV Prius Delayed Until 2012, Goes Only 12.5 Miles on a Charge

The recent Frankfurt Auto Show brought a large number of new electric vehicle offerings.  However, one highly anticipated vehicle, the new plug-in hybrid version of Toyota’s popular Prius vehicle, appeared to show dampened interest in the electric vehicle market.

The vehicle, originally rumored to be released in 2010 to coincide with GM’s Chevy Volt release, is now delayed for retail release until 2012.  Instead, Toyota is expected to offer limited leases for up to 500 vehicles in late 2010.  However, these 500 vehicles will be spread around the world, resulting in far less than widespread availability in the US.

The vehicles will be able to run at speeds up to 62 mph for up to 12.5 miles in all-electric mode.  The cars can charge their lithium-ion batteries in 1.5 hours on a 230 V power supply.

Toyota’s apparent change of plans for its PHEV Prius line comes at a time when it is still ramping up production of its traditional hybrid vehicles. It appears that concerns about the cost of next generation vehicles are growing as key enabling technologies such as advanced batteries face increasing uncertainty.  This week, both GM and Toyota appeared to express concerns that the cost of battery technology remains prohibitively high, especially given the relatively moderate price that gasoline has settled at. 

In my opinion, Toyota’s delays represent a short term shift in their stance on electric vehicles, not a long term turnaround in strategy.  I believe that this is as much driven by the recession as it is by technology risk.  Similar moves can be seen for example by Sony, which has delayed the deployment of their new OLED TV screens due to the global recession.

   PHEV Prius preview on Autoblog