Toyota New Prius PHV to Come Equipped With Solar Panels

Reuters reports that Toyota introduced the new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHV) – “Prius PHV” on February 15th 2017. The new PHV also went on sale in the Japanese market on the 15th. The retail price ranges between ¥ 3,261,600 and ¥ 4,222,800. The monthly sales target is 2,500 units in Japan.

The new Prius PHV is equipped with large-capacity lithium-ion batteries. In EV mode (without the use of gasoline), it can travel 68.2km (26.4km for current PHVs) under full charge. The maximum speed is up to 135km (100km for current PHVs). When in gasoline mode, every liter of gasoline can travel 37.2km (31.6km for current PHVs).

In addition, the new Prius PHV can choose to be equipped with solar panels to charge the car using solar energy when driving. It can also support fast charge, only 20 minutes is needed to charge 80% of electricity.

Toyota posted a press release on the 14th, announcing that the total sale of its hybrid vehicles (HV, including PHV) officially surpassed 10 million units in the end of January 2017, reaching 10,008,500 units. Ever since the first “Prius” started to go on sale in December 1997, it took Toyota 20 years to reach a cumulative sales volume of 10 million units, in which 4.8527 million units were sold to Japan, 3.1904 million units were sold to North America, and 1.336 million units were sold to Europe.

Toyota pointed out that the company's global sales of hybrid vehicles reached 1.4006 million units in 2016, hitting a record high.

(This article is authorized by MoneyDJ. Photo Credit: Toyota)