Toyota to test plug-in hybrids

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest seller of hybrid-electric autos, plans the first tests of plug-in Prius cars that can be recharged from home outlets in the United States and Japan as interest in gasoline-engine alternatives rises.

Tests of Prius gasoline-electric hatchbacks modified with extra battery packs start this year, the company said in statements Wednesday. The cars travel 13 kilometers (8 miles) using only batteries, before the gasoline engine turns on, compared with about 2 kilometers for a standard Prius, Toyota said.

Toyota, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are planning rechargeable cars that cut gasoline use as well as carbon emissions and tailpipe pollution. GM in January showed the Volt concept car that travels 40 miles on electricity before needing to be recharged and hopes to sell it as early as 2010.

"It will probably take time for us to commercialize the vehicle, because it's up to advances in battery technology," Toyota Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto said at a press conference in Tokyo. "We need to develop more powerful and high-performance batteries."

Toyota is considering using lithium-ion batteries for future versions of the plug-in, Takimoto told reporters.

Toyota's prototype, the Plug-in HV, uses double the amount of nickel-metal-hydride battery packs of a standard Prius. The company will test eight of the vehicles on roads in Japan and initially two in California. The U.S. program will involve testing by the University of California's Berkeley and Irvine campuses.

California's Air Resources Board is also participating in Toyota's evaluation, the company said. The agency forced automakers to sell battery-electric cars in the state in the late 1990s, and now requires big automakers to sell hybrids and is pushing the companies to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles.

The universities said California awarded them a total of $2.15 million to assess the Toyota vehicles, including grants of $1.4 million for Irvine and $750,000 for Berkeley.

The campuses will study how users respond to recharging the cars, how often they do so, total energy use by plug-ins and their environmental and economic effects, Susan Shaheen, research director for Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, said in an interview. Tests may begin by October, she said.

The grants come from a $25 million state-level alternative-fuel program approved in 2006.

Ford said July 9 it formed a partnership with Southern California Edison Co. to develop rechargeable batteries for future plug-in vehicles.

Plug-in hybrid cars would cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions by 500 million tons a year by 2050 without taxing the electric grid, according to a July 19 report by electric utilities, GM and the Natural Resources Defense Council.