Toyota Testing Prius PHEV In UK

Toyota has begun testing its Prius PHEV in the UK. Toyota will work with EDF Energy to test the vehicle on public roads for at least a year. The vehicles will be driven by EDF employees as part of the company's fleet. EDF Energy will collect data on the vehicles.

Toyota is hoping to determine how the vehicle performs in urban environments and what infrastructure is needed to support the vehicles on a large scale, by monitoring the vehicle's usage and surveying its users. EDF also plans to set up as many as 40 charging stations in the greater London area. Daimler announced last week that it would be testing 100 Smart plug-in vehicles in London and will establish 500 charging stations in Berlin by the end of 2009.

Toyota recently indicated that the Prius PHEV could come to market as early as late-2009, depending upon the vehicle's performance in these real-world tests. The Prius PHEVs have already been tested on public roads in Japan, France, Belgium and the US.

Also making a debut from Toyota in 2009 are vehicles equipped with lithium-ion batteries. Initially, the new batteries will be sold to fleet customers in the US, Japan and Europe. The 2009 date is accelerated from the company's previous Li-ion timetable.