Some time ago Toyota’s next Prius was going to be a plug-in and have a Lithium battery, then it was also possibly gone be Flex-Fuel. So we had a Flex-Fuel Plug-in hybrid with a Lithium battery.
Then the oil business Kerr Mac Gee along with 3M sued Panasonic on patent infringements claims on Lithium batteries. A kid of makeover of the NiMH Chevron affair.
Now the next Prius appears not to come with a Lithium battery but in more it could not even be a plug-in. Perhaps also not Flex-Fuel.
In other words, the car could just be a remake of the existing Prius with only a superficial window dressing, a new bodywork but the same HSD with the same NiMH battery.
The market has indicated a demand for more like the conversion kits to make the Prius a Plug-in have shown. So, is stagnation the next Prius motto? Is it still going to earn its name if someone else put a plug-in on the market that would then be the new Prius in etymological terms.
Perhaps Toyota is creating doubts on purpose to avoid a temporary hold on the current Prius purchases by customers that would delay for the next one if it was so much better. Telling it is not as different until it really is on the market. But this can also delay purchases by making people stick to their present Prius since the next one isn’t very different anyway.
One can only speculate, but until its official presentation, lets hope it is at least going somewhere in the middle of the optimistic and pessimistic expectation and have Plug-in and Lithium or Plug-in and Flex-fuel. Whatever happens, the plug should be the big difference. Not only because it is what makes the most sense but also because they would gain all the Austin Plug-in partners intended purchases and benefit from the effect of the new incentives for those cars. Up to 6000 $ incentive per car makes a plug-in more attractive to the customer but also to the “would be” builder that gets additional chances for success.