Toyota Dream House Includes Plug-In Prius
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 09.27.05
Last Sunday, the 6-month public exhibition of the Toyota Dream House concept ended (yes, they also build houses - you learn something new everyday). It is partly green, and partly high-tech gadget extravagenza (which is not so green). The most interesting part to us treehuggers is certainly the plug-in Prius (a prototype?) and unidentified electric vehicle in the garage. Both can recharge their batteries via some kind of console that stands in the middle of the garage and the juice comes partly from solar panels on the roof and sides of the house, and from a fuel cell (yes, the house is hybrid). In case of natural disaster (Japan isn't short on those), the Prius can act as a generator and power the house for 36 hours (we assume that's for one tank of gasoline, so more than 36 hours if you have more gasoline on hand). More pictures of the outside, inside and gadgets below.
::Japanese Website for the House, ::Toyota Dream House PAPI, via ::Green Car Congress, ::WorldChanging
The Japanese Prius is plug-in. The North American version is not.
The NA version is also lacking the EV button on the dash-- that allows the driver to force the car into electric only mode.
Are you sure that the japanese prius is plug-in? I'd like a link to a website or something like that if you have one.
I was under the impression that it had things like auto-park and an EV mode, but no plug-in ability. Mike from Green Car Congress didn't seem to think so either, and he's usually pretty knowledgeable about these things.
It has the "EV Drive Mode", but I really don't think it's a plug-in. There's certainly nothing to that effect on the Japanese Toyota website.
As for the EV Drive Mode, it only works up to 55 km/h and has a range of several hundred meters.
You can get the switch retrofitted into your NA Prius at any point, of course. Folks like Coastal Electronic Technologies offer it. I would imagine the range is limited by how charged your battery happens to be.
-/\/
Dear Toyota,
Hire a fashion or better designer - the Prius would be a better sell if it looks better, rather the dorky looking car that geeks drive.
Thanks
JP,
I actually like the look of the Prius, except for the rear...
The way I see it, the Prius was designed to appeal to early adopters and geeks, and it was supposed to say: "look, I'm a different car!".
Mainstream hybrids are more like the highlander/RX400h hybrids, but most specifically the upcoming Camry hybrid, corolla hybrid, etc.. After all, toyota said that eventually all its cars could be had with an hybrid drivetrain.
I was a little put off on the styling of the early hybrids myself too (ie: Insight and Prius) although I've warmed up to the Prius. The design is also affected by the use of drag-saving shapes. Any car could do that, though.
I applaud Honda for being one of the first to take a "real" car and make it a hybrid.