Toyota said its next generation Prius will begin a new era in hybrid technology with further gains in fuel economy and reduced emissions and cable-free inductive charging for the plug-in version.
The new Prius will be the first in a broad range of Toyota and Lexus vehicles that will make use of a substantially improved family of hybrid powertrains.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
These will deliver significant improvements in fuel economy from a more compact package that is lighter in weight and lower in cost.
Their performance will reflect the significant advances the automaker is making in battery, electric motor and petrol engine development in its wider strategy to deliver electric vehicle power through hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell technologies.
In each of its three generations, Prius has delivered an average reduction of 10% in its CO2 emissions. Toyota’s challenge is to continue to improve at this rate.
The next Prius will feature improved batteries with higher energy density, which means greater energy storage capacity within a smaller unit. Toyota, already a leader in advanced battery technology, has stepped up its research, development and production capacity for both nickel metal hydride and lithium ion, and will use each technology where appropriate in its expanding focus on vehicle electrification.
It has also ramped up development of new battery technologies such as solid state and lithium air, and devoted resources to chemistries beyond lithium, such as magnesium and other low valence materials.
The next Prius will use smaller electric motors but with a higher power density. The motors in the current model have four times the power density of those used by the original Prius back in 1999, and the improvement will be higher still in the next generation car.
The thermal efficiency of the petrol engine will improve, too, from 38.5% currently to a claimed world best of more than 40%.
The next Prius will be constructed using Toyota’s New Global Architecture, bringing a lower centre of gravity and greater structural rigidity, contributing to greatly improved driving dynamics.
A focus on raising aerodynamic performance will bring new exterior styling with a larger interior and refinements in design, layout and ease of use.
The next generation Prius plug-in is being developed in parallel with the standard model. Toyota has learned from current customers they would like a greater all-electric driving range and more convenient charging. In response, Toyota is working on a new wireless/inductive charging system that produces resonance between a floor coil and vehicle coil to transmit power to the battery – without a connecting cable.
Verification work on this system will be carried out in Japan, the US and Europe during 2014.
