New hybrid is here
The Prius Prime arrives in New Zealand.
Don’t diss the hybrid. That was the message from Toyota New Zealand when it gathered the nation’s motoring media to introduce new product about to enter this country’s new vehicle market.
One of the new models is the Prius Prime, a plug-in version of the current Prius self-charging hybrid range.
It arrives with some very impressive environmental credentials – a 63km range as a purely electric vehicle, a weighted combined fuel consumption as a petrol-electric hybrid of just 1 litre per 100km, and CO2 emissions of just 22 grams per kilometre.
TNZ launches the model with the claim it is a $150-a-year car.
‘‘That’s the yearly running costs you’ll pay in New Zealand for the Prius Prime, according to Energywise.
It’s no wonder it was awarded the World Green Car in 2017,’’ TNZ’s general manager of product and new vehicle sales Neeraj Lala told journalists at the briefing.
They’re solid claims for a vehicle that goes on the Kiwi market priced at $48,490, which is actually slightly less than the current RRP for the standard Prius GX.
Mind you, that will soon change when Toyota lowers prices of all its vehicles as part of its Drive Happy Project no-haggle vehicle sales initiative.
But even so, the Prius Prime price is attractive when compared to the asking prices of other plugin hybrids currently available in New Zealand, particularly the Hyundai Ioniq.
Arrival of this Prime is part of a global effort by Toyota Motor Corporation to help address climate change issues.
Four years ago it set a goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 per cent in the next 30 years.
That’s a huge goal that is requiring massive commitment to hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and eventually fuel-cell cars.
The world’s climate change obligations are a particularly tough goal for New Zealand, because currently we are the fifthworst country in the world for CO2 emissions per capita – and the emissions continue to trend upwards.
And given that the transport industry contributes 18 per cent to that emissions total, it’s coming under increasing scrutiny to make a bigger contribution towards the country’s climate change obligations.
TNZ is achieving this by turning up its focus on the selfcharging hybrid technology, said Lala.
‘‘To achieve a 30 per cent reduction on our 2005 CO2 levels we are going to require a much bigger effort from our hybrids – and that’s what we plan to do,’’ he said.
In fact it’s happening already. In 2002 the average CO2 emissions from Toyota product was 246.6 g/km and 262.3 g/km from Lexus vehicles, but thanks to the advent of hybrids by 2016 this average had reduced to 185.4 g/km for Toyotas and 181 g/km for Lexus vehicles.
But more needs to be done if Toyota NZ is going to match international climate change emissions reduction targets, said Lala.
Toyota vehicle CO2 emissions need to reduce to an average 152 g/km, and Lexus emissions to 178 g/km by 2030.
This is where Prius is playing a significant role. When the selfcharging Series 10 model was introduced in 1997 its CO2 emissions were 114 g/km.
The series 20 version introduced in 2003 reduced it to
106 g/km, the Series 30 in 2009 to
89 g/km, Series 40 in 2016 to 80 g/km – and now the plug-in Prius Prime boasts the 22 g/km.
‘‘Self-charging hybrids have been the catalyst for pushing the boundaries of our technology, and they will also lead our future powertrain strategies,’’ said Lala.
‘‘In 30 years time we don’t believe customers will be driving just one powertrain, and every powertrain won’t be suitable for every market.
‘‘So our strategy is to invest in all options with hybrid technology as the foundation layer.
‘‘Self-charging hybrids will be the core technology Toyota uses to develop the next generation of ecocars such as plug-in hybrids, EVs, and fuel-cell vehicles.’’
At the moment there is a lot of excitement around EVs, said Lala.
This is exciting, especially given the large amount of renewable energy New Zealand has available.
Toyota NZ believes that the future will see electric vehicles playing an even bigger role than hybrids – but it will all come down to timing, and how quickly battery technology, competitive products and infrastructure can come together, he added.
‘‘Given these challenges, we believe the focus on hybrids makes perfect sense.
‘‘For starters hybrids are available now, are proven, and the technology just keeps getting better.
‘‘Secondly, at the moment they are often significantly cheaper than full EVs.
‘‘So our goal isn’t to deliver every powertrain first.
‘‘Our goal is to try to deliver the best through our environmental technology strategy,’’ said Lala.