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The Toyota Prius was first introduced to South Africa early in January 2005. Now in its' 3rd Generation, the Prius continues to set the benchmark by which all other hybrid vehicles are measured.
How does the Prius use so much less fuel? Hybrid vs Diesel As stated, the Prius is a Hybrid vehicle. This means that it uses an ultra efficient petrol engine and an electric motor working in tandem to produce a car with a fuel consumption figure of about 5 litres/100km. This is lower than most diesel cars and the lowest of any petrol driven vehicle on the road in South Africa today. I hear you say, "Big deal, my diesel car can also get 5l/100km". That's true. Many diesel vehicles do indeed have very low fuel consumption. People forget though that diesel engines emit particulates and high levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) that require complex and expensive emissions control systems to clean up. Getting their diesel engines to comply with modern emissions laws are a challenge for many motor manufacturers. The Prius already comply with the most stringent current emissions laws and even some future ones by only using a regular catalytic converter. Many diesel vehicles currently on the market also demand ultra-low sulphur diesel which is not available everywhere. A Prius, on the other hand, uses widely available unleaded petrol. Many South Africans still think that a diesel vehicle is the only way to get great economy. Hopefully this site will change their minds. Right now the only hybrid vehicles in SA are offered by Toyota and Lexus, but this may change soon with Honda importing the Civic Hybrid and Insight. Plugin Hybrids Another way to achieve extremely low fuel consumption is to keep the petrol engine, in a hybrid, as-is but expand the use of the onboard batteries and recharge them by plugging into a normal wall socket. Such hybrids are called Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles or PHEVs. Research on PHEVs are well advanced. Toyota recently unveiled their Prius PHEV prototype. It'll be road tested in Japan and the USA. Technology from this prototype will make it into the third generation Prius.
Different Hybrid systems Let's get one thing out of the way first...The Prius is a Hybrid Electric vehicle or HEV. You NEVER need to plug the Prius in to recharge! The electric motor is used to assist the engine and allow it to run at its most efficient speed. The motor also captures kinetic energy that is normally lost during braking to recharge the battery. Toyota calls their hybrid drive system HSD or "Hybrid Synergy Drive". Other manufacturers like Honda also produce hybrid vehicles namely the Insight and the Civic. Honda uses a different system called IMA or "Integrated Motor Assist". BMW is joining the hybrid party also with something they call EfficientDynamics. It's a single name for their range of technologies to increase the efficiency of their vehicles. Mercedes Benz also has hybrid cars in the pipeline namely the BlueTec Hybrid. Mercedes recently released the C180 BlueEfficiency to the SA market. This car is not a hybrid, but all the stops have been taken out to reduce it's fuel consumption.
2010 Prius Interior What does the Prius offer? For now at least, the Prius is the cheapest hybrid vehicle for sale to the public in South Africa. Pricing for the 2010 Prius start at R326 200 for the Advanced model. It may seem like a lot of money, but you get a lot for that money like an 5-year/90 000km service plan. Toyota’s standard 3 year/100 000km warranty applies with 24-hour roadside assistance available during the warranty period. The Prius has a specification sheet as long as your arm and offers an array of advanced technology that would put any German car to shame. Electric Motor-assisted Power Steering (EMPS), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronically Controlled Braking System (ECB), Vehicle Stability Control Plus (VSC+), Traction Control (TRC), Heated exterior rear view mirrors, Headlamp levelling system, Cruise Control, Electric Windows/Mirrors, Bluetooth cellphone interface with steering wheel controls, fully adjustable steering, CD changer, GPS Navigation System, hill hold function which prevents the vehicle from rolling backwards when pulling off on an uphill slope and more. Other Gee-Whiz features include Park Assist (on Exclusive model) which allows the Prius to park itself!
On the outside the Prius is also unique. The body was designed to reduce drag to an absolute minimum (0.25 drag coefficient). The result is a car with sleek lines and considerable road presence. It'll certainly make people look twice. Sitting at the driver position the first thing you'll notice is the centrally mounted digital cluster which provide readouts for all the cars' systems. The cluster also contains a graphic showing how the car is using the engine, motor and battery. On the steering wheel there are buttons to control all the functions of the car.
2010 Prius Cluster All the systems on the Prius, that are either mechanical or hydraulic on traditional vehicles, are electric. This means that things that are powered off the engine with belts and pulleys on traditional vehicles, are electrically driven on the Prius. Car fans, electrical engineers (like me) and mechanical engineers can argue for ages about which is better...hydraulic or electric. The simple fact is that all-electric sub-systems suit the Prius very well. Electric systems can be made more compact (lighter) and since the Prius already has a high voltage battery built in, such systems can be powered directly from the battery instead of the engine. This has the added advantage that things like the air conditioner can be powered even while the engine is off.
Spacious 2010 Prius interior The Prius is not short on space, comfort or safety either. This is not some dinky little Japanese compact car...oh no. The Prius is BIG.
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