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Jan 13, 2009 12:15 PM | 11
2010 Prius to Get 50 MPG, Solar Roof
Toyota just unveiled the third-generation Toyota Prius, a car that has absolutely revolutionized the industry and what it means to be environmentally conscious in a car-centric world.
It's easy to say that this third-generation car isn't as big of an advancement as the last two were. But I'm actually going to say that I'm pretty dang impressed.
The car is bigger, more spacious, has better acceleration and actually improves mileage number significantly. This new Prius is the most efficient production car in America OF ANY SIZE. If Honda was still making the original Insight, yes, that would beat it, but the 2010 Prius truly will be the most advanced and most efficient car on the road.
New to the car, aside from all of the various innovations that made it's tremendous mileage numbers possible, is a solar sun roof, which will keep the vehicle cool on hot days, eliminating the need for huge bursts of AC, and thus strain on the battery.
The car will also have three selectable driving modes. EV, which will keep the car running on pure electricity (of course, only to low speeds,) ECON which will make sure that the Prius saves the maximum amount of energy while driving normally and POWER which will turn your Prius into a 1969 muscle car! OK...well, not exactly. It'll just keep the car as responsive as possible without much of an eye toward efficiency.
I'll have more pictures and a video of the launch up shortly. But for now, bask in the glow of the culmination of the hybrid electric vehicle. This is the pinnacle, now all that's left is moving closer to pure electric cars.
2010 Prius Unveil Video
This blog first appeared at EcoGeek.
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toyota,
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11 Comments
Add CommentI love the last line.... move toward complete electrics. Toyota showed a concept yesterday, now throw the Solar Roof on that one and when I get to work instead of my car charging at the office my car can charge my office.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs it a pluggable hybrid? (can it charge its batteries via electrical outlet, or does it only charge via burning gasoline, like older hybrids)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think Toyota has an eye one making it pluggable a year or two after this is released, but it's not pluggable at the moment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA disappoint, my current Prius gets 47-52 combined mileage depending on weather. Unless the solar panel runs the cars electric AC it doesn't add much, a solar powered ventilator was a $15 dollar attachment 25 years ago (it hung in a side window). Lack of a plugin makes it uninteresting.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYup. Lack of plugin == not interested.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo let me see - if I drive no faster then 62 Miles per hour, I get 52mpg on the highway with my Prius... Also - why did they move the heads up display? What were they THINKING?!?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree. The current model's large display in the center of the dash is one of the best features, imho. The large navigation display was a stroke of genius. ....and they removed it. (Don't these people ask their customers what they LIKE about their Priuses?!?) It's like they design those things in a vacuum!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSame battery technology. Not pluggable (for the model that will be sold to the public.) Feh. I'll keep on waiting.
The "Combined" mpg is 50 (just watched video) - so a little plus - battery technology is the same - ok. Lithium Ion batteries? What happened to that? I saw a solar Moonroof was in an Audi a few years ago (their hot weather package) which vented the car interior. Cool but not amazing. But that HUGE center UP TOP Display is great. taking eyes off the road to see GPS in MANY other cars is annoying... but - Radar Cruise - Nice... the NEW HUD - is VERY neat looking - ALL cars should go Heads Up Display! I'm Spoiled with my Prius!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWonder if Toyta will continue to build monsters like their Pick-ups and MPVs whilst using the Prius as greenwash. Still at least they're making some pretensions at being green, if only to increase market share.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStep 1, mass solar and wind, step 2 battery technology, step 3 eletric cars, they needs to get those multijunction solar cells rolling(4 times the power for the space) and then get them on the cars(I would pay the 2 grand extra, as would anyone) as they all debate these steps forwards our planets fading.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read that they redesigned the braking systems for the 2010 Prius. That appears to be Toyota's response to the fact that the U.S. Generation 2 Prius (2004-2009) has had low-speed brake failures reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at 31 times the rate of such failures reported for the 2004-2009 Corolla, which of course has traditional brakes. Many of the Prius low speed brake failures were in low-speed city traffic, resulting in rear-end collisions without injury. It appears that the several computers that control the complex braking systems were too busy calculating the most efficient way to apply the brakes, and did not get around to actually applying them, until it was too late. Toyota never took responsibility for the problem, but the 2010 redesign indicates they were aware of it. Unfortunately, the NHTSA never initiated an investigation despite the extremely high rate of failures. The detailed failure reports ("complaints") are available to the public on the NHTSA website. The details are these: Through March 2009, 2004-2009 Prius has received 44 complaints of low speed brake failure. 2004-2009 Corolla has received 7 complaints of such failures. Given that about five times more Corollas than Prius were sold during 2004-2009, 44/(7/5) = 31 times the rate of brake failure for the Generation 2 Prius. Let's hope the 2010's brakes work!
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