134.5mpg Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid under £31,000

The new-for-2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid will cost less than £31,000, when sales start in the first half of 2012. And that’s before any Government-funded discounts – like the £5,000 Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicle Grant – get subtracted from the quite substantial sticker price.

Prius Hybrid’s combination of 1.8-litre petrol engine and battery power, plus its full recharge time of an hour and a half, should help hurdle the major EV consumer barrier of range anxiety and flat-battery-panic. The latest in the line of best-selling Prius cars can cover up to 14 miles in pure EV mode. Avoiding the pricy pumps is possible – if you don’t travel at all far – by charging the battery from a workplace or domestic electricity supply, or a roadside charging point. 

All of this eco-tech combines to give some headline-grabbing economy figures, with combined cycle CO2 emissions of 49g/km and a long-legged 134.5mpg quoted fuel consumption. Toyota has already put almost 3.3 million hybrids on the road to date.

Usefully, both from a consumer and PR perspective; Toyota are actually testing their economy claims with the new Prius Plug-in Hybrid being assessed in real-world demonstration programmes with 200 prototype Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles in Europe – 20 of them in London. 

Toyota’s initial data is apparently showing how the car can achieve significantly better urban driving performance than the best-in-class diesel and petrol models of comparable size. The London demonstration, in partnership with EDF Energy, is also monitoring battery recharging patterns and how motorists can time recharging periods to make best use of the power supply in terms of cost and emissions.

Corporate fleet operators will now doubt be looking at the wedgy Prius – once its passed its frugal-tests - as it will qualify for a Benefit-in-Kind company car tax rating of just five per cent for drivers, and consequently a monthly tax cost of less than £52 (for a 40 per cent tax payer, based on the guideline vehicle price). Businesses will save on fleet costs thanks to a 100 per cent write-down allowance and lower National Insurance contributions. Power to the (electric) people! 











By Daniel Anslow

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