Yoshi Inaba; President and CEO of Toyota Motors North America; introduced the all new Toyota Prius Plug-in at a ceremony at New York City Hall. He presented plug in models to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and commissioner of the city department of transportation; Janette Sadik-Khan.
This plug-in test fleet is part of a city wide program to reduce emissions of carbon and greenhouse gases. It is also part of Toyota's preparation for launching their plug-ins during 2012. The car maker is providing over 160 plug-in hybrids for similar programs across the US.
"New York City has one of the world's most aggressive and comprehensive sustainability plans - PlaNYC, which aims to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030," Mayor Bloomberg said. Developing a more efficient fleet of vehicles is a major component in reaching that goal, he said.
Using a standard 110-volt outlet, it takes three hours to fully charge a Prius plug-in. It takes half that time using a 220-volt outlet- similar to the type used by clothes dryers. Once charged, the car runs about 13 miles at speeds up to 62 mph. Beyond that, Prius Plug-in switches to hybrid mode, running on combinations of gas and battery power, much like a standard hybrid. Over the past five years, New York has bought more than 2500 Toyota hybrid vehicles for official use, mostly as taxi cabs.
Department of Transportation officials will gather data on how the cars are used and how they perform during the new test program. Early next year, data from the program will be posted online, allowing people to follow the cars and get an idea of how the plug-in systems are working in everyday real-world driving.
You can check out the current line of Toyota's Prius today at DCH Toyota of Torrance - 2955 Pacific Coast Highway - Torrance, CA 90505.
[SOURCE] http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/12/02/toyota-delivers-prius-plug-in-hybrids-to-new-york-city-officials/
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