Next Toyota Prius will get 10% better gas mileage

Brent Snavely | Detroit Free Press

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Toyota unleashed a torrent of big announcements here this week when it comes to creating vehicles that get better gas mileage -- or don't use gas at all.

At a gathering of reporters here in this Detroit suburb, Toyota executives said they will:

•Get 10% better fuel economy from its next-generation Prius gas-electric hybrid,

•Make plug-in hybrid electric cars easier to recharge.

•Show a hydrogen fuel cell car in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and sell it in 2015.

Taken together, these three goals indicate that Japan's No. 1 automaker has no plans to relinquish its global leadership in alternative powertrain technology.

Largely through the expanded lineup of its three gas-electric Prius models, Toyota holds 70% of the U.S. market for nonplug-in hybrids. Ford is second at 13%, according to hybridcars.com.

The automaker sells 12 hybrid, plug-in hybrid or all-electric models in the U.S.

When Toyota introduces the next iteration of its Prius liftback car in two to three years, it will have a more efficient and lighter-weight battery pack, Toyota Managing Officer Satoshi Ogiso said.

"The next-generation Prius will combine our advanced battery technologies with new electric motors that are smaller in size and feature improved power density," Ogiso said. "The current Prius motor provides four times the power density of the first. The next Prius power density will be even higher."

He also said the next-generation Prius will have a lower center of gravity, better aerodynamics and more interior space.

Ogiso and other Toyota officials declined to say when the next-generation Prius will be launched, but it is widely expected they will come to market in 2015.

While Toyota is a global leader in conventional gas-electric hybrid sales, it lags General Motors, Nissan and upstart electric car maker Tesla in sales of fully electric cars.

So far this year, Toyota has sold 5,031 Prius plug-in cars and 517 battery-only RAV4s, compared with 11,643 for Chevrolet Volt, 11,703 for Nissan Leaf and 10,401 for Tesla Model S.

Toyota has a partnership with Tesla that allowed Toyota to introduce an the electric RAV4 faster than it could have developed on its own.

Ogiso said Toyota is testing a new charging system for the next-generation Prius plug-in hybrid that could eliminate the need to use a power cord to recharge the vehicle. The new system would allow the owner to recharge the car by parking it above a charging coil on the garage floor.

Though Toyota is committed to boosting its global sales of hybrid and plug-in hybrids, the company also said it thinks that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles also have a bright future despite a number of cost and infrastructure barriers.

Nearly every major automaker has been researching hydrogen fuel cells, which convert hydrogen to water, for decades, but a viable affordable fuel cell car has always seemed to be a decade away.

Ogiso said Toyota plans to reveal a new hydrogen fuel cell car in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The automaker revealed a concept version of the car at the Tokyo Motor Show last year.

"Toyota's first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will go on sale in global markets in 2015," Ogiso said.