According to reports in The Nikkei, the Toyota Motor Corporation plans to begin the commercial production of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in 2012.
The plug-ins will use lithium-ion batteries produced by Toyota’s joint venture with Panasonic Corporation, Panasonic Electric Vehicle Energy Company. The 2012 vehicles, of which around 20,000-30,000 will be produced in the first year, will have an electric range of 12-18miles.
The Nikkei states that Toyota hopes to sell its new plug-in hybrids at a comparable price to the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, which is expected to debut this month with a price tag in the region of US$47,700. Toyota expects demand to exist from customers as well as businesses with sales to take place in overseas markets such as the US, Europe and Asia.
Toyota has already announced that it will lease around 200 plug-in versions of the Prius equipped with lithium-ion battery packs starting at the end of this year in Japan - this will be the first time the lithium-ion packs have been used in Toyota vehicles for propulsion.
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