Toyota wants plug-in hybrid cars with a longer range

If there is a brand that has worked to offer efficient hybrid drive systems and wants to keep betting on them, that brand is Toyota. The Japanese brand has always been a pioneer in this kind of mobility, so it wants to keep innovating in this area. Its proposal is to create plug-in hybrid cars capable of offering a fully electric range of up to 200 kilometres.

This is a considerable challenge, because the cars of this type currently on the market offer a maximum of 100 kilometres. And that is in the best case. For example, the Toyota Prius, the brand’s benchmark model in this segment, uses a 13.6 kWh battery and its range in electric mode is 69 kilometres. Normally, the figure drops to 50 kilometres, and few exceed that.

For Toyota, a plug-in hybrid car has a very high value. On the one hand, it has a zero-emission drive system capable of offering enough range for everyday use and urban mobility. On the other, it has a combustion engine that prevents the range from being reduced to those city journeys alone. Fuel consumption can be reduced on urban trips, and if longer journeys are necessary, there is no problem.

The company says it will continue working to increase the range to the promised 200 kilometres. To do so, it will develop battery packs capable of storing enough energy for this. The big problem is that everything needed to equip future plug-in hybrids will increase the vehicle’s weight. That will work against range, since the heavier the car, the more energy it will consume to move.

The advantage is that the combustion engine will not be necessary for daily urban journeys, since these tend to be quite short and do not reach that figure. Toyota’s project offers no further details, only the promise that in the coming years, the brand’s plug-in hybrid cars will be more sustainable and achieve greater range.