September 11, 2008

EDF Energy and Toyota have teamed up to road test the first Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) introduced by a car manufacturer to the UK’s roads. Trials will start today (10th September), and will continue for more than a year. Toyota’s right-hand drive PHV will make its on-the-road debut as part of EDF Energy’s company fleet and will be tested by employees under normal usage and driving conditions. The results are expected to play a pivotal role in the development of Toyota’s future PHV technology, which represents a further improvement on Toyota's hybrid Technology.

The trial builds on the first European PHV testing programme launched by Toyota and EDF on French roads in September 2007. The UK partnership is designed to evaluate vehicle performance within an urban environment, vehicle infrastructure requirements, and establish driver behaviours and expectations.

Toyota and EDF Energy are using an innovative charging and invoicing system which is incorporated into the PHV. This system is compatible with a new generation of public charging stations, which aim to make electric power more available on public roads and car parks.  It will reduce the cost of running the car to the customer. EDF Energy has helped to install the first of 40 charging posts in the UK, and aims to help install more in the coming months.

The PHV uses Toyota’s hybrid technology with the added benefit that the vehicle’s batteries can be fully recharged using a standard electrical plug, at home or an electrical charging post to extend its driving range in electric mode. For shorter distances, PHV can be driven as an all electric vehicle, resulting in a silent, drive with no emissions from the exhaust pipe. As with existing hybrid cars the PHV relies on a traditional combustion engine for longer distances.

Toyota's PHV offers “the best of both worlds” as it enhances the benefits of hybrid technology, while
avoiding the constraints traditionally linked with electric vehicles, namely that of charging the batteries. Toyota expects that the PHV will bring unsurpassed fuel efficiency and therefore record low emissions in it’s testing.  Early test results indicate that fuel efficiency is significantly higher than current Prius. For example, for trips up to 25km, PHV consumes around 60% less fuel than Toyota's hybrid Prius. One of the research objectives of the UK tests is to confirm such PHV performance and ascertain it’s effectiveness under regular use.

Another of the test’s aims is to understand consumers' acceptance of the new technology, as a preparation to broader commercialisation and acceptance in the future. Toyota has already confirmed that it will sell lithium-ion battery-equipped PHVs to fleet customers in Europe and other regions by the end of 2009.

Rt Hon John Hutton MP, UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, speaking at a Toyota - EDF Energy event in London to launch PHV in the UK, said: 'I welcome the launch of this trial here in the UK. I am pleased to see industry pulling together to work on diversifying energy use and cutting global carbon emissions. We hope that this trial will provide an invaluable insight into the future development of UK electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. This, combined with the demonstration project announced by the prime minister (3), will lead us one step closer to making our ambition of becoming the number one location for low carbon vehicles a reality.'

‘We are very excited to expand our PHV road testing programme to the UK in collaboration with EDF Energy,’ said Koei Saga, Managing Officer in charge of hybrid system development at Toyota Motor Corporation. ‘Today’s announcement represents a step change towards acceptance of electricity in combination with hybrid technology as a viable and sustainable transport solution’.

Vincent de Rivaz, EDF Energy Chief Executive said: ‘I am delighted that EDF Energy will play a pivotal role with Toyota in trialling this innovative vehicle and technology as part of ourongoing work to make clean electric transport more accessible to everyone. We passionately believe in rising to the challenge of climate change by helping our customers reduce the carbon emissions from their energy use. Incorporating this vehicle into our fleet complements our work in developing electric charging posts for vehicles in th

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