Not your daddy's Prius...

Back in the summer of 2004, I purchased my prized Toyota Prius. It was the first year of the second generation Prius hybrid, and I payed a bit of a premium to get the newest rage from the local dealer. I have managed since then to put over 60,000 miles on my fuel sipper. It is receiving its first significant visit to a mechanic this weekend (the check engine light came on over the weekend). Since purchasing my Prius I have followed closely the developments in the hybrid marketplace, as each year has brought progressively more hybrid options in the car marketplace. About one year from now, the third generation Toyota Prius will hit the marketplace. This new incarnation from Toyota comes with a great deal of speculation regarding what significant modifications may or may not take place.

When the 2004 model was originally released the EPA rated the Pius with an impressive 60 mpg in the city and 51 mpg in the highway. Many have complained about these numbers being exaggerated, and in 2007 the EPA revised the way fuel economy numbers were calculated, resulting in more accurate real-world fuel economy figures. This resulted in revised figures for the Prius of 48 mpg city, 45 mpg highway. My personal experience in my vehicle has varied from 35 mpg to 50 mpg depending on conditions, but overall I have been pretty satisfied with how it performed at the pump.

The original rumors that had been swirling stated that Toyota would switch from nickel metal hydride batteries to lithium ion batteries - pushing the fuel economy to over 100 mpg. Pretty impressive, huh! Well concerns over the safety of lithium ion batteries (fire risk) may push that back, and the corresponding improved fuel economy. Toyota is playing it all really tight-lipped at the moment...so we will just have to wait and see.

Below are several renditions of how the appearance of the third generation vehicle might be different.

The Hybrid X prototype

Another view of Hybrid X prototype

The 2009 Prius