Toyota is taking the development of the Prius hybrid to the next level with development of a plug-in Prius.The new car, prototypes of which will begin testing on the roads of Japan and California, is based on the current petrol-electric hybrid. Unlike that car, however, it will be able to run for much longer periods – and at higher speeds – on battery power alone.Key to the development of the plug-in Prius will be a new nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery that can store more energy more efficiently. Current technology means that this can’t be made small enough, so for the test vehicles an over-sized NiMH battery pack will be used.
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