Toyota Prius celebrates 20-year milestone

COMMENT

2017 marks 20 years of Toyota Prius production. It's a landmark achievement for any car, let alone a hybrid. Since 1997 the Prius has sold more than 20,000 units locally, a significant portion of the 75,000 hybrid models sold by Toyota Australia.

But how many more years will the Prius remain part of the Toyota product range in its current state?

It's a quirk of translation from Latin to English that the word 'Prius' could just as easily mean 'old' as 'advanced', despite the latter being Toyota's interpretation when it co-opted the word for its new, volume-selling hybrid that went on sale in Japan back in late 1997.

'Prius' – a cognate of the English word 'prior' – not only means 'to go before', as in 'ahead of the pack', it also translates as 'first' or 'original', according to Wikipedia. And certainly the Prius was first of its type in the market, and is original in that sense. That does, however, suggest that the Prius has been followed to market by plenty of rivals and alternative offerings in the two decades since.

It took nearly four years for the first-generation Prius to reach Australia (2001). Toyota was reportedly selling the car in Japan during those four years at a loss, simply to convince buyers to give it a try. In Australia it was considered quite expensive at a starting price of $39,990. Little wonder consumers stayed away at the time.

But most people recognised the car's fiendishly clever technology, which has been refined continuously since the late 1990s. Yet the technology is yesteryear's triumph. Toyota is sticking with nickel-metal hydride battery technology; although there is a gradual migration to lithium-ion taking place.

Long before Toyota gets around to rolling out lithium-ion batteries across its hybrid range, though, other companies are nicking its sandwich. Plug-ins and battery/electric vehicles promise to render a 'conventional' hybrid like the Prius irrelevant, with the Toyota sidelined further if the latest developments in supercapacitor technology pan out as expected.

Still, Prius is a household name – in greener households, at least. Toyota won't retire the name just because the Latin meaning has become confusing, even if the car itself has to be substantially rejigged to keep up with other alternative-energy rivals.

Obviously ditching nickel-metal hydride in favour of lithium-ion would be a major step forward for the Prius, albeit it one that could force the manufacturer's hand – choosing to limit the Prius to a plug-in application only. Most plug-in hybrids use simpler systems than Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) to keep the battery charged and supply motive power from the internal combustion engine (if required).

Perhaps Toyota is prepared for HSD to become obsolete anyway. As long ago as 2009 the company demonstrated its experimental FCHV to Aussie journalists, explaining that the vehicle's modular drive system was based on HSD. But if an electric motor is providing the majority (or all) of the torque to the drive wheels, HSD is a lot like overkill.

As an example, Mitsubishi's Outlander PHEV – a plug-in SUV – has a petrol engine to keep the battery charged, but the petrol engine only supplies motive power once the vehicle is already on the move.

There's no multi-gear transmission to take its drive to the front diff; it's simply decoupled from the diff in normal operating modes and usually operates only to recharge the battery. With enough power available from the two electric motors, the Outlander doesn't require the petrol engine to supply motive power for a standing start. Therefore, it doesn't need a multi-step or continuously variable transmission... just the one, fixed ratio.

It's a simpler system than HSD, and would work equally effectively with some other power source, like a hydrogen fuel cell stack, for instance.

Battery/electric vehicles are simpler still, and as battery technology improves, range-extending engines in plug-ins will become progressively smaller with every passing year. And that's where it's no longer enough for the Prius to be an alternative to conventional small cars.

Toyota Australia executive director of sales and marketing, Tony Cramb, has acknowledged that the Prius can't just be a one-trick pony anymore, but his final remark suggests the company is not really thinking beyond the competitor set for Prius solely comprising conventional small cars.

“Toyota continues to make advances with conventional petrol and diesel engines, as well as hybrids, electric vehicles, fuel-cell cars and other technologies,” Cramb was quoted saying in a press release issued today.

“The original aims were focused on energy conservation and diversification of fuel sources, yet our latest line-up demonstrates that hybrid cars can also offer chassis dynamics that make driving fun.

“In fact, all Toyota's hybrid cars are strong mainstream alternatives to traditional petrol and diesel powertrains,” Cramb concluded.

Mainstream alternatives, perhaps... But the Prius as it stands is a stop-gap at best. Yes, it's more economical than most small cars in the market. Yes too, the EV mode is even moderately useful in high-density traffic.

But the Prius is going to have to evolve into something that is as cutting-edge as the first-generation model was, back in 1997.

We're sure Toyota is working on it...

Toyota Hybrid sales in Australia (approx.)
>> Camry Hybrid – 42,000 units
>> Prius – 20,000 units
>> Prius c – 8000 units
>> Prius v – 3700 units
>> Corolla Hybrid – 1200 units