Toyota said Wednesday that it had taken a step closer to launching its plug-in hybrid vehicle, which has become the first of its kind to get a roadworthiness certificate in Japan. Toyota plans to conduct tests of the vehicle — which like other hybrids is powered by a gasoline engine and an electric motor — on public roads in Japan as well as the United States and Europe, the automaker said in a statement. Unlike existing hybrids, the plug-in vehicles have batteries that can be recharged using household electricity, enabling more frequent use of the electric-only mode that saves on petrol and cuts emissions, the automaker said.
Conventional hybrids have batteries that cannot be recharged.
Toyota said it sees plug-in hybrids as a "promising technology" for harnessing electricity as a power source for automobiles.
But challenges remain for pure electric vehicles such as a limited cruising range and cost issues, it added.
Toyota, which is battling General Motors for the title of world number one, pioneered mass production of the low pollution petrol-electric vehicles along with Japanese rival Honda.
Toyota has sold more than one million of its fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles since they were introduced a decade ago.
Source: Agence France-Presse
