Toyota Will Pursue Plug-In Hybrids Cars - No Firm Dates Yet, Though - AP

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Toyota sees a future in plugging in vehicles - instead of simply pulling in for gas. Already a leader in the hybrid market with its Prius sedan, Toyota Motor Corp. plans to develop a hybrid vehicle that will run locally on batteries charged by a 120-volt outlet before switching over to a gasoline engine for longer hauls.

The technology is far from being ready - and there is no timeline for when such cars might be offered for sale. Still, the automaker is taking a serious look at another idea aimed at reducing motorists' dependence on gasoline: flexible fuel vehicles capable of running on E85, an alternative fuel made of 85 percent ethanol.

"Make no mistake about it, hybrids are the technology of the future and they will play a starring role in the automotive industry in the 21st century,'' Jim Press, president of Toyota's North American subsidiary, said Tuesday in a speech at the National Press Club.

Press, who recently became the first non-Japanese president of Toyota's U.S. unit, said its hybrid technology has long-term staying power because it can adapt to several alternatives, such as clean diesels, biodiesels, ethanol, plug-in hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells.

EDIT

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/7/19/apworld/20060719101430&sec=apworld

[Schema Thing]

1. What is this "pursue"?

just sell the damn things, you make them already.

[Javaman]

3. Not only do they make them already, there are conversion kits

for the their current hybrids.

[The Deacon]

2. Probably The Wrong Place to Ask

Are any of the new hybrids capable of using E85?