Toyota planning 'plug-in' hybrids

Toyota Motor Corp., the largest seller of hybrid autos, may produce gasoline-electric models that can be recharged at any outlet to reduce the use of fuel, the company's North American chief said.

``We are pursuing a `plug-in' hybrid vehicle that can travel greater distances without using its gas engine, conserving more oil and slicing smog and greenhouse gases to nearly imperceptible levels," Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America, said yesterday. Toyota is also ``strongly considering" adding models able to use ethanol ``in the near term," he said.

Toyota is competing with Honda Motor Co. and other carmakers to boost sales by tapping demand for clean, fuel-efficient vehicles amid rising oil prices and concerns about global warming. Sales of hybrids in the United States, the biggest market for such vehicles, grew 26 percent in the first half. Toyota held a 73 percent share of the segment.

Gasoline prices, approaching $3 a gallon for much of the year, have boosted sales of hybrids from Toyota, Honda, and Ford Motor Co. to a record 116,767 through June from 92,558 a year ago.

Press last month said Toyota has ``aggressive" plans to expand sales of hybrids.

``Plug-ins could be a good thing, but the devil is in the details: What's the driving distance? What's the cost?" said Daniel Becker, Washington-based director of the Sierra Club's global warming program. ``The challenge is to maintain the best attributes of gas-electric hybrids without bringing back the worst aspects of pure electrics, like high cost and poor range."

Plug-in hybrids recharge at any standard electrical outlet when not in use and switch to the gas engine when the batteries are drained. They would need about double the output of the Prius battery pack, David Hermance, Toyota's US executive engineer for advanced technology vehicles, said last month.

Such vehicles could be ``years away," depending on how long it takes to improve the types of batteries required, Press said.

General Motors Corp. is also developing a plug-in hybrid that may be shown as early as January at the Detroit auto show, GM officials familiar with the project said last month. The car would travel more than 60 miles on a gallon of gas, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the research is secret.