Hybrid technology forms an important part of the LMP1 regulations which give the manufacturers freedom to develop the technology that may be seen on our road cars in the near future. All of the LMP1 manufacturers on the WEC grid have hybrid or purely electric road vehicles on their current road car line up, but the car that is widely regarded as the original petrol / electric road vehicle is the Toyota Prius. Now on the fourth generation, the Prius has sold more than 3million units and is the most recognised, hybrid vehicle in the world. It was therefore very apt that we got to test a Prius during the WEC's visit to Japan.
The car we tested was a Prius Alpha (Known as the Prius+ in Europe), a larger car with more boot space which looks like a cross between a standard Prius and an MPV.
The Prius Alpha is fitted with the same 1.8 litre petrol engine as in the standard Prius and has economy figures (on paper) of 3.2l per 100km / 75 miles per gallon, with an extra low CO2 figure of 75g per km. In the real world figures of around 4.5l per 100km / 63mpg are more likely but those are still excellent figures. And that is what this car is all about. It isn't a sports car but a family vehicle that can seat 5 comfortably (there is a 7 seat version available as well) and return exceptional economy day in and day out with ultra low CO2 emissions. In fact the Prius Alpha is the world's only 7 seat MPV with emissions under 100g / km.
So what is it like to drive? I will be honest and admit this was the first hybrid car I had ever driven so I was coming into this with preconceptions on what the car was going to be like to drive for the week we were in Japan. However I soon had those preconceptions shattered as the Prius was like every other 5-door family hatchback. There is no manual gearbox or a manual override, this is purely an automatic car. Put it into drive, release the handbrake and off you go.
There is one major difference to a normal car and that is silence. On the dash is a battery gauge. Keep the revs below the line and the car operates on battery power only. It became a bit of a daily challenge when driving round town to see how far we could go on purely electric power. The issue was the acceleration wasn't brilliant and if you had traffic behind I didn't want to keep them waiting, but it was an interesting exercise to see how this style of driving affected the economy - more on this later.
When the petrol engine did kick in it did so seamlessly, you were just aware of the noise of the engine suddenly in the background.
Driving the Prius around the streets of Tokyo was easy, the car just darted in and out of traffic and parking was effortless. Out on the highway again the Prius was faultless, cruising effortlessly on the wide Japanese motorway network. A total of 134bhp from the petrol engine and electric motor combined gives adequate performance and a 0-62mph time of 11.3 seconds is spot on for a family car.
The interior of the Prius couldn't be described as luxurious but the plastics and the fittings were of good quality and well made. It had the feel of any other Toyota, a car that would ferry the family from A to B without any drama or fuss.
Practicality is a must for any car with MPV credentials and the Prius Alpha delivers here also. We had plenty of large boxes for the camera gear to transport from the airport as well as our luggage and the boot swallowed everything with ease. Boot space is 505 litres with the rear seats up, while there’s 1,750 litres of space with the back seats folded flat.
The 3rd generation Prius is also very reliable and there have never been any major technical problems reported by owners despite its complicated hybrid drive. A great car to drive and as a first experience of a hybrid vehicle I have had my eyes opened. Oh and the economy figures from our time in Japan? The Prius Alpha returned an average of 65 miles per gallon or 4.3 litres per 100km during our week in the Land of the Rising Sun and that was a combination of town, A roads and motorway driving. I was suitably impressed by the Toyota Prius Alpha when I handed the keys back at the end of our stay in Japan.
The world championship winning Toyota TS040 Hybrid is a development testbed for the cars of the future. Toyota rotate the engineering personnel from their road car division to work on the race cars and take back what they have learnt to the factory. The 2015 TS040 also has sensors that will be used on the next generation of hybrid Toyota road cars, giving the race car and the World Endurance Championship real world relevance.
Maybe one day your road car will be able to trace its lineage back to one the cars that took part in the World Endurance Championship.
Words by Jeff Carter Images by Adrenal Media
