I'm talking about an official kit released by Toyota as an upgrade option to older Prius. I suppose they would rather you buy a new Prius but I still think there would be a healthy market for Toyota backed conversions..
No way. Not gonna happen. They wouldn't waste time on a relatively low margin, high liability kit like that. They'll happily sell you their official PHV Prius in a few years, but no upgrades.
No. There's too much involved (they'll need to take your car apart if you want them to install the components much like the retail version of the Prius PHV) and it will be costly.
Who can tell the future? But my guess is once Toyota release's their "Plug In" Prius, that will be the upgrade in of itself. Toyota is a new car manufacturer not a technology kit upgrade producer. The question I wonder about concerning the next decade or longer is what is the long term viability of Non-Plug in Hybrids? With the release of The Volt and the full electric Leaf and the rumored jump in performance offered by the Plug In Prius are the days of a self-charging non-plug in Hybrid as they exist today numbered?
Probably, but not before petrol and diesel only cars have become extinct. I think hybrids as they exist at the moment have probably got a good future. Not everyone has access to a plug nor could some be bothered to plug a vehicle in overnight. Sure, there could be tax advantages for companies to install charging bays in their company car park etc but this will all take time. Still an interesting decade ahead for the good ol' automobile and I'm sure we'll see a diversity of different power units/fuels in addition to petrol, diesel and lpg that we see today.
It's not going to happen. As others have stated, it's too big of a change with too much risk at too much cost with very little return. Much like that last sentence. Tom
I don't know if Toyota will brand their own kit, but I bet they will enter into partnerships with Enginer or another company to retrofit and service 'regular' hybrids with plug-in technology. I think the tech's proce will come down, as it has with some kits already, soore people can afford it. There may even be specialty dealers who specialize in retrofitting, but all we can do is guess right now....
