Toyota to Lease 100 Next-Generation Plug-in Hybrids in France, USA and Japan to Follow

French energy giant EDF and Japanese carmaker Toyota today announced a new programme for a large-scale trial of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHV) in Strasbourg, France. According to the Japanese automaker, about one hundred units of a next generation PHV equipped with lithium-ion batteries will be leased to selected companies and partners in the Strasbourg area starting from the end of 2009, for a duration of three years. Toyota did not reveal details on the type of vehicle, but it is rumored to be based on the 2010 Prius.

The programme is part of a global Toyota project that will also be deployed in Japan as well as in the USA from the end of 2009. The firm's main objective with this project is to objective is to investigate and further evaluate the technology and performance of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles in real life conditions.

EDF and Toyota began European road trials of Plug-in Hybrid Prius Vehicles in France in the autumn of 2007 expanding the programme to the UK in 2008.