Unhappy with your plugless Prius? Zap thinks it has an answer for you.

The king of green car press releases has issued another announcement, this time talking about the availability of a Toyota Prius and Highlander plug-in conversion kit. In collaboration with Hybrid Plus, Zap's kit will convert hybrid Priuses and Highlanders into what tests predict will be 120 MPGe (city) and 90 MPGe (highway) vehicles. Depending on the vehicle, the kits cost between $24,000 and $36,000, and Zap says turnaround time is about four weeks. The press release doesn't get into great details, but it sounds like you need to bring your Prius/Highlander to Boulder to have Hybrid Plus do the work. You might also be able to go to a local Zap dealer to have the work done (UPDATE: Zap says that Zap dealers will be able to do the conversions).

While electric car dealerships seen a little more business in the last few years, as a recent New York Times article points out, it's still hard to get by selling nothing but electric cars. Many EV dealers already sell other types of vehicles and, as Hybrids Plus CEO Carl Lawrence says, electric car companies and hybrid conversion companies collaborating is "natural."


[Source: Zap]

You might remember a post I wrote about a Toyota TV commercial that prominently featured the EV (electric vehicle) mode button. You can watch that commercial for yourself in the video above. Turning your hybrid into an electric car at will is really an interesting idea. The range on the battery and top speed on EV mode in current Toyotas is not great and the car does it automatically most of the time. There really isn't a great improvement in efficiency for most drivers but I find there is just something sweet about controlling your hybrid car, sort of like shifting gears in a stick. Asking the car to put out less noise is useful but again, turning your car into an electric car is Je ne sais pas. There are lots of misconceptions about green cars (e.g., they can't be fun), but tell the truth: don't you wish your car had an EV button? This has to be the biggest, coolest gadget you can buy today.

I saw a TV commercial last night for the Toyota Highlander hybrid that highlighted the EV Mode button. The commercial was about a new father that constantly woke up the baby with the sound of the car as he arrived home. This problem is solved in the commercial by pressing the EV button, allowing the father to silently park, before walking into his home. The father's efforts are dashed however as the commercial ends with him accidentally fumbling something, making a noise and waking the baby anyway. I think this may be the first commercial in America to feature the EV mode button. The Japanese Prius has an EV mode button but it was removed from the US Prius for some reason.

Related:

• Chicago Auto Show: 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, now with EV ONLY mode!

Ellen DeGeneres may not have Iggy but she does have a Highlander hybrid and on Friday, she did everything she could to promote the SUV in a live, in-show ad. Instead of just going to commercial break, Ellen began to talk about the old days when the ads for cigarettes were promoted right in the show. "Anyway, we thought it would be fun to bring back that old feeling of live commercials-not the cigarettes, the commercials" explains Ellen as she walks over to the Highlander Hybrid on the talk show's set.

With 30 seconds on the clock, Ellen begins to tell everyone about the Highlander's features like its "hybrid EV mode that allows it to run on its own electric motor." The list of features were mixed with jokes like the camera man being Ellen's back up camera and her studio audience folding. After the show came back from a commercial break, we find Ellen laying on the Highlander and stroking the hybrid like "car-presenting models." You can watch both parts of the ads at Ellen's website.

Kim McCullough, Toyota's corporate manager of marketing communications, says "Ellen's comedic style and the strong bond she has with her audience made her an ideal choice for our first live commercial."

[Source: Ad Week]

Paice LLC sued Toyota in 2004 over three patents Paice said Toyota infringed with their hybrid drive train. The court ruled, in a jury verdict at a Texas court known for patent cases, that Toyota did infringe on one of the three patents and Toyota had to pay $25 per infringing car (Prius II, Toyota Highlander hybrid and Lexus RX400H) or $4.23 M. The court also ruled Toyota did not have to stop making cars that infringed on Paice's patents. Today, Bloomberg reported that the appeals court reaffirmed the ruling but did ask the lower court to revisit the reason for the $25 damages for every infringing car sold. Both companies appealed to a higher court.

[Source: Reuters]

Toyota has been on a roll with hybrids lately, with the 170,000 units sold in 2006 expected to be easily eclipsed this year by 80,000 units or more. The Prius is the obvious hybrid sales leader, but the Highlander came in at a surprising 2nd place last year, with 31,000 units sold. That number should only go up with the introduction of the 2008 Highlander Hybrid, which is expected to arrive in dealerships at the end of September. We had a chance to take Toyota's battery-assisted CUV for a spin during the vehicle's unveiling in Dearborn, Michigan, and we found a vehicle that was spacious and clever on the inside and better looking outside (that was easy).

Of course the single aspect of the hybrid version of the Highlander that intrigues us the most is the powertrain, and from our standpoint Toyota has done a good job of integrating their battery technology into this seven-seat CUV. $3 per gallon gasoline has placed fuel economy at the top of everybody's mind right now, and the 2008 Highlander Hybrid has upped the ante, if only slightly. Using the EPA's new fuel economy calculations, the 08 model achieves 27mpg in the city and 25mpg on the highway. Those numbers are exactly the same for 07, but the new EPA numbers are stiffer, and account for aggressive driving and the use of air conditioners. What's impressive is that Toyota managed better fuel economy on a larger CUV that weighs 300lb more than the vehicle it replaces, while working with the same 3.3L V6 paired to essentially the same battery pack.

The 2008 Highlander Hybrid comes with plenty of great standard features like backup assist with a dash-mounted 3.5 inch screen, 19' rims, seven air bags, and stability control. The hybrid can also tow 3500lbs while boasting SULEV emissions. Also standard are and EV mode that can go 1-2 miles at speeds under 25mph while using only the battery. Another fuel-saving technology is Toyota's Econ mode, which helps achieve better gas mileage by governing the amount of throttle that can be used at any time. Click through to read our driving impressions of the 2008 Highlander Hybrid.

click the picture above to see a gallery of 45 Highlander images

Toyota's Highlander is a delightfully appliance-like CUV that packs a lot into a relatively compact package. Thoughtful touches for hauling around your pride are tucked away inside the attractive sheetmetal, and anyone who needs three rows of seats could likely spend gas money better elsewhere. The hybrid badges on the flanks hint at an EPA-estimated 31/27 mpg citiy/highway, and they also give you stylish automotive bauble status amongst residents of HumDrumBurbia. Hybrids are about more than making a statement, and the Highlander's Hybrid Synergy Drive system could help you reduce your CO2 emissions and use less fuel, so you do get something for the premium price.

full review after the jump

Click the image for a gallery of high-res images of the new Highlander

Today at the Chicago Auto Show, Toyota unveiled the all-new 2008 Highlander Hybrid. Toyota has upgraded the control system of the new Highlander Hybrid so that they can increase the net output, which is now up to 270 hp, an increase of 55 over the first generation model. At the same time, the mileage ratings remain the same at 31 city / 27 highway. The big news, if you can call it that, is the new Full EV mode.

That means there is a switch on the dash allowing the driver to disable the internal combustion engine and run on battery only. Unfortunately, that battery is still a nickel metal hydride type, which results in a whopping battery only range of a whole mile! This really comes off as more of an advertising gimmick than anything truly useful. Aside from that, the hybrid drivetrain is largely unchanged, although everything else is. The new Highland is bigger, wider, more luxurious and has airbags everywhere including three rows of curtain airbags. The new Highlander Hybrid will be available in July. The Toyota press release is after the jump with more information.

Toyota has announced that the world premier of the all-new 2008 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid SUVs will take place at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday, February 7. The Highlander, Toyota's mid-sized SUV, was first unveiled during the 2001 model year and is receiving its first complete revision. Along with the Camry Hybrid and the Prius, Toyota boasts the industry's only three-vehicle hybrid line-up.

Analysis: Its great to see that its becoming a standard announcement with new vehicles from Toyota and others that in addition to the expected straight petrol models, there is also a hybrid/flex fuel/diesel to enhance the range and offer consumers more options with better fuel economy and lower emissions. As battery technology in particular advances, I expect to see the proportion of hybrid and low emissions models take over from the straight petrol models as the dominant options in the market.

Check back on the 7th when we'll have all the details and a host of high resolution photos to show off the new model.

Related:

• Singer KT Tunstall wants celebrities to make it "very uncool to drive an SUV"
• Recent drop to $2 gas just might help Detroit's SUV sales, Europe is immune
• Detroit Motor Show: Audi Q7 V12 TDI with photo gallery

[Source: Toyota]

Ann Job provides a more extensive review of the 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line than the one previously posted by Automobile. She speculates, for example, that the "Eco" light, which brightens when the Vue exceeds government fuel standards, is vacuum-operated instead of using a computer to determine mileage. She finds the setup a bit odd since hybrid buyers want to know how much they save fuel-wise.

Job finds the Vue's hybrid simple, too, though still effective. Unlike Toyota's or Ford's hybrids (but similar to Honda's vehicles), the Vue uses batteries to back up the main four-cylinder engine. The other two automakers have their hybrid engines switch between the battery and the regular engines. The Vue's gas mileage at 27/32 mpg is still respectable, providing more than 5 mpg better than the gas version. The Toyota Highlander hybrid, however, gets 33/28* mpg with its V6 engine. Job did find the Vue's hybrid engine transitioning between its two systems more smoothly than the Highlander which felt like it would stall at times.

Job provides more details at the link. The Vue hybrid costs $10,000 less than the Highlander. With the automakers' different approaches to hybrids, does either one have a clear advantage in justifying their SUVs' higher cost?

*The figures are not reversed. The Highlander and Ford Escape primarily use their batteries in city driving.

Related:

• Saturn Vue delivers best SUV highway fuel economy
• Saturn announces pricing for 2007 Vue Green Line hybrid

[Source: Associated Press via MSNBC]

Walter McManus over at Hybrid Cars published a little mea culpa about his recent estimates of the real-world cost of owning and operating a hybrid vehicle. His estimates of the costs from a few weeks ago showed, like the recent Consumer Reports numbers, that most ended up being cost disadvantages for consumers. This means that they cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars more than similar non-hybrid vehicles, even when you figured in reduced gas consumption. The hybrids tested were the Escape, Accord, Lexus RX400h, Highlander, Civic and Prius.

Well, McManus decided to recalculate his numbers using hedonic estimates instead of P. Value, which he used the first time. The results? Five of the six hybrids tested now had cost advantages, some over $9,000. The lone hybrid that still has a disadvantage was the Accord Hybrid, which is the car McManus drives.

[Source: HybridCars.com]