Plug in Toyotas from 2011

Toyota will begin selling �affordable' plug-in hybrid cars in 2011. The company's first plug-in model, the Prius Plug-In Hybrid (PHV), adds an external charging function and more batteries to the popular Prius to enable longer-distance driving on electricity alone. Because it can also run on gasoline, plug-in hybrids eliminate the 'range anxiety' seen as one of the main shortcomings of battery-powered pure electric cars. The Prius PHV can travel 23.4 km (14.5 miles) using only the electric motor, making a short commute possible on zero emissions, Toyota said. On a full charge and full tank of gas, the car could theoretically travel 1,400 km (870 miles), it said. Toyota said it would aim to sell "several tens of thousands" of plug-in hybrid cars to the general public in an "affordable" price range. Toyota will begin leasing its Prius PHV globally this month, starting with 100 to the French city of Strasbourg. By mid-2010, it will have about 600 on lease, mostly to governments and businesses in Japan, the United States and Europe. The Prius PHV would be Toyota's first to employ lithium-ion batteries, which are costly but can store more energy than the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in most gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles today.