Toyota impressed many onlookers this week with a sleeker redesign for the Prius. It seems that the 2023 Prius Prime, the plug-in hybrid mannequin, can also be getting the brand new look in addition to another upgrades. For one factor, Toyota says {that a} bigger lithium-ion battery will enhance on the earlier mannequin’s EV vary of 25 miles by over 50 p.c (i.e. to no less than 37.5 miles). As such, you’ll take longer journeys earlier than beginning to use fuel.
Another neat characteristic is the photo voltaic roof. These panels can recharge the battery when the Prius Prime is parked. When you are on the highway, the photo voltaic roof can present auxiliary energy to capabilities like air-con to reduce the load on the lithium-ion battery. Toyota provides that the photo voltaic panels’ electrodes are hid to take care of the plug-in hybrid’s modern look. “A spotlight for Prius Prime is to permit it to have an analogous ethos to the brand new Prius hybrid mannequin, however with a bit one thing additional — extra efficiency, know-how, security and even a bit angle,” the automaker mentioned.
The 2023 mannequin is lighter and extra inflexible than earlier ones, Toyota claims, whereas it has a low middle of gravity and bigger baggage capability. The automobile is 2 inches decrease, an inch wider and an inch longer than the earlier Prius Prime, with a hip level that is almost an inch decrease too.
In phrases of efficiency, Toyota says the fifth-generation hybrid powertrain and a pair of.0-liter engine assist ship a horsepower enhance of almost 100 hp over the last-gen mannequin to 220 hp. The automobile can seemingly go from 0 to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds too.
As with the bottom Prius, the Prius Prime helps each Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Toyota’s personal Intelligent Assistant lets you seek for instructions, tweak audio settings, change cabin temperatures and extra with voice instructions. To assist you determine tips on how to get to the place you are going, the Cloud Navigation system makes use of the newest obtainable map, visitors and routing data. Alternatively, you may get some assist from a dwell agent through Destination Assist.
Other options embody a JBL Premium Audio system with eight audio system and 6 USB-C ports. A digital key system is obtainable on some trims as a part of the Remote Connect service, enabling you to lock and unlock doorways, begin the engine and extra together with your telephone.
Elsewhere, the Prius Prime comes with Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross Traffic Alert as customary on all trims. Front and Rear Parking Assist with Automatic Braking is obtainable as an possibility on SE variants and as customary on the XSE and XSE Premium grades. Those who go for the XSE Premium trim can have the choice to make use of a Panoramic View Monitor characteristic that enables for a dwell rotating 360-degree view across the automobile, in addition to a hands-free system that may assist with parallel parking and reversing right into a parking area.
Although Toyota will announce pricing and availability for the bottom Prius by the top of the yr, you will want to attend longer to search out out that information for the Prius Prime. The firm says it would reveal pricing and the on-sale date for the plug-in hybrid within the first half of 2023.