“25th anniversary of the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle! What a great achievement of Toyota’s first generation “”Prius”” in time for the 21st century!
25 Years Since Its Birth! A Look Back at Toyota’s First “”Prius
One of Japan’s most fuel-efficient eco-cars is the Toyota Prius. The current model is the fourth generation, launched in 2015, and continues to reign as one of the world’s most fuel-efficient cars.
Covering the “”Toyota Hachi”” based HV and the Prius prototype! See the first generation “”Prius””
The first-generation “”Prius””, a great accomplishment and a brilliant landmark in the world’s automotive history
The first-generation Prius was born in August 1997. As the world’s first mass-produced hybrid passenger car, it changed the concept of eco-cars up until then, and is truly an epoch-making model in the world’s automotive history.
The year 2022 will mark a major milestone, 25 years since the launch of the Prius. We take a look back at what the first-generation Prius was like.
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The development of hybrid vehicles by Toyota has a long history, dating back to 1965. At the time, Toyota was focusing on gas turbine engines for hybrids because of their excellent characteristics: energy-saving, lightweight, compact, and low environmental impact. The gas turbine engine is characterized by a series of cycles of intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust that are carried out using only rotational motion, and the jet engine is also a gas turbine engine.
In 1969, Toyota began development of a hybrid vehicle equipped with a gas turbine engine, exhibiting the “”Century Gas Turbine Hybrid Test Model”” at the 21st Tokyo Motor Show in 1975, and at the 22nd Tokyo Motor Show in 1977, the “”Sports 800 Gas Turbine Hybrid Model”” with a downsized hybrid system was exhibited. The “”Sport 800 Gas Turbine Hybrid Car”” with a downsized hybrid system was exhibited at the 22nd Tokyo Motor Show in 1977.
Development of the gas turbine hybrid by Toyota then continued until the 1980s, but it was never put into practical use, and the company shifted to a hybrid system based on a reciprocating engine.
It is said that the development of a production hybrid vehicle directly linked to the Prius began in 1993.
Then, in August 1997, the first-generation Prius was launched with the catchphrase “”Just in time for the 21st century.
The car body was a four-door sedan with a unique wedge-shaped shape designed for aerodynamic performance, achieving a Cd value (coefficient of drag) of 0.30. Measuring 4275 mm (length) x 1695 mm (width) x 1490 mm (height), it was quite compact by today’s standards.
The interior was also advanced in design, with a horizontal LCD monitor at the top center of the instrument panel with a digital speedometer, fuel gauge, and various warning lights, and a 5.8-inch wide display below it as standard equipment, with an audio screen (radio/tape), vehicle information screen ( hybrid energy flow and fuel consumption & recovered energy information), AV adjustment screen (sound quality screen adjustment), and FM multiplex broadcast (visible radio), as well as a warning screen could be displayed.
It also featured a foot-operated parking brake and column-type shift lever, and side walk-throughs were available, giving it minivan-like utility.
The Prius’ development target was to achieve twice the fuel economy of gasoline-powered vehicles in the same class, and it achieved a fuel economy of 28 km/L (10-15 mode), which was astounding at the time.
In fact, this is approximately twice the fuel efficiency of a conventional gasoline engine AT vehicle, and means that CO2 emissions have been reduced to approximately one-half.
Furthermore, air pollutants such as CO, HC (hydrocarbons), and NOx (nitrogen oxides) were reduced to approximately one-tenth the levels regulated at the time.
The power unit that achieved this low fuel consumption is the Toyota Hybrid System (THS), which combines a 1.5-liter in-line four-cylinder Miller cycle engine with a maximum output of 58 hp, a 41 hp motor, and a power split mechanism that controls the drive distribution between the engine and motor and the generation of electricity.
For the running battery, nickel-metal hydride batteries were used for stability, reliability, and cost.
The THS stops the engine and runs on the motor alone (for a very short distance only) when starting off or under light load, and in normal driving, the engine power is split into two paths to drive the tires and generate electricity, with the motor assisting the engine.
In addition, the elements of the drive system are not significantly different from those of the current strong hybrid: the battery supplies power to the motor during full-throttle acceleration, the regenerated power is stored in the battery during deceleration, and when the battery needs to be charged, power is supplied to the battery while the car is in motion.
Priced at 2,150,000 yen (not including consumption tax), it was between 500,000 and 700,000 yen more expensive than a gasoline-powered car in the same class, but in reality it was quite a bargain price.
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The first-generation Prius established a new genre of hybrid vehicles, but it was not a big hit because users at the time were not yet very environmentally conscious and skeptical about expensive hybrid vehicles, and the production of running batteries was not easy. The production was limited and did not become a big hit.
However, the Prius had a tremendous impact on other manufacturers, and automakers around the world followed Toyota’s lead in developing hybrid vehicles. It is truly a great car that changed the world.”
