A standard Toyota Prius Plug-in completed a lap of Nurburgring, amongst the usual daily traffic and returned 698 mpg.
On paper, both the speed requirement and the circuit length (12.9 miles) put the feat within the all-electric EV range Toyota quotes for Prius Plug-in, performance designed to meet the day-to-day driving demands of urban commuters. In theory, the distance could be covered without a drop of petrol being used.
Prius at Nurburgring.
Motoring journalist and Japanese car expert Joe Clifford was tasked with the driving duties, taking the wheel of a standard Prius Plug-in he has recently upgraded with the addition of TRD parts – styling rather than performance elements that improved the car’s appearance rather than made it more fuel-efficient.
In dry, breezy conditions, he recorded 698 mpg, completing his lap in 20 minutes and 59 seconds. This far outstrips the car’s official combined cycle figure of 134 mpg; in fact the Toyota used less than five tablespoons of fuel to do the job.
The technology that made this feat possible is a development of Toyota’s full hybrid system that matches a 1.8-liter Atkinson cycle petrol engine with a compact, rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The battery’s performance and excellent energy density means the car can be driven further and at higher speeds on electric power alone than the standard Prius.
