The computer system controlled charging and discharging of the battery enhances its cycle life, calendar life, and thermal control efficiency. Passive battery cooling and heating is accomplished through the metal case of the battery assembly pack, while a forced air cooling system with a blower motor and ducting system makes it possible for active cooling of the HV battery.
Amongst the Prius's choices are Toyota's execution of a Smart Key System (the function can be user-deactivated), DVD navigation on the multi-function display, Automobile Stability Control and Bluetooth for hands-free calling. A brand-new Intelligent Parking Assist system was readily available in Japan and Europe considering that its launch. From 2005 to 2009, the second generation Prius had actually been built by FAW-Toyota in the city of Changchun for the Chinese market.
The relatively low sales was blamed on high rate, about US$ 15,000 greater than the equivalent in Japan or the U.S., caused by high responsibilities on imported parts. In early March 2008, Toyota cut the price of Prius by up to 8 percent or US$ 3,000 to CN259,800 (US$ 36,500). Hier getoonde antwoorden was thought that the sales dropped as an outcome of both an absence of approval and increased competition.
Toyota's design and development efforts paid off throughout the 2005 European Car of the Year competitors where the Prius won ahead of the Citron C4 and the Ford Focus. The Prius and the Nissan Leaf are the only vehicles utilizing drivewheel electric motors to have won this competitors, where the usual winners are mainstream hatchbacks and sedans/saloons from major European producers.
In July 2007, Toyota got both Japanese and American governmental approval to start testing plug-in hybrid designs using a customized Ni, MH battery on public roadways. The first plug-in Prius in America went to South Carolina. Scientists at the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine, and the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, started evaluating 2 specially made Priuses and analyzing motorist habits, research study air quality and energy use.