Smooth and Stealthy, Toyota's Prius Does Gas-Electric Technology Proud

Not quite.

Prius, as may be remembered by graduates of arcane academies, is Latin for "to go before." It says the Toyota Prius, its concept and technology, goes before any other clean, green motoring machine by virtue of a gasoline-electric propulsion system aimed somewhere in time between "Star Trek Visits Oz" and the fin de siecle. Pardon my French, but you're probably sick of the M-word by now.

And if General Motors' EV1 electric vehicle is supposed to represent the dawn of a new era of mass motoring, then the Toyota Prius may well represent the generation after tomorrow.

"I'm glad to be so old I won't be around to see it," sniffed Mrs. Dean.

Why?

"This car is too plastic. No soul. No quality. No buttons that speak English."

True. But looks, as in my case, aren't everything. Toyota wants to show America what makes Prius run. The car sells well in Japan--more than 10,000 units last year--and will be happening here sometime deep into next year. Hence Toyota's decision to ship a few Priuses--with right-hand drive, instruments measuring speed in kilometers and radio and heater buttons that don't speak English--to America so future customers can get used to the idea of driving hybrids.

"High-whats?"

Heads up, m'luv. Cyclops has changed channels. Watch the screen as we drive. See those icons for engine, motor, wheels and battery? Follow the flow lines. Power from the internal-combustion engine is driving the wheels, also a generator that charges a nickel-hydride battery pack that feeds an electric motor.

Travel slowly, and Prius moves on electric power alone. It's an EV, pure as anything hugged tight by Ed Begley Jr. Increase speed and the gasoline engine takes over. Now it's a standard compact well up to the demands of Jenny Commuter.

Really stand on it, and the gas engine works in tandem with the electric motor, which kicks in as a 30-kilowatt supercharger, and you'll be looking at 95 mph. Which should be enough to satisfy the road warrior in most of us.

All this interplay of engine, generator, electric motor and battery pack is fully automatic and supervised by computers and a power splitter. The battery capsule--no bigger than Southwest Airlines' outer limit on carry-ons--is stored between the rear seat backs and the trunk and remains charged as long as the gasoline engine is running. Everything gets into the act when it comes to saving gas and keeping the high-output batteries powered up. On those rare occasions in the Los Angeles Basin where you might be stuck in traffic, the gasoline engine shuts down and the electric motor takes over the dawdling and idling. There's also regenerative resupply, the collection of kinetic energy from braking or coasting that is converted into electricity and stuffed into the batteries.