Mystery Hybrids

It's a series hybrid.

http://www.dcbusna.com/Projects/c2c/channel/documents/1738721_Daimler_Orion_VII_Fact_Sheet.pdf

 

Does it say "Plug in" anywhere on that car? Tell you what, that looks exactly like what I was told to be a GPS antenna that was on the '08 I saw at my local dealer a couple of years ago. At least, that's what they told me it was when I went in the next day and asked what was on the new Prius out back. I don't recall if it was AT&T or the power company, but it was all stickered up with some kind of utility decals on it.Putting the electric connection for a Prius PHEV that close to the gas cap, well, it's just not right!

 

lol... ya could be like Darrel's RAV 4 EV parade design where its a fake plug? (oh course his real plug does not look like a plug, so the fake plug was needed for the "denser" section of the audience!!)

 

Here, I looked in my user CP and found that thread from a couple of years ago.
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-hybrid-news/41809-verizon-buys-40-prius.html
The device on the car you took a picture of looks like the exact same thing I saw then. As I stated, I was told it was an antenna or "tracking device." Could be you were just seeing the same thing?

 

Verizon Wireless has a program called "Field Force Management" its a GPS program that allows tracking of movement for cellphones in an area fed to a computer. its used by shipping companies, taxi services, etc. this prevents the dispatcher from having to call around to find the closest taxi. they simply type in the addy of the pickup location and the software automatically posts nearest location and status of taxi.

so to have a remote access on the car would be "strange" unless they were using it to prevent employees from circumventing other tracking mechanisms. but then again, that would probably be cause for termination

 

That's right. This one is a conversion.

Don't be surprised if AT&T and other big-name companies end up showcasing one of our PHVs in their fleet for awhile. Most of our cars will have moderate to ridiculous-over-the-top PHV signage on them so we get the maximum exposure. But yeah, in some cases we may want to be more subtle. As we've said, there's 150 cars and we're going to use them in a lot of ways. Keep your eyes peeled.

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA

 

still dont believe it. i might consider it a sort of wi-fi transponder that allows the vehicle into a secured parking lot or something along those lines first.

but there is bound to be other 3rd party PLEV converters out there. what if AT&T simply contracted with a local engineering firm to install custom plugins used primarily for moving around a large compound on all EV only?

 

Oh, I volunteer to drive one around with ridiculous-over-the-top signage! :thumb:

 

Diesel-Electric hybrids at my workplace in the 1990s.
Trolley assisted 190t dump truck
Plug in Hybrid does not even begin to describe it.