U.S. fleet fuel economy faltered last year. Lucid will be getting Panasonic batteries, some U.S.-made. And we drive the 2023 Toyota Prius and bring you some of its backstory. How does it look this good, and why now? This and more, here at Green Car Reports.
Today we bring you a first drive of the redesigned, fifth-generation Toyota Prius. With a smooth, wedge-shaped form, the 2023 Toyota Prius is a startling correction for Toyota. Overall, the Prius hybrid has perkier performance than recent versions while preserving its expected gas mileage numbers.
In a separate piece, we sat down with Prius chief engineer Satoki Oya to help flesh out some of the backstory of the 2023 Prius. In an unusual chronology for Toyota, the company set a radical design first, then had to reengineer the car around it to preserve its efficiency and packaging.
Real-world U.S. vehicle fleet fuel economy remained flat in 2021, after some impressive improvement in recent years. As the EPA suggests, it’s due in part to the continued shift toward less efficient SUVs and pickup trucks, which continue to get heavier. Lower Trump administration targets certainly didn’t help things.
And Lucid yesterday announced that it will be looking to Panasonic for battery supply as it ramps up the rest of the Lucid Air lineup in 2023 and starts production of the Lucid Gravity SUV in 2024. That will include future U.S.-made cells from Panasonic via its Kansas factory.
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